Troubleshooting the Colour Bar & Scale

Tutorial 20.15: Troubleshooting the Colour Bar & Scale

⚠️ DRAFT — this tutorial is partly a placeholder. The battery and LiveWeightCard sections reflect live behaviour. The connection / pairing sections depend on the BLE pairing UI which hasn't shipped yet (Phase 3c). Sections marked DRAFT will be filled in once the Acaia Pearl driver is live.

Introduction

When the Colour Bar or scale misbehaves mid-appointment, you need a quick fix — not a long debugging session. This tutorial collects the common issues and their solutions in one place.

Who this is for: Anyone using the Colour Bar What you'll learn:

Common scale connection issues
Battery warnings and what they mean
LiveWeightCard state messages
The Capture-disabled reasons
When to fall back to the main web app

Time to complete: Reference only — skim on demand

Scale won't pair (DRAFT)

Placeholder — see Tutorial 20.14 for the full pairing flow (DRAFT).

Provisional debug checklist when pairing fails:

Is the scale charged? Low battery can block pairing
Is the scale already paired to another device? Disconnect it first
Has iPadOS granted Bluetooth permission to Luminate? Settings > Luminate > Bluetooth
Restart the Colour Bar app (close, reopen)
Restart the scale (off, on)
Restart the iPad's Bluetooth (Settings > Bluetooth, toggle off / on)

Report persistent failures to support (hello@luminate.salon) with the iPad's iPadOS version and the scale's serial number.

Scale keeps disconnecting (DRAFT)

Placeholder — specific guidance pending the BLE driver.

Common factors:

Range — most BLE scales want the device within 2–3 metres line-of-sight
Interference — microwave ovens, strong wi-fi routers, and other Bluetooth devices can disrupt BLE
Battery — below ~20%, scales become unreliable before fully dying
Idle sleep — the scale may sleep after inactivity; placing a bowl on it typically wakes it

The battery indicator is amber

The battery indicator in the header turns amber at 20% or less. At this level:

Pairing typically still works
Live weighing is usually fine
Plan to recharge the scale before your next appointment

Below ~10%, the scale's own low-battery behaviour kicks in (depending on model) — it may refuse to connect, shut off mid-weigh, or read unreliably. Don't start a new colour on a critically low scale.

LiveWeightCard says "Scale disconnected"

The hint text in the LiveWeightCard tells you what to try:

"Pair a scale to capture readings."

No scale has been paired in this session. Pair one (Tutorial 20.14).

"Place the bowl on the scale to read the weight."

The scale is paired but showing 0 g or no reading. Place the bowl on it.

"Waiting for a stable reading…"

The scale is paired and weighing, but the reading is still fluctuating. Give it a moment.

If the disconnected state persists despite a paired, battery-healthy scale, try:

Re-tare via the Tare button
Lift the bowl, wait for the scale to zero, replace
Restart the Colour Bar app

Capture is disabled — why?

Capture is disabled whenever any of the following are true:

Scale is disconnected
No reading yet (the weight display shows —, nothing on the scale yet)
No stable reading (the indicator shows Reading, not Stable)

The hint text underneath the Tare / Capture buttons tells you which one applies. Tare and re-capture usually resolves the typical cases.

"Used more than originally dispensed" warning on Reweigh

"Used more than originally dispensed — recheck the leftover weights."

You entered a leftover weight larger than the original dispensed amount. Causes:

Didn't tare before weighing leftover
Weighed bowl + leftover without taring the empty bowl first
Pulled leftover from the wrong bowl

Re-capture the affected bowl. The warning clears when the numbers make sense.

The Colour Bar is slow or unresponsive

First-line checks:

Is the iPad's wi-fi connected? The Colour Bar is a live web app
Is it low on storage? Clear unused apps
Has the app been open for days? Close and reopen

If the Colour Bar stays unresponsive during a busy colour session, fall back to the main web app's formula dialog (Tutorial 20.6) on any other device — the data is identical.

I accidentally put the iPad into App mode

From the Colour Bar footer, tap Switch mode, then pick Colour Bar again. The choice persists (localStorage) so the iPad stays on Colour Bar next time.

I've finalised the wrong formula

Don't panic — formulas are non-destructive:

Open the appointment's Colour Formulas panel on the main web app
Click Revert on the wrong formula (while the transaction is still a draft)
Re-finalise with the correct actuals

If the transaction has already been completed, Modify the transaction (Tutorial 8.2) to reopen the formula.

Nothing I try fixes it — what next?

Note the time, the appointment, and what you saw
Fall back to the main web app's formula dialog (Tutorial 20.6) so the client isn't kept waiting
Report to support at hello@luminate.salon with the details

We'd rather you finish the client's colour and tell us afterwards than spend the appointment troubleshooting.