What should I do if WemoHome or AutomationManager/WemoManager cannot see my Wemo (or other IoT) devices? What if WemoLED can't find my WemoLink?
Your Wemo devices must be connected to your own Wifi network using the Belkin app. Belkin and most other manufacturers have locked the wemos with a proprietary encryption scheme which means you must use their app to connect your devices to your wifi.
If your devices are already connected to your Wifi, are not flashing yellow and are visible to either Belkin's or this app, jump down to the instructions below to "Finding Wemo automatically".
If the app as already found your wemos but they drop offline frequently these tips Offline Devices may help.
Important note: The wemo bulbs ARE NOT like the rest of the wemo family. Wemo switches and sensors, and the wemo link, connect to your wifi. The wemo bulbs connect to the wemo link, and are set up separately. Follow these instructions to connect your link, then jump to the WemoLEDs FAQ to pair it with your bulbs.
For non-technical users these tips might help:
- Set your router wifi security to WPA2, and if you don't know what that is, find out - whether or not you use wemo.
- Try to set up the wemo near your router, if it's a plug you can move it later. Power it up and wait a minute.
- If the wemo LED is not flashing alternate colors reset it and start again.
- Look for and connect to the wemo's internal wifi signal from your handheld. It can take a few minutes to show. You may need to temporarily prevent your handheld from prefering connections with an internet connection (how is device specific).
- If the wemo can't see your home wifi signal and show it in the app setup you're probably SOL. If you're not at least a little technical pack it up and return it.
- After providing your wifi password ignore what the app says about success or failure. Be sure to use your 2.4GHz SSID and password. Watch the wemo's LED for a minute or too. If it keeps flashing amber your password might be incorrect, try again. Give up after a few tries - it's not going to work with your network, time to return it. If the LED is solid on or off you're good to go. If the app can find the wemo this is a good time to update the firmware (if you can convince the app to prompt you for it!).
- Move the wemo in it's final location, or power cycle (unplug and plug it back in) it, or restart if it's a switch. If the wemo keeps flashing amber for longer than 5 minutes you probably can't use the wemo there.
- Power cycle your router and again watch your wemo LEDs. If the wemos don't stop flashing another power cycle/restart of the wemo might work. If not, reconfiguring your network might sort it but again, unless you're a little technical, better to pack it up.
If you're a little technical these next tips can help find a way to make them work. You may need to fiddle with your router settings for a reliable connection, at least to get started
- Set your router WiFi to stay on one channel - disable "Auto Channel"
- Use a WIFI password with no special characters (letters and numbers only), especially if it's a new wemo - it probably has old firmware.
- Enable multicast - the wemo discovery protocol is based on multicast.
- Set your key renewal to 1 hour (3600s). This forces the wemos to reconnect to the router wifi periodically.
- Set your TCP Timeout to 120s, and UDP timeout to 30s. This helps prevent the wemos from using up too many connections.
- Ensure your phone and Wemo's connect to the same part of the network until they're discovered:
- Turn off any extra routers, WAPs, or bridges for now
- Disable all but one SSID on your main router - ensure it's the 2.4GHz network
- If possible DHCP reserve the IP address used by wemo so it doesn't change.
Use your phone's wireless/wifi settings to check your Wifi neighbourhood. If you see any network name starting with "WeMo." at least one of your Wemo devices has not been properly configured and connected to your WiFi. Try connecting your phone to that network and starting the Belkin app. If they cannot be configured and connected to your Wifi, please consult with the Belkin support team. Some phones will not stay connected to the wemo adhoc network - this could be because the phone is configured to prefer connections with internet access. If this is the case, have a look in settings>wifi>advanced, and look for something like “Auto Network Switch” or anything related to the internet connection
Admittedly the Belkin instructions make it a lot harder than it is, so here's an alternate (for android):
- Unplug all but one of your wemos that have not connected. The LEDs will be flashing on any wemo that's not connected to your wifi. If it's a wemo light switch you'll need to configure those first - start by "unremembering" any of the wemo wifi SSIDs in your phone's wifi network list.
- Hold the reset button (the location depends on the type, it's usually at the top) as you plug in your new Wemo Switch or Motion device. Hold the button for at least 15 seconds (only 5s for the Wemo Link, no longer!) as/after you plug it in - until the LED starts flashing - then release it. The hardwired lightswitch has a reset button under the switch on the left side you press for 10 seconds - again until it starts flashing - then release.
- Watch until the status LEDs start flashing - amber, red, or yellow depending on the type.
- Check the network settings on your phone - some have a setting that will disconnect from a wifi connection if the internet is not available. Temporarily turn this off as it will interfer with the wemo setup.
- Open the Wifi settings on your phone. You need Android 3 or later, and a phone that supports connecting to adhoc Wifi (most but not all do). It may take a few minutes for the wemo's network to show up (or many minutes if it's been setup before).
