tl;dr I have tried all of the things but the switch will not enter pairing mode
When I first got my white switch (VTM31-SN) a little while back I was able to install it with no issues and the pairing on my phone popped up automatically and I was able to pair it to a Google hub with no issues. I didn’t have bandwidth at the time to play around with the smart controls but when I went to revisit it recently I found that the devices in the Google Home app were greyed out. So I removed them through the app and then tried pairing again but I can’t get it to even enter pairing mode again no matter what I do.
I have tried all of the following multiple times:
Scanning the QR code
Manually entering the pairing code
Manually entering pairing mode by pressing the config button 3 times on the switch (I have tried doing this at different times like before scanning, during scanning, immediately after factory reset, I also tried pressing it at varying speeds)
Factory resetting the switch
Cutting the power at the breaker
Cutting power by pulling out the air gap
The switch has a solid blue light and it does not at any point pulse to indicate that it is ready for pairing and the device search on my phone (Android) times out as it can’t find the device. Tapping the config button 3 times as the instructions recommend does nothing but all of the other key combinations for changing the modes on the switch work and the light that it is wired to turns on and off as expected. After doing a factory reset or resetting the power, the popup on my phone to connect to the device eventually shows up like it did on initial setup but it still doesn’t pair or enter pairing mode.
I ensured that my phone and hub were on a 2.4 GHz network and I also tried connecting through my Home Assistant server. I have toggled on/off Bluetooth and restarted my phone (Bluetooth is mentioned in the Android troubleshooting though I don’t see any reference to this switch using Bluetooth for provisioning but thought I would try it anyway). I initiate the scans while right next to the switch.
I have a lot of smart switches but this is my first Matter device so sorry if I did something obviously wrong but I have seen some posts with similar issues on other Inovelli switches (Blue Series 2-1 Won't Enter Pairing Mode - #8 by MasterDevwi). Any help or advice would be appreciated.
@mbogo.misc, I’m in the same boat. I had switches paired and working fine, then reset power to them for an unrelated reason and they acted like they factory reset. I tried all the things you mentioned including physically removing the switch and putting it back in where a working switch was and still no luck.
I know you said you factory reset them, but the behavior you describe is exactly what would be expected if the factory reset didn’t stick or the pairing wasn’t locally reset on the device somehow.
Matter pairing codes are one-time use only. Once it has been paired with a controller, the QR code won’t work with anything else, period. The intended method of pairing them with an additional controller is to have the first controller generate a new 1-time pairing code that will be used with the next controller. It will be entirely different to what is on the box. And so on. The 1-time pairing code/QR code is an intentional Matter feature.
(I’m sorry for stating the obvious - I’m posting this in case others stumble into it and don’t know.)
As you expect, a successful factory reset or local pairing reset is the only way to re-enables the original QR code or pairing code.
I have had problems with Matter devices in the past where factory-reset procedures were not documented correctly and the reset didn’t happen. It was a different manufacturer (Tuo/arre) but the symptoms were exactly the same. It caused me a great deal of consternation until I discovered by accident that the documented procedure was a soft reset only. A hard/factory reset required an additional undocumented step. Once that was solved - pairing went perfectly.
In this case, pay extra attention to make sure that the switch factory reset really did “stick”. That is the entire key to having a start-over with pairing. Without the factory reset, the QR and pairing codes might as well be artwork on a wall somewhere.
Also; there is no passive “pairing mode” like with Zigbee / blue switches. With Matter/Thread devices like the White 2-1 commissioning is normally via close-range via explicit Bluetooth BLE. What’ll normally happen is your phone will configure the switch’s Thread stack to get it onto your Thread network and proceed from there. Wifi isn’t a factor - it works over hardwired ethernet too.
One qualification on that: it is relatively common for devices to shut down their provisioning system after being powered on and inactive for a period of time. I don’t personally know if the white 2-1 switches are like this. It may still be required to reactivate pairing mode on an unprovisioned switch that has been left inactive for a while. (But again, if the switch still knows about a Matter controller then this won’t help).
Thanks for the reply. I had surmised as much about the QR code from reading through all of the docs and about Matter in general but thanks for confirming this. Re-reading the manual for the 100th time, it says that the switch should enter pairing mode after scanning/entering the pairing code during the hub pairing setup on the phone so it seems likely that code is not being honored anymore by the switch since it never enters pairing mode at this step.
For the record this is the procedure that I am using to perform the factory reset:
Press and hold the top paddle button on the switch
Press and hold the config button on the switch
Keep both pressed for 20 seconds - the status light will change to green, then yellow, and then red once the reset is complete
The manual/docs explicitly say to do this if the switch is not pulsing to indicate that it is in pairing mode and my switch does go through the described light sequence. So if anyone knows another reset process for Inovelli switches that I can try please let me know.
My White Fan Switch finally shipped so I will have another matter device to test out soon to help see if there is something wrong with my network setup.
@peter, the fact that Matter codes are one time use is new to me. Question is now how do you do a hard factory reset?
@mbogo.misc, if it makes you feel better, I’m encountering the same issues. I followed the same “factory reset” proceedure as noted online and in the manual.
