White Switch Stops Working Daily

Product Support
21

What switch type do you have (Dimmer, On/Off, Fan) and what software version are you running?

What brand is your Border Router?

22

I’ve got about 2 dozen dimmers running 1.0.5 and 2 fan switches running 1.0.0. All connected to Home Assistant via a SkyConnect/ZBT-1.

The dimmers work perfectly fine. I don’t think I’ve ever had one lock up, yet. It’s just the fan switches that consistently lock up, just as everyone else describes here.

23

I’ve read this entire thread (no pun intended) and can resolve most of the issues that are spoken about. I’ll take what appears to be the most common first -

  1. Lack of sufficient load: If you put too few LED bulbs on an Inovelli dimmer, you will have unpredictable behavior. Install a capacitor to prevent flickering in low-load, dimmable LED circuits. They are typically called a Load Capacitor, Dimmer Bypass, or a Power Factor Correction Capacitor (often 4μF4 mu 4𝜇𝐹 in the UK) (e.g., Lutron LUT-MLC or Fibaro Bypass). Install in parallel with the load (at the light fixture) to provide a sufficient minimum load, preventing TRIAC-based dimmers from flickering or failing to turn off completely. I read where one individual said that this was not the problem because it worked when he had a Lutron Caseta switch in the circuit. Rather that prove that the need for a capacitor is not the problem, the fact that the Lutron Caseta switch worked proves that the lack of a capacitor is the problem. Lutron Caseta switches were designed specifically to avoid the low-load issue. I replaced a lot of WiFi and matter over thread switches with Lutron Caseta switches before I learned that all I really needed to do was install a capacitor bypass at the load.
  2. You have six Google Nest Pro mesh points. Anything over five will result in an unstable WiFi mesh, a known issue with Nest Pro mesh points. Take out one mesh point.
  3. Each Google Nest mesh point is also a thread border router. A lot of other devices (e.g., HomePod Minis) act a Thread border routers. The Google Nest Pros will fight other border routers for lead control. In many cases, this will result in multiple parallel thread networks that constantly fight and remain unstable. The fix: Install a friendly mesh system (one in which access points don’t act as border routers) or be very careful with what other border routers you install.