2023: HA-Bridge does not work anymore (no device detection possible) #1386
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Do you have a backup version of your .db file? It's usually a good idea to save a working copy just before adding new devices and trying to discover them. How long has it been since you last successfully discovered devices? I notice that it doesn't take much to cause discovery to fail. Just a missing field in the "Type" or "Target" column can do it. Have you tried deleting what you last changed or added? |
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Is there already a solution? |
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There is NO solution and I would deny that there is one. |
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Found the solution for me.
It works. |
Well, if the device recognition still works somehow, this does not say which specific boundary conditions it depends on. This approach doesn't work for me and I won't try it any further. |
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I'm seeing this problem as well. In the last few months it's been happening intermittently where Alexa says the devices weren't responding, then it'd start working again. Now the devices have been completely unresponsive for days and I see as you have that removing and attempting to re-detect them fails. BUT I have had success with enabling Hue emulation from my Home Assistant installation to relay over to the ha bridge where it then works normally. This is a work-around for me as some of my ha bridge devices use RpiTX on the Raspberry Pi to do RF replay control. It's noteworthy that Home Assistant doesn't have this problem or has managed to fix it. Maybe Ha Bridge can update as well. Otherwise I'll probably just find a way to move everything over to Home Assistant. |
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I'm less surprised that Home Assistant doesn't have any problems with Alexa since this function is only available as part of a paid subscription. That's out of the question for me. I don't know of any other free Alexa voice recognition > HTTP request solution. As I already noted, such free applications do not fit into the amazon Alexa business model I believe. And I suspect this is where HA-Bridge is actively prevented from working (via latest Alexa firmware updates). |
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There's no paid subscription required. It's just the Hue integration for Home Assistant. You have to manually add at a minimum emulated_hue: to your configuration.yaml and restart home assistant. Everything Home Assistant has becomes available to Alexa to discover. It's re-publishing the Ha bridge devices. It also has no problem detecting and controlling Ha Bridge so I'm thinking it's just a configuration change or something. Once I deleted the (offline) entries in the Alexa smart home settings it just re-maps the same named entries from Home Assistant without duplicates. Presto. Perhaps the problem is related to the notification Home Assistant keeps complaining about the Hue software version Ha Bridge claims to emulate: Signify Hue It's not possible to update Ha Bridge that way but you could change the reported software version if it helps. Just my thoughts. |
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Well, it looks like this problem may be going on with Home Assistant as well. We'll see if my work-around keeps working. Something to do with the Hue API v1 on which HA Bridge is based being phased out and v2 being un emulatable possibly. "Philips/Signify released a new version of their Hue bridge (square shape) and their legacy/V1 bridge (round shape) is now end of life and no longer supported by them. Home Assistant will continue to support the V1 Hue bridge as long as it is technically possible, although with a few limitations" And now: Emulated Hue Devices 'unresponsive' in Alexa (HA 2023.3.3) #89506 |
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After a couple of days Alexa says the devices aren't responding now. Home Assistant can still control them. So that's that. |
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Don't confuse the V1 (round) bridge with the V1 API. The V1 bridge is outdated and cannot receive updates. The V1 API is still fully functional and the V2 API has not been completed yet. Yes, HA-bridge is emulating the V1 API and there will probably come a day when it will either need serious updating or become orphaned if the V1 API ever gets disabled by Philips. But we're not there yet. Try starting with a blank db file, and add a single device, and try detecting it. Make sure the 9 octet device id box is checked in the configuration. If detection works, leave it that way for a few days to see that it keeps working. Just go one step at a time. |
You can assume that this thread would never have arisen if that had already worked. |
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Ok, from the wording of the fist post, I'm assuming that device detection used to work and has stopped doing so. |
