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How to trouble shooting ZigBee wireless issues

Terncy home automation is based on ZigBee wireless protocol. If you ever encounter a case that your device not be able to pair to home center, or the signal strength of the device is low, or the response of the device is slow. Please follow the guide below to perform the basic trouble shooting.

Is the device working properly?

The device must be in working state to be able to join network. And you can interactive with the device to see if it has proper reaction.

How to

  • The device will show on behavior after it’s powered. E.g., press a wall switch’s button will turn on/off the associated light
  • Try to pair the device by following the guide on manual. E.g., press and hold a smart plug’s button till its LED starts flashing fast, and if it flashing slowly if pair successed

Is the device too far away from the Home Center or a Relay?

Wireless communication is always affected by the environment of your house. If the device is placed too far away from other devices, or is separated by several walls, the device may not be able to join network or suffer from wireless degration.

The ZigBee protocol adopted by Terncy system support Mesh network structure. Some devices within the system can relay signals to other devices that is far away. For instance, you placed Home Center in the living room, and a wall switch in a bedroom that is too far away is not able to communicate with the Home Center directly. By placing a Smart Plug in a location between Home Center and wall switch, the Smart Plug will relay signal between them and help them form a larger network coverage over the whole house.

How to

  • Navigate to “Mine” page in the app, enter “UI Setting” and enable display wireless strength feature. Afterwards, you can examine each deivce’s signal in Device page. The device whose strength is weak may suffer from offline or slow response issue
  • If the device is too far away, try placing a relay-capable device in the middle
  • Or move the Home Center to a place that is near the device to see if the pair can success
  • Which devices are relay-capable? Simple rule to keep in mind, a battery powered device or device that don’t need neutral wire can’t relay signal, all other devics can. Typical examples of relay-capable devices are, wall switch with neutral wire, curtain motor, air conditioner controller, dimmer controller, switch module

Is the device running in ZigBee mode?

Some of Terncy devices support dual mode, Bluetooth or ZigBee. If the device is running Bluetooth mode, it can’t join a ZigBee network.

How to

  • Check the running mode of the device by following guide of the product manual or How to distinguish between ZigBee and Bluetooth mode For instance, there is a wireless signal icon on the Smart Lock front panel’s disaply if it’s ZigBee mode, and the icon isn’t there if it’s Bluetooth mode
  • Or start Home App on a iPhone, enter add accessory mode to see if it can discover a new Bluetooth device nearby. If it is, then the device is very likely in Bluetooth mode

Is the Home Center in pairing mode during the process?

When you try to pair a device, the Home Center must be in new device scanning mode or the pairing may fail.

How to

  • Start Terncy app, navigate to Device page and tap add device on top right
  • After the Home Center enters new device scanning mode, its LED should blink blue
  • Keep Terncy app in add device mode and keep the phone’s screen on during the whole process, otherwise the Home Center will exit the scanning mode

Is the Home Center wirelss channel best suitable to your home enviroment?

ZigBee wiress protocol works on 2.4G band, there is always other wireless products on the same band in your home, like bluetooth, wifi or ZigBee from other manufacturers. There might be too much noise on a channel. It’s best to let Home Center scans and selects the best channel automatically based on your home environment.

How to

  • Navigate to Home Center setting page in Terncy app
  • Select wireless channel in System Information page
  • Tap auto select and confirm, wait till Home Center determined the least crowded channel in your home

Is Home Center firmware version new enough?

As Terncy is releasing more and more new products, an old version of Home Center firmware may not be compatible with the new device.

How to

  • Navigate to Home Center setting page in Terncy app
  • Compare the Home Center’s current version with the release history to see if it’s the newest