Google home help

[elsworth1983]

The Problem:

My Google Home routine, which is triggered by a Philips Hue motion sensor, fails to turn on the kitchen lights.

Trigger: Motion detected by a Philips Hue motion sensor.

Condition: Between a specific time, e.g., 18:30.

Action: Turn on kitchen lights.

Result: The routine does not execute. The lights do not turn on.

My Setup:

Platform: Google Home with over 50 connected devices.

Lighting System: Philips Hue (with Hue Bridge).

Network: Virgin Media broadband.

Troubleshooting Steps I Have Already Taken:

To help you narrow down the issue, here is a comprehensive list of actions I have already performed:

Device Resets: I have factory reset the Philips Hue motion sensor and the Hue Bridge.

Network Changes: I have completely reset my home network, including changing the WiFi network name and password. I have also moved my router's location.

Zigbee Channel: I have changed the Zigbee channel on the Hue Bridge.

Integration Reset: I have unlinked and re-synced my Philips Hue account with Google Home multiple times. I have even deleted my entire Google Home setup, including all users, and started from scratch.

New Hardware: To rule out a faulty sensor, I purchased and set up a new Aqara P1 motion sensor, which also fails to trigger the automation. This suggests the issue is not with the hardware itself.

Given the extensive troubleshooting, it appears the problem is not with the individual devices or my local network. The issue seems to be with the core integration or communication between Google Home and the Philips Hue service, or a potential bug in a recent software/firmware update.

Could you please provide a solution or escalate this to an advanced support team for further investigation? I am at my wits' end and would greatly appreciate your assistance.

Thank you for your time and help.

[SmartHomeH-TAGS]

If the kitchen lights are Hue too I would use the Hue app to create an automation.

[elsworth1983]

Thanks for your reply. My kitchen lights are covered, so that isn't an option.

They all used to work flawlessly.

[SmartHomeH-TAGS]

Can this Hue sensor trigger other (Hue) lights?

Could be a temporary bug or the Hue app needs reconnecting to the Google Home app repeatedly over the next week or so.

[elsworth1983]

The Hue sensor can trigger the few Hue lights I have. I've been trying to figure it out for a few weeks now, it's so frustrating.

[JuanCH · Accepted solution]

Hi elsworth1983,

Thanks for posting in the community and to @SmartHomeH-TAGS for jumping in! I understand that your Google Home Routine, triggered by a Philips Hue motion sensor, isn't turning on your kitchen lights as expected. I appreciate all the troubleshooting you've already done. I know how frustrating it is when a routine doesn't work correctly, and I'm happy to help.

To troubleshoot this inconvenience, your condition must specify a time range rather than a single point. A correct condition would be something like "between 18:30 and 22:00" or a similar duration. The motion sensor would then trigger the Routine, and Google Home would check if the current time falls within that range. If it does, the action will execute.

Please let me know how it goes, I look forward to your response.

Best regards,

Juan

[elsworth1983]

I wanted to share a breakthrough I've had with the persistent Google Home and Philips Hue sensor issue. After countless hours, days, and nearly a month of troubleshooting, I finally found a solution that works!

The process was quite extensive, but here's a summary of the steps I took:

I completely deleted all 50+ of my devices from Google Home.

I cleared the cache for all relevant apps (Google Home, Philips Hue, etc.).

I reset everything and started from scratch, including setting up a new Philips Hue account.

The key discovery came during the setup process. When configuring a Hue sensor, I made sure to:

First, link the sensor to a Hue bulb within the Hue app.

Crucially, I did not select the option for the sensor to work with Google Home at this stage.

After this, the sensor worked perfectly as a trigger within the Hue ecosystem.

Then, I added the sensor to Google Home. It worked as expected, but I had a "lightbulb moment." I went back into the Hue app and told the sensor to not trigger any lights within the Hue app itself. Instead, I created a Google Home routine to handle the automation.

And just like that, it worked! The sensor now triggers my desired actions via a Google Home routine, bypassing the conflict that seemed to be causing the problem.

The next (and long) step is to set up all my devices and routines again, but knowing there's a working solution is a huge relief. I'm so excited to have finally solved this!