Group Mystery..

[slicker55]

Yesterday, I added 6 Philips hue colour ambiance bulbs to my system and named them Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

I can control them all (via Alexa) at device level (on/off, colour, brilliance %)

I grouped these devices and named the Group 'Patio'

The Group works as expected - simultaneous control of all 6 bulbs (on/off, colour, brilliance %)

When all the bulbs are OFF, I can turn them ON and OFF individually but no longer, change their colour or brilliance %

This is odd because I have other Groups and devices in my setup which I can control as a Group or individually.

Anyone come across this?

[dragon123]

Naming your bulbs anything that resembles an 'reserved word' (trigger words used in software programming) isn't smart. If it works at all. In your case I would strongly recommend renaming your bulbs!
Try patio 1, patio 2, etc something like that.

[slicker55]

Thank you for your help and advice - I wasn't aware of this - something else to add to a growing list of considerations when defining names...

Initially, the 6 bulbs were named Irish 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

The GROUP worked fine but control of individual bulbs in the GROUP was limited to On/Off

Someone suggested changing the format to Irish_1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

I tried this but it didn't make any difference.

I have also tried:

Deleting these 6 bulbs and the Group in the Alexa App
Deleting these 6 bulbs in the Hue App, adding them as new bulbs and renaming them
Re-discovering the 6 new bulbs in the Alexa App

At this stage:
All 6 bulbs work as they should (on/off, colours change, brilliance %)

Next:
Create a new GROUP in Alexa App
Choose a different name for this new GROUP
Add any 1 (or more) of the 6 bulbs to this GROUP

At this stage:
I can control the GROUP  (on/off, colours change, brilliance %) - all bulbs in that GROUP respond simultaneously
However, control of individual bulbs in that GROUP is now limited to on/off (I can not change the colour or brilliance %)

[scottrods]

Could be you've run out of space on the bridge... how many other Hue items on the same bridge? The limitations when adding bulbs can be frustrating, especially when you give them multiple "jobs" and each one and each group gets a bunch of scenes, like it or not. If the memory fills on the bridge, you can find yourself having the issues you are dealing with. May be time to be a second (or third) Hue Bridge.

[asianrocker]

My solution to that is put that 1 bulb in a group. Then you can control it again. So ya only 1 bulb in a group. Ok.

So you will have 6 group for that 6 bulbs. Crazy but i assure you that will work.


Ok just tried to control my 1 hue bulb that is in a group.it works but alexa does give error msg. What command do you use exactly. I find that if I don't use percent after number value it gives me error.

I only have 2 white lamp in that group though.

So I think you are just not using correct syntax.

But if you put  1 bulb in a group  100 percent  sure you can control it easily.

Strange but true.