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Alexa loses TP-Link bulbs everyday

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cactusval

Alexa loses TP-Link bulbs everyday
« on: November 26, 2016, 03:20:16 am »
I have nine TP-Link LB100 bulbs on my home WiFi with Alexa. Every day Alexa reports various several of them are offline, when they are not offline, and can't control them. I have strong 2.4G WiFi signals in Alexa's room, which is also where the bulbs and my WiFi router are. All of the bulbs pass a ping test from the router, and report 0% loss. Kasa sees the bulbs as online and fine, and my router sees the bulbs as online and fine.

At first, the bulbs Alexa reported to be offline, Kasa reported to have "local WiFi access only". I live in a condo and perhaps people around me were using the same channel. I ran a channel optimizer to find the least trafficked channel, increased its connections capacity, and set all devices to go back to that channel after a recycle. Then I moved all my devices that were 5G compatible, to 5G. Now only the TP bulbs are on 2.4G. Since, Kasa never reports a bulb has "local WiFi access only". And when I tell Alexa to discover new devices, they're all there, and all's well, for a few hours.

Then Alexa continues as before, several times a day, lights don't work and she has them marked as offline. I go down the list of the basic support activities to troubleshoot - Reinstalling, resetting, reconfiguring, etc., until Alexa no longer reports they are offline and is able to control them.

This is how it's been for the three weeks since I got my Echo. The other morning, when three lights didn't come on, I finally had had enough of getting up on the ladder, and decided to just leave them that way. I started wondering how long it would take before none of the lights would come on. But that didn't happen. By the evening, Alexa saw the offline lights as online. Unfortunately, by then she also saw previously online lights as offline.

Something transacts that causes Echo to stop seeing a bulb's current status. Does the bulb's status flicker to offline and Echo can't re-recognize it when it comes back online? What transacts that causes her to see it again? And how do I make that happen a whole lot faster?

Or is it TP-Link bulbs don't work well in condos because they're limited to 2.4G?
« Last Edit: November 26, 2016, 04:22:42 am by cactusval »

DParker

Re: Alexa loses TP-Link bulbs everyday
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2016, 09:19:14 am »
What brand and model is your router?  How many Wi-Fi devices are you using with it?

https://support.lifx.com/hc/en-us/articles/204363110-Connectivity-issues-with-bulbs-and-my-Wi-Fi

cactusval

Re: Alexa loses TP-Link bulbs everyday
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2016, 12:54:04 pm »
I'm using FiOS G1100 (http://www.verizon.com/about/sites/default/files/fios-qgr-userguide140925.pdf). It has a max connected devices of 100. My service is 50mps/25mps.

Connected Devices:
Ethernet: 1
Wireless 5G: 6
Wireless 2.4G: 13
Coax: 2

This is what they are:
9 TP-Link bulbs (though I did have this issue when I had just 1 on it for a couple of days)
Android cell phone
iPad
Sony Bravia TV
Verizon set top box - Active
Set top box - Inactive
Alexa - Echo
Alexa - Dot 1 (had this issue before installed the Dots)
Alexa - Dot 2
3 Sonos speakers (installed last week, after had this issue for a couple weeks already - I also tested it by putting it using an Ethernet connection and this issue didn't get any better, speakers are back on WiFi now)
Laptop
Host 2 - Home network

« Last Edit: November 27, 2016, 02:53:48 pm by cactusval »

cactusval

Re: Alexa loses TP-Link bulbs everyday
« Reply #3 on: December 09, 2016, 09:51:24 pm »
What brand and model is your router?  How many Wi-Fi devices are you using with it?

https://support.lifx.com/hc/en-us/articles/204363110-Connectivity-issues-with-bulbs-and-my-Wi-Fi

I read the guide in your link and looked up my router and it should be fine with the number of bulbs I have on it.