Indigo Domotics

Hi, there.

I am having an interesting problem with the LIFX Controller plugin that may have started after a recent access point firmware update. I have three bulbs that work for a while, then display "No Ack" in Indigo. The only way I can get them back is to restart the access point for those bulbs. The interesting part is that before restarting the access point I can continue to control these bulbs with the LIFX App so I know the bulbs are online and accessible. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Dennis

Thanks for the report.

Yes, I have noticed this happening as well (on occasion). It is something I need to look into but it hadn't got to the top of my list.

I'll take a look but it may be a while before I can progress it as other things are getting in the way at the moment.

Just as a quick follow-up, what do you have your polling interval set to in the plugin configuration?

I have mine set to Every 30 seconds - this can sometimes help with recovering form a no ack situation.

Sorry, I just noticed your response. This issue was resolved by making a network configuration change to my Ubiquiti UniFi controller.


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dkillmer wrote:

Sorry, I just noticed your response. This issue was resolved by making a network configuration change to my Ubiquiti UniFi controller.

That's interesting - I also use Ubiquiti UniFi networking.
What was the setting that improved the situation for you?

I turned off auto-optimize network and all is well.


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I have this issue too. Seems to be most prominent on an Original 1000. Even with poll every x seconds its still persists.
I have a unifi network also and to test turned off all advanced features, still the ssme issue.

Unifi controller does state high wifi retries for this bulb but its 2m away from AP and only a plasterboard and wood stud wall between.

I have a colour 1000 20m away behind a brick wall and that one seems fine.

Ping to the bulb never times our when issue occurs so im at a loss as to what yhe isdue iss. Works 100% of yhe time via lifx app but my 3 year old can use a button to turn her lamp on, not sure i want her firing up a phone/tablet in the night

Any ideas?

Hi Andy,
So is the bulb going permanently no-ack in Indigo? If so is this straight away or does it do this after a period of time?

I haven't seen this recently but then again I have upgraded all my LIFX bulbs to A19+.

It goes to no ack after a period of time. Pretty quick. If i turn the bulb on and off a few times via indigo on the 3rd or more times it goes to no ack and i am told “unable to process “TurnOff” for “Lamp” as device not connected. If i restart the plugin it is discovered and works again for a bit. Sometimes on poll it works again but Not always. Restarting the plugin seems to make it work again every time.

Yeah the only reason both lifx bulbs i have are not original 1000s is because one got so hot it terminated itself. Managed to get a newer one on warranty. Keep looking to buy more wheN Amazon has them on offer but waiting for a deal on candle bulbs to see if they are any good/bright enough.

I will take another look at how the plugin handles no-ack situations.

Thanks!

I don't know if it helps as its not very conclusive but the problem seems much worse if someone has turned off the other LIFX bulb at the wall. If that bulb is off it seems that no matter what the poll interval is set to, both bulbs show no ack. One is physically powered off but the other is still powered on but only controllable from the life app.

Might help in replicating the issue I am seeing?

With both bulbs powered the original bulb still often goes to no ack but then so does the newer colour 1000 but just less frequent. If one is powered off though, the problem is exagerated.

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help with data. Not urgent just a pain in the bum

Jon, thanks for putting together a great plugin! I just received my LIFX bulbs last week, 3 x BR30+ and 1 x A19+. The A19+ worked perfectly from the beginning. The BR30+ units were a totally different story. Only one worked like the A19+, the other two displayed the same symptoms as described in this thread, loosing network connectivity, No ACK, etc. The funny thing is that all four bulbs worked perfectly in my home office where my main Airport Extreme is located, but only two bulbs would work when associated with my other two downstream Airport Extremes. The other two Airport extremes are behind a Netgear managed switch. The one BR30+ that did work had a variant ID of an A19, whereas the two non-functioning BR30+ units had the proper variant ID. Very strange.... From all that I can read online, people seem to think that these issues are IP networking problems based upon LIFX's protocol implementation (no real evidence, but makes sense). I returned the three BR30+ units to Best Buy, and ordered another A19+. Hoping it's a variant issue..... In the end, it does not appear to have anything to do with your plugin, and I really appreciate your effort!

Thanks for the feedback

I came across this post on the LIFX site: Airtime Fairness which makes interesting reading.

I haven't had an opportunity to investigate this in any detail yet.

I use Ubiquiti UniFi UAPs and I found this post which seems a bit involved: Disabling WMM on Ubiquiti UniFi UAPs and post linked to the Airtime Fairness post noted above.

It seems like it is an advisable thing to do with the implication that it will make things better - we'l see.

Thanks Jon, that was helpful. I took a look at the Netgear switches last night and they were configured for QoS due to a of number of security cameras traversing through them. The two remote Apple Airport Extreme bridges were also traversing through the Netgear switches. I patched the remote Airports to bypass the switches and directly connect to the primary Airport Extreme Router. Voila, problem solved, the LIFX bulbs will now connect to any access point and no longer respond with No Ack..... It appears that you were correct, it's a QoS issue.