Running Home Assistant (HA)/zigbee2MQTT in Docker.
Purchased a (Ngnsky) BR30 bulb from Amazon. Advertised as: Zigbee BR30 Smart Bulb Compatible with Alexa & Google Home SmartThings, App & Voice Control&Remote Control & Dimmable RGBCW 12W.
Turned bulb on/off 5X. Bulb began to flash - I assume signaling pairing mode. Logged into zigbee2MQTT and selected ‘Permit Join (All)’. The BR30 displays as paired (it registers as Tuya; Model TS0505B_1). Moved to HA (Settings > Devices) and found BR30 listed under MQTT. Added ‘BR30 Controls’ to Dashboard. ON/OFF works. Color selection (not impressive, but) works. However, when ‘on’, the bulb keeps flashing, i.e., it does not put out constant light. Is this just incompatible or is there an additional configuration step I am missing?
Are the flashes random, or do they follow a pattern like it’s in pairing mode?
Are you turning it off & on from the physical switch when this happens? If not, what happens if you do?
What kind of switch is it connected to? If it’s a smart switch, the bulb might be just below it minimum power load.
Can you check on the device page whether it has an effect set? Something like eg. “blink”? Also, check if it’s got the annoying feature which turns on the bulb when it hears sound (party mode or similar) enabled
Thanks for the response ShadowFist,
- Flashes are steady, similar to when I first put it into pairing mode.
- It is connected to a ‘dumb’ switch. The switch does have a mechanical dimmer. I currently have the dimmer set to max.
- When the bulb is initially turned on, it is steady white. I can change color, but (it seems) if I select too bright a color (e.g., red, blue, green) the bulb begins to flash. If I select white again flashing stops and I get steady white. If, during flashing (e.g., red) I turn off/on using the mechanical switch, the bulb comes back on white and steady.
- The bulb does indeed have an ‘effect set’. It is active and displayed on my dashboard. The ‘effect set’ has the following elements; blink, breathe, okay, channel_change, finish_effect, stop_effect, colorloop, stop_colorloop. I currently have ‘okay’ selected. Have to admit, I’m not understanding the ‘effect set’.
In the ‘effects’ window there is a button for ‘brightness’. Bulb brightness control is not impressive, but changing the ‘brightness’ is represented by a percentage number in the window. I note with the bulb white, the bulb is steady white until I reach ca. 22% ‘brightness’. At 22% the bulb begins blinking (albeit slow) white. If I increase ‘brightness’ above 22%, bulb becomes steady again. Note this is not true for anything other than white. Even at 100% brightness, if I select color, the bulb blinks.
First things first - when you reply to someone, hit the reply icon under their post and not the Blue “generic” reply icon. That way I would have been notified you replied instead of relying on dumb luck.
Secondly, I spot a couple of things which might cause your issues:
- Connecting it to a dimmer (even at max) might cause the issues you are seeing because dimmers essentially chop up the signal. If you have a lamp (or just a lamp holder) on a plug, that would help isolate the issue.
- The effect should be
null(or none) by default. Not sure why yours is set tookay, but try publishing a message with null like the link I gave you says.
If the above still don’t work, it could be just the fact that it’s a shitty bulb. I have a similar model of light strip controller (TS0504B), and it works, but isn’t great.
Might be worth thinking of returning it in favour of a zigbee bulb with more stability.
Thanks ShadowFist. I’ll be sure to look for the proper ‘reply’ button.
Will give suggestions a try this evening and report back.
Forgot to add. Pretty sure I saw an issue or 2 regarding this kind of brightness behaviour on this model reported in the Z2M GitHub when I first replied to you.
I tried searching for it again but can’t seem to find it, sorry.
OK, I don’t understand bullet No. 2. Kinda new to this stuff, and am unclear how to set effect to null.
Are you using this bulb with a track?
I am deeply suspicious of the dimmer. It can cause LED lights to flash with VERY surprising regularity, and your first guess would not be that it’s an electrical issue.
Moved the bulb to a simple lamp with a plug. Same behavior.
The ‘effect set’ I mentioned in my earlier post seems standard for Smart Bulbs. I don’t understand the suggestion to set this to ‘null’.
I have one-by-one selected each option in the ‘effect set’. Each time a new effect is selected, the bulb flashes as if accepting the new assignment. I am able to select the ‘media’ switch for the bulb and select a color. If I select colors on the NW (blue) side of the wheel the bulb shines steady blue, but if I select colors on the SE (red/green) side of the wheel the bulb blinks the selected color. very strange. Behavior seems independent of the ‘effect’ selected.
Played with this a little over the weekend. Installed MQTT Explorer & gained some familiarity with changing “states” and “effects”. Setting “effect” to “null” did not throw an error, but did not resolve the issue either.
I am resolved to accept the fact that the acquired bulb is most likely not compatible with zigbee. I only purchased two devices (the bulb and four Third Reality Smart Plugs) when embarking on this little (Home Assistant) adventure. The Plugs work great. Probably should have stuck with a bulb of known compatibility for my initial trial. Happy to hear any additional thoughts if you have some. Meanwhile, I’ll start shopping for a different bulb.