Some weeks ago in an order to AliExpress, I included a Zigbee E27 220v light bulb. It works perfectly in Zigbee2MQTT (in Home Assistant). Perfectly that is except for one thing – the default state setting does not work and in the event of a power failure and subsequent reconnect, the lamp always turns ON.
As it was just one light, I put it to one side and named it SPAREZIG. My latest Ali delivery came in yesterday, this time a pair of Zigbee lights – different manufacturer, same size. Same problem! Thankfully Ali are being good about taking these back and I’ve ordered some WiFi replacements. Hopefully I’ll have more luck as all my other WiFi lights (Some Tasmota, some Tuya) can be powerup to their last setting.
Have I just been unlucky here or is this a common theme with Zigbee lights running with Zigbee2MQTT?
I ordered 20w in the hope that this means more than 3w per colour.. time will tell… the 9w lamps often have decent white light and pretty useless colour.
Update April 12, 2025
I just received 3 new lights from AliExpress – this time 20w WiFi “Smart Life” which means they work in Home Assistant. These bulbs ALSO turn on after a power outage – though I can get them to come on to the last used brightness and colour setting – but the “return to previous state” is missing… So, if I turn all my lights out – and go out – and there’s a power glitch while I’m out – it looks like I’m going to come back toe a home fuill of lights – am I the only one with this? Surely not. I’m dmne sure my Tasmota-based lights from lights won’t do this – but I guess I’ve jhust been assuming other lights operate properly after a power outage – your experiences out there??
Here’s one of them – I call it “bulb ali 20w 1”. Options are “Plan”, “Schedule”, “Biorythm” and “Power-on behaviour”. If I select the latter… options are: “Do not disturb”, “Initial mode”, “Restore memory” and “customised”. So I have the lamp on warm white….select “Initial mode”, turn off then on mechanically…erm, no – that powers up to cold white…. “customised” – erm, no – the best I can get is to set brilliance to minimum – and brightness to 0% which in reality isn’t 0% or anywhere near it. Back out to main memory – the light reverts to warm white.. Power off then on… light comes up in that diluted dim purple-horrible colour I just set as power on condition.. That’s no good. Change colour to bright red. Set power on behaviour to “Restore memory”. Remove power and restore – sure enough – RED – so that option works – they just seem to have forgotten about powering up to OFF state? So now, turn the lamp OFF (that is electronicially with the APP button (or Home Assistant etc). NOW cycle the power… any joy? Nope – comes back up as bright red… that seems like a SERIOUS design flaw.
HOLD THE PHONE – I just realised – the ability to have the lights stay off after a power failure and recovery is called “Do not disturb” and it works on all the lights…. that’s a bit weird… but it works… so a combination of “Restore memory” and “Do not disturb” allows lamps to return to previous colour after a power outage if the lamp was previously ON, or OFF if the lamp was previously OFF. I’m sure in time this will become second nature. Anyway if anyone else made the same mistake – I hope this helps. I’ll upgrade my AliExpress review on their site… I still think “restore memory” alone would have made more sense – last memory was the light was turned OFF.
In the UK an Ali delivery using Evri got lost. However Evri would not admit it, and tracking still showed it as “in transit” So no refund until time limit ran out. Lost at begining of December, refund at end of January.
Sorry you’re having issues – I’ve not had issues with Ali either in the UK (Northeast) or in Spain (east)… Evri on the other hand – not perfect… and SEUR delivery company – the worst I’ve come across in rural Spain – their drivers don’t know the area at all.
The other side of AliExpress. A delivery arrived today, but an item had been damaged. I went to online help, and a refund was quickly arranged, and I have just had an email with a postage paid label to return the item to a uk address. Cannot fault that
You got decent customer service from AEX? /shocked.
I’m fobbed off, they ignore their own policy & repeatedly F up customs paperwork…
Well, in Spain – where I am, I have no problem with Ali – though why they want a photo of a returning smartbulb (which powers up to ON) is beyond me. Anyway I got my refund and they’re paying the postage to send it back via tracked Correos (our national mail system here)… so I can’t complain – hardly seems worth it for 2 bulbs. I guess I buy from Ali at least once a month so maybe that’s why I seem to get good service. If only I could say the same for the local courier (Seur) who are utterly useless. The driver couldn’t find his way out of a paper bag (or can’t be bothered to drive up the hill). Assuming you’re in Finland? Until 3 years ago, Spain was part time and I lived in the UK – used Ali for several years – OK there too. At least in Spain (I think also UK) VAT is included on all orders. I only buy small stuff from them so maybe that’s why I have no customs issues.
I don’t know. They wanted a video of another item that was power dead (a video shows it is more dead than a photo). The item that clearly says seller pays return postage, which they they say I must, the seller doesn’t even answer and they close the complaint due to my lack of activity …
This week they sent one order (of many) so no way to isolate with certainty which… stuck in Customs (a big issue with them messing up paperwork according to Reddit Finland) and their two codes do not work. Customer service claim the parcel is at the post office (well technically it is, but at Customs post office) and seem to think I just walk along to fetch it. Reading even the screenshot from the Post Office is too much of a challenge for them… then they say they will file a claim for me anyway and even within the time on chat I get an email saying claim denied/go to the post office to fetch my item blah blah.
For a small saving, the hassle factor is far too much…
Oh well…