- Look in the list of available networks for one (or more) starting with "WeMo...", and select it.
- Once your phone connects to the WeMo switch's adhoc Wifi, start up the Belkin app. It will take you through the setup instructions to connect the WeMo device to your router.
- Once complete the WeMo device will stop flashing after a minute or so, the Belkin app will reconnect your phone to your local wifi and you should be good to go. Occasionally it takes a few attempts.
- Note that you don't actually need the remote access to start working, focus on getting them connected to your wifi first. You don't necessarily need the belkin app to finish by saying it was successful - if it fails but the wemo stops flashing you're good to go.
- If it just doesn't work it's usually a network/router configuration problem (see above). If there's any doubt about WiFi signal strength move the switch and phone close to your router (or your router closer to your switch) and give it another go.
- If none of that helps you need to contact Belkin directly.
Once properly connected to your WiFi network the Wemo devices will no longer broadcasting the adhoc Wifi signal (named "WeMo."...) and will no longer be flashing or showing red or yellow signals (the color depends on the wemo type).
If your wemos are connected to your wifi (they're no longer flashing) but you still cannot see them with the belkin app, or if they disappear from your local network when you turn access back on, you may want to try WemoManager or WemoHome. These apps are currently much better at finding your wemos in your home network.
With your wemo devices connected properly, connect your android device to that same wifi network (router SSID/channel) where your wemos are connected. This is important to ensure the WeMo devices will be visible and respond to WemoHome or WemoManager.
What Now?
Once you've got your wemo's connected to your home network it's time to decide how to control them.
- If you're happy with the belkin app you can continue to use it locally and/or remotely to control your wemos. It can also be used with any of the other apps below.
- WemoHome will give you a faster, smaller app that will allow you to quickly control your Wemos when your android device is connected to your home network. It provides widgets for quick on/off control, the ability to group wemos, and "scenes" for more complex setup with one click. Add WemoLEDs for extended control (dimming, etc) of your WemoLink and LED bulbs. Continue to use the belkin app for remote access.
- WemoLEDs will give you a faster, smaller app that will allow you to quickly control your smart LEDs when your android device is connected to your home network. It provides widgets for full bulb control, the ability to group devices (in place of the broken implementation by Belkin), and "presets" for very complex behavior. Add WemoHome for control of your non-LED devices. Continue to use the belkin app for remote access.
- AutomationManager is the premier app for managing your belkin and many other smart devices. It runs like an enhanced WemoHome, but it can also be used on a dedicated android device, PC or MAC as a hub that provides an extensive rules and remote access. A single license supports multiple installs to provide these capabilities. Add WemoLEDs for extended control (dimming, etc) of your WemoLink and LED bulbs.
Finding Wemo automatically
This procedure may work for other IoT devices as well.
It's usually best to start fresh. Wemo's can be a little rough on routers and cause them to stop responding. If possible, temporarily shut down all but the 2.4GHz channel and any other WAPs or wifi extenders.
Reboot your router (best if you can power it off and then back on), then power cycle all of the devices (use the restart button for the light switches) if they don't attach within a minute or so. Wait till they stop flashing amber and either show green or the LED turns off.
Connect the handheld device to your 2.4GHz signal / SSID on the same part of the network as your devices, then start up WemoHome or AM Manager. Touch the "Search" (the magnifying glass button), and wait about 20 seconds. If your devices are not all discovered after 3 or so attempts there is still a problem with the wemo connection or you may have a complex network that needs some manual setup.
- Confirm that all of your Wemo devices and the phone running WemoHome / AM Manager are on the same Wifi network (you might want to check your router status). Verify they are all on the same band/channel and there is no intervening router switches, access points, or network hops.
- Check your router (usually in advanced settings) to ensure that UPNP is disabled and Multicast support is enabled. I've had the most success by disabling multicast support on all but my root router, which may be telling the other routers/gateways to route multicast packets on through.
- If you cannot configure your network to disable UPNP and enable multicast or you need to use WAPs, repeaters, or other network devices another option is to assign your WeMo devices reserved IP addresses using the DHCP settings of your router. Use the "Finding Wemo manually" instructions below.
To use Finding Wemo manually:
- In your router's DHCP settings you will (hopefully) find an option to assign devices on your network fixed IP addresses; use the MAC addresses on your Wemo devices (or the box they came in) to find them in the router's DHCP list. Note that the stickers on them are often (always?) off by one digit, the last one.
- Open AM Manager, use menu>Manual Search>Finding Wemo and enter the IP address of your Wemo. Do this for each wemo device.
- WemoHome/AM Manager will remember the location of your wemos and attempt to contact them directly; if all of the wemos are found AM Manager/WemoHome will not need to use the UPNP search function.
If WemoHome or AM Manager still cannot see your devices please email me for additional support.