Core: Alexa sometimes responds "Sorry, [name of light] is not responding" when changing a light with emulated_hue.

[jef-pearlman]

First, this may be related to #29899. I opened a new issue because 1) the error is slightly different; and 2) that issue is closed.

The problem

When I change a light using Alexa through emulated_hue, about 25-50% of the time, Alexa will say "Sorry, [name of light] is not responding." As far as I can tell, the light _does_ always successfully change, even when I get the error. If I try the same light multiple times in a row, sometimes it will give the error and sometimes not.

I haven't tested thoroughly enough to know if there are any lights immune to this issue, but it definitely happens with many or most of them. Most of my lights are z-wave with some latency in responding to commands; I haven't be able to tell if the semi-random high latency correlates with the error, but my impression is it does not.

I have had the issue since I first started using Home Assistant roughly 3 months ago, though I can't remember if the precise wording of the error has changed. At the time, I was on an RPi2B running whatever release was current. (See below for current versions.)

Environment

• Home Assistant Core release with the issue: 0.111.2 (I upgraded 10 minutes ago; it was 0.111.1 before that.)
• Last working Home Assistant Core release (if known): none (see above)
• Operating environment (Home Assistant/Supervised/Docker/venv): Hassio on RPi4 w/Hassos 4.10, Supervisor 227
• Integration causing this issue: emulated_hue
• Link to integration documentation on our website: https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/emulated_hue/

Problem-relevant configuration.yaml

emulated_hue:
  listen_port: 80
  expose_by_default: false
  entities:
    light.adu:
      hidden: false
    light.back_patio:
      hidden: false
    light.back_porch_lights:
      hidden: false
# truncated for space; the rest is more of the same, approx. 15 total

Traceback/Error logs

There is nothing related in the logs. Happy to produce logs with different logging levels if that would help.

n/a

Additional information

Apologies if I shouldn't have opened a new issue. I'm happy to produce logs, test things, or otherwise assist in debugging if that would be helpful. Thanks for any assistance!

[probot-home-assistant[bot]]

emulated_hue documentation
emulated_hue source
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[goliath888]

I have the same issue since I can remember. Using HA Core in docker.

It work fine with wifi lights, but it says that message with this two devices:

• RM mini 3 that turns on/off tv (integrated as a switch with broadlink component).
• Sonoff devices with tasmota firmware.

Any other info needed, just ask for it.

[theres-something-wrong]

I'm having this issue too, it hasn't gone away since last year.

[winterstream]

I have a light group (composed entirely of IKEA Tradfri lights) for which Alexa always responds "Sorry, [name of light] is not responding." even though the lights respond as expected.

Worth mentioning perhaps is that one of the lights supports colour temperature changes while the other two do not.

[jef-pearlman]

Curious whether #39063 fixes this; it is marked as fixing #39010, which sounds similar but not the same. (Will do some testing after 0.114.3 upgrade.)

[bdraco]

@jef-pearlman any luck with this fix?

[josh929800]

I upgraded to 0.115.2 today but the error is still there for me. However, I was able to solve the problem by doing the following.

Copy the emulated_hue folder from gethub to custom_components folder in the home assistant config directory.

on line 777-782 of hue_api.py change to:

elif not config.lights_all_dimmable:
        # On/Off light (ZigBee Device ID: 0x0000)
        # Supports groups, scenes and on/off control
        # retval["type"] = "On/Off light"
        retval["productname"] = "On/Off light"
        retval["modelid"] = "HASS321"
        retval["type"] = "Dimmable light"
        retval["state"].update({HUE_API_STATE_BRI: HUE_API_STATE_BRI_MAX if state[STATE_ON] else 0})

[bdraco]

Please see the "How to fix it once and for all" header in the Emulated Hue breaking changes:

https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2020/09/17/release-115/#breaking-changes

[josh929800]

I added to my emulated_hue: lights_all_dimmable: true and removed the emulated_hue custom component and rebooted. This did solve the issue for me.