2 LB smart plugs responding differently

Don

Both bought the 2 plugs at same time (so… likely identical)
Both installed on HA under ESPHome
Both reset with a clean build installed via the HA ESPhome interface.
Both have no mods to the basic YAML beyond “friendly name” , “name” and “encryption”
I have no automations or node-red or the like running on home assistant (I have turned them all off to make sure there was not something odd happening).

One plug switches the mains when its button is pressed.
One does not.
Both plugs react correctly (and identically) to HA dashboard “switch” icons and turn the power on and off.
Its like one plug has some internal code causing the relay to react directly to the button, and one does not.
and that means I probably did something and now cant figure out what and how to reset.
While I could code node-red around this I would prefer to have them acting them the same so I can swap if/as needed.
so.. what was the dumb mistake I made (before I start to deep dive the git yaml)?
Thanks in advance.

MichaelMKKelly

if they are both configured the same which I have no reason to doubt then I would guess its an issue with the button itself or its connection to the esp.

does the button sensor (not the switch) show “on” home assistant when the button is pressed? or you could look at the esphome live logs whilst pressing a button to see if it shows anything. if not I would hazard a guess that its a faulty button.

Don

New system and this all kicked off when I tried to set up node-red with some actions based on these
Node-red debug shows “ON” then “OFF” messages as the buttons are first pressed and then released.
They are called T1 and T4 (I have 4 in total but this shows the issue)
If I set them up with something simple in node red :
[Event State: Button] –> [debug : button]
I get
11/22/2024, 11:57:59 AMnode: debug t4
binary_sensor.localbytes_plug_pm_8c9e3b_button : msg.payload : string[2]
“on”
11/22/2024, 11:57:59 AMnode: debug t4
binary_sensor.localbytes_plug_pm_8c9e3b_button : msg.payload : string[3]
“off”
11/22/2024, 11:58:07 AMnode: debug t1
binary_sensor.localbytes_plug_pm_8c9d6d_button : msg.payload : string[2]
“on”
11/22/2024, 11:58:08 AMnode: debug t1
binary_sensor.localbytes_plug_pm_8c9d6d_button : msg.payload : string[3]
“off”

As you can see… the report is the same for both of them.
t1 has left the switches output relay unchanged (and the buttons LED) in response to that press and release
t4 has toggled the switches output relay (and the buttons LED) in response to that press and release

I will do a proper log diff today and see if I can spot anything.

Don

biggest difference in logs is that only one of them (t1) has this additional line.
t4 log…

INFO ESPHome 2024.10.3
INFO Reading configuration /config/esphome/localbytes-plug-pm-XXXXXX.yaml...
INFO Starting log output from 192.168.1.102 using esphome API

t1 log…

INFO ESPHome 2024.10.3
INFO Reading configuration /config/esphome/localbytes-plug-pm-YYYYYY.yaml...
INFO Updating https://github.com/LocalBytes/esphome-localbytes-plug.git@main
INFO Starting log output from 192.168.1.126 using esphome API

I cant spot any obvious relevant differences in the general log output
I think I need to see how to access that config

What is really annoying me as I have a vague recollection that there is a setting somewhere that allows the LB device to react internally to the switch. i.e. a mode where it flips the relay when the button is pressed.. One of my issues is that I bought the LB devices ages ago and then the project had to get shelved.
I was hoping that a post here would generate a “you twit you have flipped this control state… see these docs”

Don

The above was differences in boot logs to see if I could spot any setup changes.
While running and pressing the switches I get
t1….(here I only pressed once because nothing happens to the relay)

[16:06:43][D][binary_sensor:036]: 'Button': Sending state ON
[16:06:43][D][binary_sensor:036]: 'Button': Sending state OFF

t4….(this is me pressing twice to turn the relay off and then on)

[16:04:22][D][binary_sensor:036]: 'Button': Sending state ON
[16:04:22][D][binary_sensor:036]: 'Button': Sending state OFF
[16:04:22][D][switch:020]: 'Mains Sw t4' Toggling OFF.
[16:04:22][D][switch:055]: 'Mains Sw t4': Sending state OFF
[16:04:22][D][light:036]: 'led' Setting:
[16:04:22][D][light:047]:   State: OFF
[16:04:25][D][number:012]: 'Power Calibration Factor': Sending state 0.133000
[16:04:26][D][binary_sensor:036]: 'Button': Sending state ON
[16:04:27][D][binary_sensor:036]: 'Button': Sending state OFF
[16:04:27][D][switch:020]: 'Mains Sw t4' Toggling ON.
[16:04:27][D][switch:055]: 'Mains Sw t4': Sending state ON
[16:04:27][D][light:036]: 'led' Setting:
[16:04:27][D][light:047]:   State: ON

So that reflects what I see. T4 is clearly switching the relay when the button is pressed yet as far as I am aware there are no live automations or equivelant in active in HA and it feels like its got something set internally to the LB device cause it to react directly..

MichaelMKKelly

it does feel like there is something missing on the firmware.

as a state the obvious check. have you tried switching the “disable button” toggle on and off to reset that in case its that that’s causing it

you could try adding some log output on the button press code and see at what point its failing.

you could try writing a bare bones esphome firmware to just read the button and activate the relay perhaps?

Don

MichaelMKKelly Thanks for all the input. While I do not like it, I think the efficient way of handling this is to just take the difference into account while writing node-red scripts etc. That means I cant just swap the LB devices around, but I have limited amount of time for debugging the issue and no one has come back with a “known feature, do this” fix.