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  • Localdeck loses connection after loading any "complicated" configurations

Hi,

Hoping someone can help, this has been painful to use…it started off so great too!

My localdeck was picked up by BLE auto discover and had it joined to HA via ESP and all keys were working great…

So, I managed to adopt it via ESPHome Builder (instructions could be clearer about how this works), I ran the update and then the issues began… I lost sight of the localdeck and it refused to come back online. After many attempts I finally was able to load firmware via USB on my computer via Chrome and the deck actually started to come back online… but it only seems to work when I have the most basic of setup. If I have 2 buttons linked to single light bulbs, that works and I can follow the state and brightness of 2 Hue bulbs. As soon as I enable “follow colour” the localdeck won’t come back online and needs to be connected with USB and reflashed.

So, I disabled “follow colour” and any other of those options that didn’t fit. I’ve only kept “Toggle Entity” on for Switches and even turned that off when triggering scripts. I have a combination of lights. switch. and some scripts being triggered. The Switches and Lights have been tested with the following options on and off… when I just have a couple of lights, I can turn on all of these except Colour but even if I map every button with just toggle entity for the switches and lights and turn off all options for scripts… I’m still faced with the same dead deck…

Toggle Entity
Follow State (On/Off)
Follow Brightness
Follow Color

After a successful reflash over USB, I allow the device to boot up fully and watch for the successful boot message on the log viewer via web.esphome.io. At this stage the device is unresponsive in HA. Sometimes, if I have all the “Follow” options turned off, the buttons will work but HA shows every button as unavailable. If I have any “Follow” option enable, the device becomes completely unresponsive.

I saw mention of using the right PSU so after a successful reflash over USB, waiting for it to successfully boot up, I’m unplugging, moving the Localdeck back to the other room where the deck is to be used, plug in the official PSU, I can see the boot lights show and then… nothing. It just doesn’t want to work…

What am I doing wrong here? Because it takes a while to compile and then test, I’m finding it hard to pinpoint what is causing it to fall over… I wasn’t expecting these options to break the build… I wasn’t expecting any of these issues at all… I’ve spent a good 9 hours now going back and forth and back and forth, I’m about to give up and see about sending this back… anyone know what I’m doing wrong?

So, many hours later… some progress but I’m still not getting anywhere. I’m semi convinced something is broken, this surely can’t be right.

I’ve configured a static IP in the yaml.

I’ve stopped trying to update wirelessly as this basically bricks the device every time, the flash seems to be successful but the device doesn’t come back online ever.

If i update using a USB cable and web.esphome.io then I can manually load firmware successfully BUT after a few buttons are configured, I’m guessing the power draw is too high, it no longer boots properly.
I now have to connect it to the original PSU to see if it boots ok after all that… or at least that did work up till a point. After about the 4th or 5th button is configured.. the flashing process works fine again but it never comes back online.

I’m starting to think this LocalDeck is broken… surely this isn’t right?

Yeah, I am defeated… 12 hours of trying and I just can’t get the most basics of setups going consistently…

I’m hoping I can return this… I just can’t go through this every time a small change is needed, with no idea if the thing will brick or come back in some semi working state… I’m happy to spend hours tinkering and making it work perfectly but nothingh is consistent here, it’s a complete gamble if anything will work and a painful 10 to 15 mins compile time for EACH change, I still haven’t pin pointed exactly what causes it to fall over because nothing is consistent…

