topic Change assisting nest device in Home Automation

Change assisting nest device

bill6400 — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 23:26:35 GMT

I have two new Nest Gen 2, battery cameras that I am unable to connect to my existing Nest home due to "couldn't find an assisting Nest device. It keeps trying to use my Nest thermostat. I was in chat assistant for 2 hours, eventually escalated to senior assistant who told me to reset all devices and remove home then start again. One problem is my nest aware is via my alarm company. My second issue is I shouldn't have to reset all devices and remove home. Granted I only have two doorbell cams, two displays, the thermostat and remote sensor connected. Originally one display was set up and then one doorbell. The display was the assisting device at that time. The last device added was the thermostat. It seems it was changed to be the assisting device since it's name is what comes up in the error. I don't see any way in the app to set it back to the original device (that worked). Anyone know of a way?

Re: Change assisting nest device

bill6400 — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 23:28:40 GMT

Sorry, forgot to mention. I was able to set up one of the cameras and download an update by creating a new home. This is obviously not an acceptable solution.

Re: Change assisting nest device

MplsCustomer — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 01:09:17 GMT

@bill6400

I've seen some posts from customers who created a second home to bypass the "assisting device" error. They were then able to remove the camera from the second home and add it to their original home. Apparently this works because the camera retains the Wi-Fi settings when it is removed from the second home (the same Wi-Fi credentials it was trying--and failing--to get from the "assisting device:), and is then able to use those Wi-Fi credentials to join your original home.

What happens with your second camera? Maybe if removing the first camera from the second home and adding it to your original home works, you can then try adding the second camera to the now-empty second home and repeat the process. If it all works, you can then delete the now-empty second home.

By the way, customers have been reporting "assisting device" issues in this forum for over a year. Many seem to occur when there's a thermostat involved. One customer recently theorized that the thermostat is too complicated a device to be used as an "assisting device", causing the process to fail. Some customers resort to removing their thermostat from the Google Nest app or Google Home app temporarily (depending on the thermostat). We don't have a Nest thermostat and have not encountered the "assisting device" error in adding 3 new cameras/doorbells in the last year.

Re: Change assisting nest device

bill6400 — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 01:41:15 GMT

Thanks. I did try to remove it from the second home then add it to the main home but may have done it wrong. Will try that again. If that doesn't work I will try removing the thermostat, add cameras, then add thermostat back. But will have to wait until sometime tomorrow.

Re: Change assisting nest device

Juni — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 14:47:42 GMT

Hi folks,

@MplsCustomer, thanks for the help.

@bill6400, thanks for posting. I just wanted to follow up to see if you still need our help. Please let us know as we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thanks,

Juni

Re: Change assisting nest device

Juni — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 15:28:58 GMT

Hi there,

Buzzing in — do you still need our help? Don't hesitate to reach back if you do.

Regards,

Juni

Re: Change assisting nest device

Dan_A — Sun, 13 Nov 2022 00:58:14 GMT

Hello everyone,

We haven't heard from you in a while so we'll be locking this thread if there is no update within 24 hours. If you need assistance or want to discuss topics, feel free to start a new thread.

Best,

Dan