Google Nest Camera with Floodlights - won’t work with voice, but works in app

[Opus9698]

I installed the Google nest camera with flood lights, and it was fully functional. I could control it with the app and I could control it with my voice through my Google nest speakers. All of the sudden this week I can still control the floodlights only in the app, but not through my Google nest speakers. When I say “Hey Google, turn on the floodlights, Google says “ OK… sorry, somethings wrong with that device.” Please advise on how I can get the floodlight control through my speakers again. Thank you.

[Dbaker123]

Same.  Tried re-syncing devices.  Google assistant says it can't.  Everything was working fine until this week.

[mserick]

Same here. Worked fine since install over a year ago. This week it does not work with voice. This is the light/camera for our backyard and it is mounted up high. No other light source out there, and the entire family needs to be able to turn the light on and off to see at night. If I am not home, they can't access this. It's a safety issue. Using Android.

[Makshak]

Hey Everyone, 

So happy I found this thread, as this is also happening to me, started not working on Sunday. Seems we are all having issues all of a sudden around the same time. This must be on Googles end.

Can anyone from Google advice?

[ddamas]

Same issue here.

[DustyAxe]

Same issue here. I've never had an issue with voice commands in the 2 years since install.

[Makshak]

Getting annoying living with this weird issue for weeks now.

Anyone from Google around??

[Aneirin]

Same issue here. Very strange.

[Rocnat4]

Yup. Same thing with my nest cam w.floodlight. Will connect through the app just fine but voice command returns "Sorry, I can reach the floodlight right now . . please try again".  I tried uninstall/reinstall and same result. Frustrating as all my other Nest and Google devices work just fine.

[Mvj]

Here too. Invoking the assistant on my phone works to turn lights on and off by voice. But no Google home device or speaker works by voice. And what a disaster to have to find that little button to reset, that there's no reboot ability from the app. Like most people with camera flood light combo they're not easy to get to. 

[Makshak]

Yup, voice command on my phone works too. And turning on/off through Google Nest Hub by using the physical touch screen works... just no voice on any Google device.

Where is this reset button you speak of? I have removed the floodlight from my home, disconnected it through my light switch and re added it with no luck.

Is there another way to hard reset it?

[Coolbreeze65]

Hey all y’all, I have the same issue, it used to work with voice but while I can still operate it manually in devices it says unable to reach at this time. I did come up with a voice operated solution however, it still turns on with voice if I say hey Google, set the backyard floodlight to any percent. For example to turn on I just say, Hey Google, set the backyard floodlight to 100% and to turn off, Hey Google set the backyard floodlight to 0%. 

[Makshak]

So happy you found this work around! At least we can all do this in the meantime..

Still hoping google catches onto this and can fix

[Tbonecook]

This workaround helped me out as well, thanks!  I was having the same issue as most here. Hope they patch it soon!

[RoseandRob]

That worked... thanks so much for posting. This was driving us nuts!! The spotlight would not turn on as described here by everyone.

THANK YOU

[Topcat1960]

Thanks, worked for me as well, let's hope someone from Google is monitoring this thread

Cheers Anthony

[mserick]

Thank you for this work-around. It does work. But why? Seems to me they could fix the original issue to just turn it on and off! Obviously, they haven't even looked at this. It must be a simple fix that they can put back in the coding.

Come on Google. Care! I was going to add two other floodlights, but you can bet they won't be this one, and this will end up a 1 year used expensive piece tossed in the garbage. So frustrating.

[TCesareo]

Same issue here with both my floodlights and timing fits with everyone else. Hope the issue is addressed soon. 

[ddamas]

I’m still having the same issue - when I tell Google Home by voice to turn on the Room lights that include my floodlights, they do not turn on the floodlights anymore. 
I did come up with a different workaround from above - I created a home automation routine with the phrase I would normally use to turn on the floodlights. So now in my case when I say “turn on (or off) the Backyard lights” it runs my automation routine and turns the correct lights on/off, instead of running their internal routine to turn the floodlights on or off by Room. Hope this workaround helps. 

Still pathetic Google breaks this basic functionality and then is nowhere to be found with a solution. Happens daily it seems. 

[haleekotara]

I hate that we need a workaround, but this hack worked perfectly for me... thank you, clever person!

