I have bought a few cheap Zigbee switches from AliExpress (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005739398212.html - TZ3000_46t1rvdu) and one of them is turning itself on and off, sometimes just on and I can’t figure out why.
The setup:
Home Assistant Docker Image + Zigbee Sonoff USB Dongle + ZHA;
Led fixture is connected to the switch, 2 rocker switches are connected to the switch per diagram provided on product page on AliExpress.
No automations, no scenes, no other sensors/devices to control the switch so far, just the old two rocker switches and one toggle in Home Assistant.
I have another switch that’s connected to the lights outside the house, no switches to control the light, just turn on at x hour, off at y, had no problem with it. Same, from AliExpress, same, cheap and Zigbee.
Sometimes they might just be defective. I had a sonoff mini, that always turned off immediately when I turned it on. Tried repairing it many times but still the same outcome. I replaced it with another of the same and no issues.
Entrée Light Switch Light turned off
9:31:19 PM - 24 seconds ago
Entrée Light Switch Light turned on
9:31:19 PM - 24 seconds ago
Entrée Light Switch Light turned off
9:26:13 PM - 6 minutes ago
Entrée Light Switch Light turned on
9:26:13 PM - 6 minutes ago
@HarvinDhillon - I just finished setting up the exact same switch (ordered 2 identical ones), just to see if this one is defective. The only difference is that it uses a led lightbulb instead of led fixture but it has the same setup (as in 2 wall rocker switches just like the one that causes me problems). I’ll just wait and check the Logbook.
After some testing I think the problem lies with the led fixture.
I changed the switches, one was left overnight with two rocker switches and one led lightbulb and the other one with two rocker switches and the led fixture.
The one with the led lightbulb stayed off, it would not show in HA Logbook with on off, being triggered by itself while the one connected to the led fixture did that.
After switching them, the one that was ok with the led lightbulb started acting the same as the one that was previously connected to the led fixture and vice versa.
Which leads me to believe that somehow the led fixture does not play well with the switch.
One note: they are the same switches, ordered the same model from the same seller on AliExpress.
Since I’m ordering switches from AliExpress (half the price there and the same brands as what’s available locally for double the price) it does take some time to get more models and see what works and what doesn’t work for me.
These were like $3.80 apiece, so really, even if they don’t work with wall switches, I’ll find some use for them.
I was curious if others had the same problem and if not and someone will search and end up here, maybe this topic will help them.
Might just be radio interference from the LED fixture interacting with the switch. Can you test with greater physical separation between the switch and the LED fixture?
I’ll have to take a look later today but I think it has its own power supply inside of it.
About the LED bulb, it is not smart, just the cheapest led lightbulb you can find, tested the switches with it and they don’t act up as they do with the led fixture.
Could test this only if I took down the led fixture.
At the moment it looks something like this:
Been busy this week, couldn’t test the spare switch with other led powered fixtures that I have laying around, hope I’ll be able to get to it this weekend.
Could you instead extend the wires and relocate the smart switch down to the floor for temporary testing? You did say you had another one working ok with an outside light so I’m thinking distance might be a factor.
Honestly I don’t think I can move the switch behind the wall rocker switch because I’d need to run some new wires and I only have on conduit from the junction box down to the wall switch and it’s full.
Running another conduit it is kind of pain in the ass there.
What I didn’t think of until now:
If indeed it might be interferences, might be because:
It is a 2 way setup so:
2 Two Way wall rocker switches which adds up to 3 total light circuits, the switch sits in the middle (each half of the wall rocker switches that controls the zigbee switch controls another light circuit - they are all on the same breaker though).
I’ll start looking into another led fixture to replace the existing one and if the problem still persists, then maybe it’s interferences?
" The problem is often in the LED lights themselves. The LED lights emit too much electromagnetic radiation.When they are connected to the same bandwidth as other electrical devices, this causes interference . It is also possible that the LED lights interfere with the radio through the wiring." - from Google.
Then, this is the only switch that is connected to a wall switch and shares the wall switch with another 2 light circuits, which both have LED lights. That would explain why the other one does not turn on and off by itself without user input, because the wall switches that command it are not themselves connected to any other light circuits.
I have never seen LED fixture interference, but almost all of my switches are WiFi or Z-Wave. However if noise is the problem, then try putting a couple of ferrite beads on the wires connected to the light fixture.
Make sure your wire will fit inside the bead.
Another thought, disconnect the wires at S1 and S2. If the problem ceases then the wires could be acting as antennas. Ferrite beads on S1 and S2 would help there as well.
At the moment I’m experimenting. Have one switch that does not have the s1 s2 used, it’s a timer basically for the lights outside the house, no problem.
Another one is used to measure the power used by all the raspberry pi, cameras and one windows machine, they all run 24/7, no problems, s1 and s2 are not used.
The other one, same one as the one that’s causing problems, it’s in the attic, s1 and s2 are connected but the wall switches that are connected to s1 and s2 of the switch do not have any other light circuits to them, no problems with it.
All of the above switches are L L’ N’ N S1 S2.
I’m still waiting for different ZigBee switches ordered on AliExpress, since they are 1/3 of the price from what I can find locally and they are the exact ones from AliExpress so can’t do anything but wait.
Out of curiosity I will look for another led fixture for the hallway and see if it is also acting up.
From what I found online on my phone it seems that I don’t have too much choice in finding ferite beads so I’ll look tomorrow on my PC and if I can’t find anything that suits my needs I’ll order on AliExpress and wait.
Thank you again for this tip, never crossed my mind that these exist!
Really strange experience overall but exciting to get to the bottom of it.
