Rigmorole of setting up Smart devices

[Harry Bloomfield Esq]

I spent much of yesterday evening, trying to get a Sonoff inline, USB switch connected to Alexa. I tried a variety of sets of instructions, poor, multi-language ones, included with it, several on Youtube, and others I managed to find. Eventually, with lots of trial and error, one method worked, but I'm not even sure which one - I was so weary of the trial and error, plus trying to type on a small Iphone screen.

The process generally seems to be one of download an App, then set the device in pairing mode, where it shows up as a wifi access point. Then it simply needs configuring to access your home wifi - except, it was at this point ever method I tried, failed, except the last method.

Isn't there an easier way?

[alan_m]

What I've found with a lot of these devices is they only support 2.4GHz wi-fi and if you have both 2.4GHz and 5GHz enabled (with the same SSID) that they are VERY reluctant to configure themselves for the first time. What I now do is go to the router settings, turn off 5GHz wi-fi, get my smart device set-up and turn the 5GHz wi-fi back on in the router. This seems to work for me with all new smart devices that need to connect to the router. Also check that you haven't configured your router with a filter to prevent any new devices from being included on your home network.

[Adrian Caspersz]

Sadly no. The device needs to talk to your router, needs knowledge of its SSID and passphrase - and does not have a keyboard/display for you to enter that.

Instead attaching Zigbee devices to a gateway, I find easier.

Erm, If you have the right gateway, or Home Assistant and lots of patience (which really is for geeks, not everybody else).

I'm having a great time with that, trying to cut my Gas bill.

[Andy Burns]

Yes, dual band wifi can be an issue for several "smart" devices, I'm not sure why they make it an obstacle, in general the two wifi radios are bridged together anyway (whether or not the SSIDs are the same) so a device multicasting/broadcasting to find its friends ought to succeed.

[David Wade]

Andy, I think that on the common BT devices the networks are not bridged .... Dave

[Brian]

I favour Tuya and use recently switched to using the Smartlife App (as you probably know, there are a number of compatible apps, which will work with devices in the family (in this case Tuya). I switched from another app (eFamily Cloud) which had become troublesome.

Smartlife seems much easier to set up new devices. I set up a couple of new ones recently and the app just detected them, I confirmed the details, and edited what I need to. Alex found them equally easily.

If you haven't already invested too much in Sonoff, it may be worth considering switching to Tuya and Smartlife.

There is also the Zigbee option. I've not tried this but Zigbee is quicker to set up.

[Rod Speed]

Yep, the most I ever have to do with my Philips Hue stuff is enter the serial number when a new bulb is not automaticlaly detected when I tell it to scan for a new one.

[Brian]

While the devices only use 2.4G, they usually have a way to set them up even in dual 2.4/5G systems by using an ‘internal’ source. Typically, you put them into a local mode by holding the button for longer and see a faster blink. That said, later SW, seems more sophisticated - at least in my experience- and it does it all automatically.

I’ve never needed to turn off my 5G network.

[Jethro_uk]

I can't agree.

I too have the Smartlife app to control my MoesHome (?) smart thermostat.

After setting the 'stat, it seems to get into a cached state where what it is showing is not what the thermostat is showing. Which means it's difficult to sometimes "trip" the heating, as the app thinks the stat is already at the temperature requested.

The only reliable way to use the app is to force stop it, and reopen it, which seems to trigger a re-acquisition.

Samsung A7 running Android 10.

Weirdly Google Home seems to control it OK.

[Rod Speed]

That has nothing to do with setting up, just a poorly implemented design.

[Jethro_uk]

For balance bough a tapo 510 ES smart bulb yesterday (after a bit of a trawl to discount the multicoloured bollocks that seems to be "the norm").

Fitted & paired within 3 minutes. And that includes the firmware upgrade it apparently needed