[Ted4311]

I have the same issue for 3 weeks now. I have reset my hubs... reconnected the flood light camera. Nothing worked. Everything google in my house works flawless via voice. Floodlight says can't be reached try again. 

[jjay]

Adding myself to the list of unhappy customers.  I have four of these lights and all of them are doing it.

Perhaps related, my routines which use these lights have started telling me "the [name] floodlight is already off" if the routine includes turning those lights off. Only for Nest Camera with Floodlight devices.  Every other light does not prompt this message from the Assistant if they're already off.

Annoying.

[Aneirin]

Just popping back in to confirm that this issue still persists with my equipment too.

[AlejandroS]

Add me to the list of unhappy customers dealing with this odd issue. Does Google moderator ever respond to these threads?

[pzdl]

I've worked around it with the previously mentioned solution to set automations so that "turn On" equates to "Set brightness to 100" and the inverse for Off. Is this an issue because, while it's noted as two devices in the Home app, it's physically one device? Perhaps the device "object" only has one On/Off functionality available, and that's being used by the camera side of it.

If that's the case, I'm certainly going to avoid similar "multiple Home devices, one physical device" from Google in the future. This is ridiculous.

[Mpenza]

Have to add that I have the same issues with my 2 floodlights. Google suggested reset them but considering they are installed high up, this is not really a practical solution.

[jjay]

Don't bother. Three of mine are easily reached.  I have reset those three several times. It did not fix the problem.

I can only control them via a routine or using a command to set them to a fixed brightness.  I cannot turn them on or off explicitly.

[Mpenza]

Thank you, I figured as much. Saved me the hassle 👍

[Makshak]

Hey Everyone,

I finally got to a point where I decided to contact Google.

After 30minutes on hold, the agent told me it is a known issue and I will receive notice if there are any updates.

I called today, January 26th 2024. 1:45pm EST.

Let's see how long this takes.

[jjay]

I called it in months ago. Here we are. Perhaps you will have better luck than I did!! 

[Dbaker123]

Thanks for the update!

[Mpenza]

Isn't there a website where Google and the users note problems with their products.

[MrCleanJeans]

Well, I also have the same issue. How is this going to be resolved? Google?

[Matrixerr404]

Same issue for months now. Very frustrating. Happy to see the workaround that’s been found but Google needs to fix this. 

[EmersonB]

Hello Matrixerr404,

Thanks for reaching out here in the Community. To know more about this issue, I’d like to confirm, what are the steps you've done so far? In case you haven't done any steps yet, you may try restarting your Nest Camera and Nest Mini speaker. Also, make sure that your Do not Disturb is turned off and the visitor announcements is enabled.

To turn Visitor Announcements on or off:

1. Open the Home app.
2. Tap and hold your device's tile.
3. In the top right, tap Settings> Doorbell.
4. Turn Visitor announcements on or off.

Turn Do Not Disturb on or off

1. Open the Google Home app.
2. Make sure your mobile device or tablet is linked to the same account as your speaker or display.
3. Tap Settings> Digital wellbeing
4. Tap a device to enable downtime or tap Add device filter to create a new one.

Regards,

Emerson

[ByronP]

Hi folks,

Thank you for posting and your feedback. Sorry for the delayed response. Did you try the above steps and it didn't work? If you still need assistance, please let me know. Also, if you want to share additional feedback, you can add it here to address it better.

Regards,

Byron

[jjay]

Thanks Byron. Tried the relevant steps. Still not working. Still unhappy. Thanks for checking in. Any chance someone there can work on fixing this? 

[ByronP]

Hi jjay,

Thank you for posting. Sorry that the troubleshooting steps didn't work. I'll let them know about this issue to further investigate and work on an update to fix it. As soon as we have an update, I'll let you know.

In the meantime, you can fill out this form, and our dedicated team will reach out to you for further assistance.

Regards,

Byron

[jjay]

@EmersonB You have no idea what the actual problem is. You have completely missed the symptoms. What you have suggested makes no sense. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

[EmersonB]

Hi jjay,

I understand if that is not the exact answer you're looking for. I'm addressing the concern and providing the basic troubleshooting steps before diving in to a more technical solution. Since these devices require internet and Wi-Fi dependent, sometimes a basic restart would resolve it. In your case it's not working, so I wanted to confirm, have you tried resetting it to the factory default?

Regards,

Emerson