Hue Lights - Failure to Load Error Messages

I have been experiencing an issue with my plug-in. Running version 1.6.13 with two bridges.

I recently changed my network by adding a VLAN recently for my IoT devices (Nest Cameras, Thermostats, and other things). My Indigo instance and Hue bridges are all still on the same instance. of the network and no IP addresses or anything changed. However I have now started seeing the following errors about twice a day. I can reload the drivers just fine, but the time out comes up later again,

Jul 23, 2018 at 11:10:27
Hue Lights Lower Error Failed to load sensors list from the Hue hub at 10.0.1.55 after 4 seconds - check settings and retry.
Hue Lights Upper Error Failed to load sensors list from the Hue hub at 10.0.1.8 after 4 seconds - check settings and retry.

Jul 23, 2018 at 11:10:46
Hue Lights Lower Error Failed to load lights list from the Hue hub at 10.0.1.55 after 4 seconds - check settings and retry.
Hue Lights Lower Error Failed to load groups list from the Hue hub at 10.0.1.55 after 4 seconds - check settings and retry.
Hue Lights Upper Error Failed to load lights list from the Hue hub at 10.0.1.8 after 4 seconds - check settings and retry.
Hue Lights Lower Error Failed to load sensors list from the Hue hub at 10.0.1.55 after 4 seconds - check settings and retry.
Hue Lights Upper Error Failed to load groups list from the Hue hub at 10.0.1.8 after 4 seconds - check settings and retry.
Hue Lights Upper Error Failed to load sensors list from the Hue hub at 10.0.1.8 after 4 seconds - check settings and retry.
Hue Lights Upper Error Failed to connect to the Hue hub at 10.0.1.8. - Check that the hub is connected, turned on and the network settings are correct.
Hue Lights Lower Error Failed to connect to the Hue hub at 10.0.1.55. - Check that the hub is connected, turned on and the network settings are correct.
Hue Lights Upper Error Failed to connect to the Hue hub at 10.0.1.8. - Check that the hub is connected, turned on and the network settings are correct.

After seeing the error I run the reload and all lis there.

Reloading plugin "Hue Lights Lower 1.6.13"
Stopping plugin "Hue Lights Lower 1.6.13" (pid 9765)
Stopped plugin "Hue Lights Lower 1.6.13"
Starting plugin "Hue Lights Lower 1.6.13" (pid 10907)
Started plugin "Hue Lights Lower 1.6.13"
Hue Lights Lower Loaded 47 lights.
Hue Lights Lower Loaded 13 groups.
Hue Lights Lower Loaded 54 scenes.
Hue Lights Lower Loaded 4 sensors.
Trigger Occupancy - Office - False
Updated "Office - Sensor - Motion" off
Reloading plugin "Hue Lights Upper 1.6.13"
Stopping plugin "Hue Lights Upper 1.6.13" (pid 9767)
Stopped plugin "Hue Lights Upper 1.6.13"
Starting plugin "Hue Lights Upper 1.6.13" (pid 10911)
Started plugin "Hue Lights Upper 1.6.13"
Hue Lights Upper Loaded 41 lights.
Hue Lights Upper Loaded 11 groups.
Hue Lights Upper Loaded 73 scenes.
Hue Lights Upper Loaded 2 sensors.

So I am wondering what might be happening.
As an FYI - I use an all Ubiquiti hardware network with the Cloud Key and USG router. All end points are wired gigabit to the end point getting that speed. I use very little wireless connectivity.

Hi Jim.

I can't think of anything with Indigo or the Hue Lights plugin that would cause it to periodically not be able to communicate with the Hue bridge. If the problems seem to have begun soon after implementing new VLANs, it seems plausible that the communication issue could be related to network routing in some way. Twice a day seems odd. Do the communication issues happen around the same time the DHCP lease on one of the Hue bridges (or the Mac with Indigo on it) are renewed? I'm not a network engineer, though, so I couldn't really say where to look in your Ubiquiti gear for possible issues. Maybe look at the router logs for the time where the errors start to appear.

That is a good point - leases were set for 1 day. Let me play with that and see if that is what is happening. Interesting because they are both on fixed ip!