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I enabled the "use link button" and tried pressing the link button after starting discover. Nothing found. I hadn't needed to do that before. Oddly enough Alexa instead found and re-installed the Home Assistant copies again even though I'd turned it's Hue emulation back off restarted and confirmed the /description.xml there was gone. Weird. HA bridge log |
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Your log isn't showing any received search packets. Usually you would see messages like: Traceupnp: SSDP M-SEARCH packet from (IP address of your Alexa). Is the "trace UPNP calls" box checked in your Bridge Control settings? Also post the contents of the other lines referring to UPNP in the Bridge Control settings. |
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Ok, I enabled "trace UPNP calls" and it shows connections from multiple echos now. Alexa still doesn't add any devices. Here's the UPNP settings: Here's detailed logs after enabling trace and re-initializing, starting discover and pressing link: 03-25-2023 08:58:07.241 INFO HA Bridge (v5.4.1) reinitialization requessted.... com.bwssystems.HABridge.HABridge |
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"Unique ID to use 9 Octets (Renumber after saving this setting) false" That needs to be set to true (box checked). Set it and then try discovery again. |
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Unique ID to use 9 Octets (Renumber after saving this setting) true Done. No change. 3-25-2023 09:44:38.848 INFO UPNP Discovery Listener - ended, restart found com.bwssystems.HABridge.upnp.UpnpListener |
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Oops. Should have pressed "link". Nothing happened. 03-25-2023 09:50:55.424 INFO Link button pressed.... com.bwssystems.HABridge.SystemControl |
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Which version of Alexa do you have? I read somewhere that sometimes you need to try it twice with some 2nd generations devices (which is what I have), and it picks up the second time. Just try it again (and don't forget to press link). The bridge certainly seems to be seeing the UPNP scan requests ok. I'm running out of ideas... |
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And you did renumber the devices after changing the 9 octet setting right? Also do a bridge restart for good measure. |
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I have a mix of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation Echos. After renumbering the device IDs and rebooting, Alexa DOES detect the HA Bridge devices directly again. It still says they're not responding. Home Assistant didn't like the ID shuffle, it broke my automations and I had to re-link everything. It still detects and controls HA Bridge fine. Alexa is still discovering devices from there that don't work as it's emulation is off but at least there's no duplicates. If I turn emulation back on to relay I'll probably get duplicates now. Can HA Bridge be caching these extra devices somehow? Or some service on the network? |
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Renumbering the devices does mess things up a bit. Something you normally want to avoid unless absolutely necessary. Do the detected devices show up in the Alexa app? If so, control them from there? Use the log file to see any activity. I have the odd case of Alexa saying the device is not responding, but still working. HA-bridge is finicky, I'll be the first to say so. I did numerous restarts, and just forgetting one little thing in a device definition can cause problems. So if device detection is now working, try saving your db file (by renaming it) and restart the bridge. Then define one single device and try and detect it, and then controlling it with Alexa. In my case I only have two types of devices: actual Philips Hue lights, and executing a TCP command. Patience pays off. |
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Actually, I can't say if Alexa is detecting HA Bridge or just pulling up those cached devices. It shows everything under "Royal Philips Electronics smart device" which was Home Assistant whereas the HA Bridge was showing up as a different named device. I deleted all the Hue emulated devices from Alexa and now if I say "Turn on the Dresser Lights" or other devices Alexa says "OK" but nothing happens. It shouldn't even know about the Dresser Lights as they've been deleted. I think it's got a grudge at this point. |
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I turned Home Assistant's Hue emulation back on and I can actually get Alexa to control things again. For a couple days probably. But nothing via HA bridge directly. It's not seeing it. I may try re-creating the database and make a test entry but it doesn't make sense for something that was trouble free for years. I'm up to 3 copies of devices on discovery, so I have to weed out the non-functional ones. I'd really like to know how Alexa is re-discovering these other ghost devices, even with Home Assistant turned off. The next step might be discovery with both emulators turned off. If it's still discovers everything it's either Alexa itself or something on the network is caching and duplicating it. It raises the hassle factor immensely. And if just loses the link repeatedly anyway it's probably time to retire those parts, or find a way to do it without Alexa. That's the only thing with a problem. |
