Smart Lighting Groups, Auto Shutoff timer and short power interruptions

I. I have four PAR38 smartlights and a motion detector in a group called backyard lights. The motion activation works properly as does activation of the group via my Amazon Alexa devices. If I try to activate the group from the Ring app I get a message that states “something didn’t go right. Please try again”. Trying again results in the same message. If I activate the lights one at a time from the app it works. I have a second group of post lights in the front of the house and the group can be activated from the Ring App with no problem. I guess that I can live with the problem, but would be nice if it worked.

II. A second thing that I do not understand is the light setting for the auto shut off timer. It offers options for 30 seconds, 1, 3 and 5 minutes. No matter which option I choose and save it reverts to 30 seconds.

III. A third mystery that I do not understand. Today we had a momentary power outage. After the outage, all four PAR 38 flood lights were on and stayed on. RING app indicated that the lights were off. Tried to turn them off from app. No luck. No message indicating why. Finally, I gave Amazon Alexa a command and the four lights turned off. I suspect I could have done the same thing by cycling power. What if I am not at home to cycle power? Nothing in the Ring pubs that I could find regarding this behavior.

I have called support twice. No solution. They have not been able to contact advenced support.

I also have your problem #1. Seemed to work OK for about 30 minutes after I set it up yesterday, then started seeing the same as you - inidividual bulbs OK, but groups don’t work. Worked again for a couple hours this morning, but then stopped worked working later in the day, same symptoms.

Reading through the forum, it is clear that we are not alone. Nothing from Ring indicating that they even understand the problems, let alone know how to fix them!

I have your first two problems except I don’t get the error message. It simply doesn’t toggle the lights from the group
Level. My front and rear lights also will not turn on with motion from my doorbell even though it’s setup that way.

Thanks for documenting the problems with PAR38 light bulbs. I’ve called into support multiple times about Problem #2 and Problem #3 you’ve documented. It’s 2023 and Ring still does not understand the issues here.

Hi neighbors. You can find information on which Ring devices can be added into a Light Group here. This list includes PAR38 Bulbs. You should be able to manually turn on all the lights in a Light Group. The time allowed for the Auto-Shutoff Timer can vary if you have a mix of battery and wired devices in your Light Group, as battery devices will not allow a longer duration in order to conserve power. If these features aren’t working as intended, please check to ensure your Ring app is fully updated, then try removing all the devices from that Light Group and setting up a new one.

If a temporary power outage causes any performance issues with your Ring Smart Lighting devices, try power cycling the lights. You can do this by disconnecting a hardwired device from power, or removing the battery from a battery powered device. That should resolve any performance issues. If it doesn’t, please follow up with our support team at one of the numbers available here. If you are outside of the US, please visit here to see how to contact support.

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