I love this plugin and find it indispensable in my setup. However for the last several days I've been experiencing the following in my Indigo event log:

Nov 12, 2019 at 9:53:57 PM
Hue Lights Error Failed to load sensors list from the Hue bridge at 192.168.2.158 after 4 seconds - check settings and retry.
Hue Lights Error Failed to load lights list from the Hue bridge at 192.168.2.158 after 4 seconds - check settings and retry.
Nov 12, 2019 at 11:32:45 PM
Hue Lights Error Failed to load sensors list from the Hue bridge at 192.168.2.158 after 4 seconds - check settings and retry.
Nov 12, 2019 at 11:43:21 PM
Hue Lights Error Unable to obtain list of Hue lights from the bridge.timed out
Nov 13, 2019 at 7:54:23 AM
Hue Lights Error Unable to obtain list of Hue lights from the bridge.No JSON object could be decoded

I'm currently running v1.7.16, and have been experiencing this with the last 5 -6 version releases. Nothing has changed in my network or hardware configuration. Only change has been my upgrading to the newer versions of the Huel Lights plugins as they have been released. - hoping it may resolve this error.

Suggestions welcomed.

THANKS!

Those appear to be intermittent errors. The root cause of that kind of thing can be difficult to track down, so it's going to be a trial and error process of elimination I'm afraid.

Start with the easiest. If you think it might be the Hue Lights plugin itself, all previous versions remain available for download, so you can downgrade to any previous version all the way back to 1.0 if you like. I'm 99% sure that won't help as I've not changed the Hue bridge pairing or connectivity code in years (all these recent updates are just adding specific light model support). You can download any previous version if you know the version number you want by going to the URL

Code: Select all

http://www.nathansheldon.com/files/Hue-Lights-1.x.y.zip

where "x" and "y" in the above URL are the minor version and patch version numbers of the plugin. So, if you want to download version 1.7.9, you'd go to the URL

Code: Select all

http://www.nathansheldon.com/files/Hue-Lights-1.7.9.zip

You can also download older versions back to 1.6.10 from the Indigo Plugin Store by going to the Hue Lights plugin page (https://www.indigodomo.com/pluginstore/21/), clicking on the "Releases" tab, then clicking on the version number you want and then the "Download this release" link.

If downgrading doesn't fix it, you'll then need to start with the more time consuming tests.

• Check every network cable between the Indigo server and the Hue bridge. Make sure there are no loose plugs on the cable ends, it's secure in the socket and that there aren't any places where the cable is pinched or folded.
• Try rebooting the Indigo server.
• Try restarting the Hue bridge.
• Try rebooting your router.
• If you have any network switches between the Indigo server and the Hue bridge, try rebooting each of them.
• If you're using Wi-FI on the Mac, switch to using a wired connection instead. It's more reliable.

Let us know if any of that helps.

Thanks Nathan.
I'll give your suggestions a try and report back with my findings.
Cheers,
-rick

I've just had the message referenced above start displaying. The problem is, I've 'upgraded' everything in the system in the past three days. I went from Indigo 7.2 to Indigo 7.4, from a biodegrading 2011 MacBook Air to a 2018 Mac mini (with, of course Catalina instead of High Sierra) and installed the latest Hue plugin.

I was using a WiFi connection. which works just fine as far as I can tell (no equipment to test it), and other devices seem to work OK (not that it means that much). Everything seems to work fine, but I get that message every three/four minutes. I used WiFi on my MacBook Air with Indigo for years with no problem like this.

I tried the suggestions above, and then your suggestion to use an ethernet connection, and that seems to have eliminated the message. I would hate to have to run a wired connection to the Mac, as it involves clambering around in the attic and I'm 77 years old with bad knees.

Any clarifications on the Mac WiFi being unreliable? Or other suggestions?

Mike

Hi Mike.

I’m glad you were able to narrow down the issue to the wi-fi connection. Now comes the equally tedious task of narrowing down what aspect of the wi-fi connection is the problem.

There are known issues with USB 3 devices possibly causing wi-fi and Bluetooth interference. If you have any USB 3 devices attached to your Mac mini, they might be the source of wi-fi interference. Your old MacBook Air wouldn’t have suffered from that as it wouldn’t have supported USB 3. Apple has some suggestions on how to prevent USB 3 interference at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201542. Hopefully some of those suggestions will help. I definitely wouldn’t recommend crawling around on your knees to run Ethernet.

I tried this 'fix', found on the internet. It seems to have cured the problem… no error messages in an hour instead of ever 4 to 5 minutes.

https://macreports.com/mac-catalina-wi-fi-problems-fix/

It's probably not a coincidence that Hardware Growler stopped giving me some cryptic messages at the same time.



Mike

Hi Mike.

Good find! I’m glad you were able to find and fix the issue.