Tradfri Switches with PH Hub and Lidl GU10's

Devices
#1

I’m having a real nightmare pairing these Tradfri switches for manual control of the Living room lights.

Setup is as follows:

PH Hub
18 Lidl GU10’s
3 Tradfri Switches (Controlling 6 Bulbs each)

On PH all the bulbs are setup under Living Room. It’s an open plan Lounge/Kitchen/Diner, so I use zones for each of those. I then want one Tradfri controlling each of those (idea being it sits ontop of the original manual switches for each of those areas).

I follow the instructions on Hue Essentials App (and also shown on Youtube vids). The best i’ve managed is getting two switches paired. By the time I get to the end of the third switch pairing process, the other two stop working.

Even getting two paired is a PITA. Sometimes the Tradfri nicks the bulb completely and “search lights” doesnt work. I then need to reset that bulb, repair with Hue and start again. Other times I have to run “search lights” more then once, because the first time the bulb doesnt work with Hue after first attempt.

I really don’t like the look of the Hue switches. But now I’m wishing i’d lived with the aesthetics and gone with those.

I still have 5 more rooms (one switch in each) and 25 bulbs to pair.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

#2

Been having a read and previous threads suggest updating FW on the switches. But I dont have an Ikea Hub. I have:

Hue Hub
Hue Essentials iOS
Hoobs running in Docker on Synology

Any way to upgrade Tradfri Switch FW with this setup?

#3

No one come across this issue?

At a loss what to do :frowning:

#4

Well after 20 attempts I finally managed to get the switch paired. I’ve also done a couple of the bedrooms which went much smoother. So not sure what the problem was with this one. Got 3 more bedrooms to do and then I can relax :slight_smile:

Just hope the switches stay paired.

#5

I finally got all my dimmers paired. I used Varilight push button switches for mains and then mounted the Tradfri switches over the top. Using velcro to mount the plates (so as backup you can still access the mains switch).

Gives a very clean non DIY look. I used white plate as all my other sockets and switches are from the same Varilight range. But you can use the silver to give some contrast. Velcro gives just enough clearance (few mm) for the push button not to touch the plate. Then the Tradfri switch sits on top with the included magnets.

IMO much better look then the HUE dimmers with 3D printed mounting plate.

#6

For the benefit of anyone else that comes across this, I figured out the issue.

You must switch ALL other lights OFF at the mains. If you dont do that, when you add a new Tradfri switch, the “search lights” process is likely to disconnect some of the previously paired Tradfri switches.

My friends kids came over and pulled off some of the Dimmers and reset the lights. I was dreading the process of repairing them, from my previous experience. But this time I switched all the other lights off at the mains, before repairing the two rooms they’d reset.

Halleluja, none of the other Tradfri’s disconnected this time.

#7

Spoke too soon :frowning:

I thought i’d swap in one of the LIDL Livarno LED strips for my existing dumb LED’s. Switched all the other lights off, searched for the LIDL Livarno and all looked good. But when I switched the other lights back on, two of the Tradfri switches had stopped working and required pairing again :frowning:

Will try touchlink to add new bulbs next time to see if that causes any issues. Because it appears from my experience, “search lights” has a tendency to drop some of the Tradfri switches.