I just installed a white series switch, smart bulb mode on, connected to 3 hue bulbs (which are on the hue bridge.) The time between button press and lights coming on is somewhere between 1-2 seconds.
I enabled instant on (I think.) I thought the instructions said it would be a solid green bar, but it blinked green a few times. And I do still have the ability to double press and long press, so I’m not sure why it isn’t working.
I’ve turned the ramp speed down as far as it’ll go. And outside of instant on, I also changed the delay down to 300ms. No real change in response time.
So I thought it might be the signal traveling to the appleTV, to the hue bridge, to the bulb, which is making it take this long. So I changed 1 of the 3 bulbs to a Nanoleaf thread bulb. It has the exact same response time. It turns off a little faster, but that was less of a concern.
I checked the thread signal strength and it’s yellow. It’s the furthest from the other devices, but not like THAT far. Whereas other devices are on the same floor in adjoining rooms, this one is upstairs. I have an Eve plug coming tomorrow morning to put between them to see if that helps the signal. Could that really be causing this big delay? My other thread devices are instantaneous.
Lastly, the switch squeaks when I press the off button. I don’t know if that’s indicative of anything faulty, but it isn’t awesome.
I’m just about out of ideas, if the Eve plug doesn’t help. Thank you all in advance for any insight here.
I’ve noticed this too - if I control a light from my phone, the response is pretty instantaneous. But anything coming from the switch has a decent delay.
I think part of the problem is that “instant-on” is only applicable to normal light control, and the programmable actions always still have the delay. For instance - with non-smartbulb mode - you can do a double press and it’ll instantly turn on the light on the first click, but also honor the programmable double press action after the second click (which means it has to have a delay). And I’m guessing that smartbulb mode doesn’t change that… but it’s just a theory.
These are some good questions- thank you. I can’t test in that room now, as it’s our nursery. But you got me thinking.
I just tested the white series switch in our dining room (not smart bulb mode, turns those lights on instantaneously) and configured 2 Nanoleaf matter/thread bulbs in the living room to turn on with the dining room lights. The living room lights were still delayed, but it felt like maybe a half second faster than the bulbs in question.
And so the differences between the two setups:
Nursery switch thread connection is yellow, dining room is green
Nursery switch is in smart bulb mode, dining room isn’t
I’m going to put another thread device at the upstairs landing and see if that helps the signal.
Since only 1 of the 3 bulbs in the nursery were controlled by this switch, I’m considering reworking the load to the line and turning smart bulb mode off. Is that crazy?
Lastly, I only have the router, no additional access points. And it’s using that… blended 5/2.4ghz and then an additional IOT 2.4ghz channel.
I’d check your WiFi channel on your router and if it is on channel 11 it may be creating noise and if closer to the switch misbehaving it could be the issue.
I’m guessing your appletv is using channel 25 as most seem to have that be the case. You can go in to the Nanoleaf app and click on thread network and then click on the name above first device and it will tell you the channel number.
Thread is channel 25, hue/zigbee is channel 20, and my 2.4ghz band is channel 6(auto) with a width of 5, which- I don’t know a lot about this, but when I clicked on history, I saw channel 11 pop up a few times. There are still a few devices on my 5ghz band, like Ring cameras and our Owlet baby monitor camera (which is literally between the switch and the bulbs.) the 5 ghz 1 band says channel 132. The 5 GHz 2 band says channel 36. I didn’t realize I had two and I’m not sure I use both.
Does this tell us anything at all?
Edit: the ring and owlet are on that mixed band, which I don’t completely understand, but connection type does say 2.4ghz. Point being that they are not on the IoT 2.4ghz band, which was channel 6.
What are using for control / automation? If HomeAssistant, can you post the automation you are using to control the bulbs from the switch and I might be able to help.
I note that the delay is about 1-2 second until you notice the change. Most Matter and Zigbee bulbs have a default On and Off transition time of a few seconds, which may be part of what you are seeing. In HomeAssitant, you can alter that by adjusting the On Transition and the Off Transition parameters. You can’t change this from iOS. Your Hue bulbs may also have transitions set, but that might require adjustment from the Hue bridge.
You also mentioned changing the instant on feature. Instant On works by disabling the detection of button tap events (button tap detection imposes several hundred mS of delays and timeouts to determine when a tap sequence has completed), so if you are using button tap events to start your automation, you don’t want to disable that.
Hey thanks so much for the reply. I’m strictly trying to use Apple Home without home assistant or another hub just for simplicity.
This morning I put an Eve plug closer to this switch to try to strengthen the Thread signal. So I have the hue bulb right next to the Nanoleaf thread bulb in the same fixture and while there is still a noticeable delay- the Nanoleaf is now quicker than the hue, which makes more sense than what I was seeing yesterday.
I don’t necessarily need multiple button presses, if it means I’ve reduced the delay. So instant on is fine. But I have followed the directions to enable instant on and I’m still able to do multiple presses, so I don’t know what’s happening.
What I had in this room before this weekend was the GE Cync switch and 3 bulbs (not matter/Apple home compatible) and the response time was instantaneous- I believe because they use a Bluetooth mesh network with direct connect to WiFi for remote connection. So I’m comparing this to that experience and trying to replicate it.
Just a note here: I’ve done my best to actually time it.
The hue bulb is at about 1.7 seconds
And the Nanoleaf is about 1.4 seconds
A different switch to dumb bulbs is about 1 second (which is great)
Here is what Iwould do. Don’t worry about your 5ghz stuff. It is irrelevant.
Change your 2.4 off of auto and put down at channel 1. 20 for Zigbee is just inside Chanel 11 and 25 for thread is other end of channel 11. Channel 6 should be ok but you said you see 11 in history.
If your access point is roaming around to channel 11 it can affect both your Zigbee and thread network.
At least if you do this you can kind of rule out your WiFi as a potential issue to keep testing.
How is your appleTV hooked to your network? Wires or wireless? Do you have more than 1 Apple TV that acts as a border router (they don’t all support thread)? If more than 1, under apple home settings → home hub and bridges do you have it set to auto? If so set it to your newest appleTV / HomePod .
It should all be pretty fast unless it is having to retry. Definitely going switch to appleTV to but hub to bulb will take a fraction longer but not that much longer.
When I went thread I decided to wean off Zigbee. Also, did you enable matter on your hue hub or are you using the native HomeKit integration that has always been there with but and apple home?
Okay I just moved 2.4 from channel 6 to channel 1. I just have 1 Apple TV and it is on WiFi, but u could hardwire it- it is about 8 ft from the router. I have gig internet, which has always been strong and fast, so I didn’t think that was a big factor.
I stuck an eve plug between the other bulbs and this switch yesterday and it showed up as a “router” which is normal, but today it’s showing up as “transport”, not sure if that happened before or after changing the channel of my WiFi. And I’m curious if you know the difference.
I tried enabling the matter connection on the hue bridge, but I can’t figure out how… because the app says I’m up to date and I’ve tried to figure out where else to look. But that shouldn’t make a difference, right? Since the bulbs are still connected via zigbee.
I’ll report back in a bit, if there’s any change. Thanks again!