[17:25:31][W][component:170]: Component api cleared Warning flag
[17:25:31][D][api.connection:1446]: Home Assistant 2025.2.4 (192.168.1.12): Connected successfully
[17:25:31][D][homeassistant.text_sensor:017]: ‘light.sonoff_3_port_usb_1_light’: Got state ‘off’
[17:25:31][D][text_sensor:064]: ‘keypad_button_1_hass’: Sending state ‘off’
[17:25:31][D][light:036]: ‘Button 01 Light’ Setting:
[17:25:31][D][light:051]: Brightness: 100%
[17:25:31][D][light:085]: Transition length: 1.0s
[17:25:51][D][number:012]: ‘Brightness’: Sending state 1.000000
[17:25:54][D][esp32.preferences:114]: Saving 1 preferences to flash…
[17:25:54][D][esp32.preferences:142]: Saving 1 preferences to flash: 0 cached, 1 written, 0 failed
[17:26:05][safe_mode:041]: Boot seems successful; resetting boot loop counter
[17:26:05][D][esp32.preferences:114]: Saving 1 preferences to flash…
[17:26:05][D][esp32.preferences:142]: Saving 1 preferences to flash: 0 cached, 1 written, 0 failed
[17:26:31][D][api.connection:146]: Home Assistant 2025.2.4 (192.168.1.12): Sending keepalive failed 1 time(s), will retry in 1000 ms
[17:26:32][D][api.connection:146]: Home Assistant 2025.2.4 (192.168.1.12): Sending keepalive failed 2 time(s), will retry in 1000 ms
[17:26:33][D][api.connection:146]: Home Assistant 2025.2.4 (192.168.1.12): Sending keepalive failed 3 time(s), will retry in 1000 ms
[17:26:34][D][api.connection:146]: Home Assistant 2025.2.4 (192.168.1.12): Sending keepalive failed 4 time(s), will retry in 1000 ms

NFO Trying to connect to localdeck-f4ada4 @ 192.168.1.6 in the background
INFO Successfully connected to localdeck-f4ada4 @ 192.168.1.6 in 0.026s
INFO Successful handshake with localdeck-f4ada4 @ 192.168.1.6 in 0.099s
[17:44:56][app:100]: ESPHome version 2024.12.4 compiled on Feb 17 2025, 15:33:31
[17:44:56][C][wifi:600]: WiFi:
[17:44:56][C][wifi:428]: Local MAC: Fxxxxxx
[17:44:56][C][wifi:433]: SSID: [redacted]
[17:44:56][C][wifi:436]: IP Address: 192.168.1.6
[17:44:56][C][wifi:439]: BSSID: [redacted]
[17:44:56][C][wifi:441]: Hostname: ‘localdeck-f4ada4’
[17:44:56][C][wifi:443]: Signal strength: -57 dB ▂▄▆█
[17:44:56][C][wifi:447]: Channel: 2
[17:44:56][C][wifi:448]: Subnet: 255.255.255.0
[17:44:56][C][wifi:449]: Gateway: 192.168.1.1
[17:44:56][C][wifi:450]: DNS1: 0.0.0.0
WARNING localdeck-f4ada4 @ 192.168.1.6: Connection error occurred: localdeck-f4ada4 @ 192.168.1.6: EOF received
INFO Processing unexpected disconnect from ESPHome API for localdeck-f4ada4 @ 192.168.1.6
WARNING Disconnected from API
WARNING Can’t connect to ESPHome API for localdeck-f4ada4 @ 192.168.1.6: Error connecting to [AddrInfo(family=<AddressFamily.AF_INET: 2>, type=<SocketKind.SOCK_STREAM: 1>, proto=6, sockaddr=IPv4Sockaddr(address=‘192.168.1.6’, port=6053))]: [Errno 113] Connect call failed (‘192.168.1.6’, 6053) (SocketAPIError)
INFO Trying to connect to localdeck-f4ada4 @ 192.168.1.6 in the background

a month later

This sounds like the issue I had when I obtained my first LocalDeck. I’ve recently ordered a second unit and went through the same pain. A basic config works, anything more complicated causes lots of network issues.

To fix my LocalDecks, I had to manually open their yaml configuation files and comment out these lines:
esp32_improv:
status_indicator: improv_status
authorizer: keypad_button_01
improv_serial: {}

I also had to add this to the wifi section:
power_save_mode: none

I’ve suggested that these changes be made permanent in a post here, as it is VERY frustrating to waste hours on the LocalDeck trying to get it to work. It will be interesting to see if the issue you are experiencing is the same problem I had.

The lack of documentation and the multiple issues I’ve experienced with the LocalDeck are hurting the brand. Once the LocalDeck is working it has been very reliable, but the initial experience could be improved.