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At least one thing should have become clear by now: unrestricted functioning looks different. HA-Bridge is at best a toy for technology freaks who are keen to experiment. Unfortunately. |
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"I'd really like to know how Alexa is re-discovering these other ghost devices" Alexa echo dots cache HUE devices on each echo dot, and probably on each amazon Alexa device-- including your cloud account. There are two ways to get rid of the ghost devices that have worked for me. The first is delete all devices using your Alexa web app, then reset all echo devices on your network to factory default and then re-register those echo devices. Then re-scan using the Alexa web app and your should see all your HUE devices. This is probably the best way to do a reset, but it nukes everything associated with your Alexa account. The second way is to delete all devices using your Alexa web app and then take all your dots offline for 24 hours by unplugging them. Run the add devices from the app with the echos turned off and then again delete any residual devices (there shouldn't be any Hue devices). After 24 hours, turn all your dots back on and then run add devices. You should then be able to pick up your HA-bridge devices. I've had to use method two several times and it has always worked. I don't like doing it because it breaks any automation using HA-bridge, but it does work. Here is a link to a more comprehensive description of method two: https://www.sigmdel.ca/michel/ha/opi/ha-bridge_03_en.html |
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Oh yes, I've been through the process of deleting the duplicates in the Alexa app a few times, until I had everything down pat. Like I said earlier, it's finicky. Once you do get it working, add devices a few at a time, saving your db file between each successful, tested step. On the bright side, it's now been running and stable since last fall. I control about 40 devices with it and I love it. |
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Amsel77 said "In my opinion, Amazon deliberately seals off its speech recognition from such free usability" I don't know if it's "deliberate" or not, or a marketing thing by Amazon to draw revenue from device companies that want compatibility, but this bridge is what I needed to break out of that closed box and have Alexa do my own thing. 1- it uses local control and 2- it's free... |
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The ghost duplicate devices were cached by Alexa. You have to turn off all the Echos and run discover and then clear before powering off each one individually. That purges it. https://www.reddit.com/r/amazonecho/comments/m3hqij/remove_old_ghost_smart_home_devices_permanently/ |
I'm really tired of this sort of advice.
If that's true my congratulations.
Sure. Feel free to waste time on pointless trial and error ... |
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I wouldn't say it's pointless. It squarely puts the problem with Alexa. And makes it pretty clear it's futile. Alexa still won't detect HA Bridge afterward. When I turned Home Assistant's emulator back on it re-populated the whole duplicated list again. Insert stream of obscenities here. |
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A hot tip: Alexa Skill "Mein Radio". |
"Great Idea" The idea of using HA bridge is exactly not to have another skill necessary. So for me, HA bridge still works great and also detects new devices... I had to switch recently from my Echo 1st Generation using as the only device for detection to an Echo Dot 4 - all other Echos in da house are filtered against HA Bridge to reduce caching issues inside the Echos. |
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Yes, its a "Great Idea". |
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Looking in the Alexa skills, this is no longer around to download. Searching for Mein Radio and nothing shows up here in the UK :( |
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Hello i have the same problem ... Alexa wont find my Devices .. the upnp search from alexa ips i can see in the log but nothing happen. It worked for me a long time but a few days ago i had to setup ha bridge new .. |
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Did you make sure the 9 octet option box is checked? Starting with a default, blank db file? |
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yes i tried many things but it didnt work now i switched to node-red it works like a charme |
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Any update on where we are with this. It's pretty unusable now as the devices dis-appear frequently and then aren't found easily on re-discovery? Has anyone got an alternative that works with milights? I looked at all the others suggested but nothing seemed to give me what I need. Such a shame that ha-bridge seems to have stopped working |
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It looks like you will need to delete all devices on the echo from the Alexa app and then let it rediscover. |
I tried it on Raspberry Pi and a Windows PC - nowhere are HA-Bridge devices recognized by Alexa anymore.
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