This is making me second guess going with the White series rather than the Blue or Red. I don’t regret going with Inovelli switches at all, but it seems like Matter and Thread are still a moving target.
I have not had to do a hard reset on an Inovelli white switch. I have had to do hard resets on other brands of matter/thread devices over the last 1-2 years - most commonly Eve, Tuo/arre, Aqara.
Documentation on this process and the significance of it is near universally bad across most manufacturers. Many have barely adequate pairing instructions in the box but nothing about resetting - you have to find reset instructions on an obscure pdf somewhere on an obscure website. Or even have outright wrong instructions (looking at you, Tuo/arre). Inovelli’s is better than most but it can be difficult to find the correct docs and not the generic ones for the rest of their switch family - my searches sent me to the wrong docs regularly. I was going to suggest Inovelli should put the docs on the product page but then I discovered a whole trove of dynamic material that I hadn’t seen before, including an online manual. Oops.
Do note that they did change the LED blink sequence for a factory reset in the 1.0.5 firmware. I know you don’t have 1.0.5 yet, but they may have updated the docs to have the new reset blink pattern.
Also note the instructions about getting it back into pairing mode after it has been reset or powered on for a few minutes. IIRC it has to be pulsing blue - otherwise pairing is inactive. If you do a hard reset and take too long to begin trying to pair it again it will have shut down and you’ll have to wake up pairing mode again with the three taps to the top paddle.
It is so easy for documentation to become tech-debt in the tech world - we’re all guilty of it.
I think the documentation you found is slightly out of date. According to the email regarding the firmware update, the new firmware denotes a factory reset with three red blinks, but mine is still under the old firmware’s blink cyan, green/yellow (based on nutral or non-nutral), and then blue.
Also I think you miss-read the manual pairing mode: it should be tap the config button three times rather than the top paddle. I’ve tried both ways and didn’t get anywhere either way. It appears like you said in the first place: the one-time use matter code has been used and did not reset with the factory reset.
The one-time code thing only applies if the device thinks it is paired. If a Matter device has local details for a controller stored in its local configuration then it Must Not use the original code to re-pair. Force-wiping the local controller binding is normally done via a factory reset process. If that truly isn’t working then that’s a major firmware gaffe.
I’ve done resets and re-pair with the original QR code many times on devices from other manufacturers. The trick has always been how to get the device in question to actually fully reset.
If it won’t go into the blue pulsing “ready to pair” mode afterwards then that is concerning. It might be support ticket time.
Factory Reset Optimization: Aligned behavior with other products. The LED bar will now blink three times in red to confirm a successful reset.
Network Joining Issue Resolved: Fixed a critical bug that prevented some switches from joining a new network.
Hmm. #2 sounds a bit suspicious and perhaps is relevant. It is vague but I can see a way to interpret it as not being able to join a new network after a reset.
More specifically, they are one-time use until you factory reset the switch, after which they can be used again. You will need additional codes to pair to additional fabrics / controller ecosystems (up to 5 controllers are permitted, but Apple uses one for keychain management, so consider the limit to be 4 if you are using Apple Home). Additional codes are dynamically generated from existing paired controllers (on Apple, tap a devices ‘gear’ icon to go to the settings page and generate another code; similar for Google Home; on Home Assistant, there’s a “Share Device” option on the device’s web page that will generate the QR code.
If you use Home Assistant, I’ve found the most reliable configuration to be to pair the device to Home Assistant only, and then share from Home Assistant to Apple / Google using Home Assistant’s built-in bridging.
Or, after a factory reset, pull the air-gap switch and restart the switch. The switch will then enter into pairing mode for about 15 minutes (the Matter standard requires that an unpaired device enters pairing mode for a limited time upon a power reset - the length of time isn’t specified in the standard, but I think Inovelli uses ~15 minutes).
On firmware 1.0.0 there is a random bug where a switch may drop and factory reset itself. It actually happened to 3 of my switches. There is no recovery from this. The switch will be a dud afterwards unless you have the pin connector to connect to the chipset to re-flash it.
If a switch drops into a no response state on its own, I highly recommend factory resetting and setting up again vs pulling air-gap. I’ve tested this out with Eric on a couple of switches and after the air-gap pull the switch fell into a factory reset state and became unresponsive to pairing.
Firmware 1.0.5 addresses these issues. It will no longer fall into that state. On top of that it boosted the Thread radios to address some poor signal issues that were being reported.
On Apple Matter services, any previously paired switch that needs to be re-paired must be removed from the Home app as well as Keychains (settings > general > matter accessories)(if you didn’t note the serial number, to find the correct one to remove give it some time and look for a device that doesn’t list the home name under it)
I’ve been running 1.0.5 for well over a month now and these switches are solid as can be.
You don’t. You send it back to inovelli and they replace yours. They’ll re-flash it and sell it again
I only know about the pin connectors due to conversations about flashing the Zigbee switch to matter/thread. If I remember correctly one guy made his own by just ramming jumpers in there but it’s really nothing you should be doing when it’s free warranty replacement on bad switches.
I got my White Fan switch, installed it, and it immediately connected and I have full control over it. I tried one more time to connect the light switch and it still experiences the same behavior so it looks like my next step is an RMA for the light switch. Thanks to everyone who responded!
