diff --git a/ESH-INF/binding/binding.xml b/ESH-INF/binding/binding.xml
index 822a76d07919741584dd5a2863d905d38a416481..cdc1fdcf1d2c5c3def2ed8c99a3359dafa5e6501 100644
--- a/ESH-INF/binding/binding.xml
+++ b/ESH-INF/binding/binding.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 	xsi:schemaLocation="http://eclipse.org/smarthome/schemas/binding/v1.0.0 http://eclipse.org/smarthome/schemas/binding-1.0.0.xsd">
 
 	<name>OpenLicht Binding</name>
-	<description>This is the binding for OpenLicht (Last Update: 2018-10-01).</description>
+	<description>This is the binding for OpenLicht (Last Update: 2018-10-01 15:07).</description>
 	<author>René Schöne</author>
 
 </binding:binding>
diff --git a/ESH-INF/thing/thing-types.xml b/ESH-INF/thing/thing-types.xml
index 7d84ec764ae49fb98ab141448188526934c84129..c555472399c34fcb1eb923548cfb9271dcf017cc 100644
--- a/ESH-INF/thing/thing-types.xml
+++ b/ESH-INF/thing/thing-types.xml
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 
     <!-- Flick Type -->
     <channel-type id="flick-type">
-        <item-type>Text</item-type>
+        <item-type>String</item-type>
         <label>Last Flick</label>
         <description>Last Flick detected (and its direction)</description>
         <category>Motion</category>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index e590521ca4cecdbd3ff32d2a07127d1c127edd74..65813eb2d4a861334681d8423f6f5d78a3e6bdd5 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
   <parent>
     <artifactId>pom</artifactId>
     <groupId>org.openhab.binding</groupId>
-    <version>2.4.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>2.3.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>org.openhab.binding.openlicht</artifactId>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/openhab/binding/openlicht/handler/AbstractMqttHandler.java b/src/main/java/org/openhab/binding/openlicht/handler/AbstractMqttHandler.java
index b94281b2a950b8402a38d9a500d92045381987e0..41c60a8b3da4d61727e99326813a7cfbecd82ca7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/openhab/binding/openlicht/handler/AbstractMqttHandler.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/openhab/binding/openlicht/handler/AbstractMqttHandler.java
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ import java.math.BigDecimal;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 import java.util.concurrent.ScheduledExecutorService;
 
+import javax.naming.ConfigurationException;
+
 import org.eclipse.jdt.annotation.NonNull;
 import org.eclipse.jdt.annotation.Nullable;
 import org.eclipse.smarthome.core.thing.Thing;
@@ -85,10 +87,12 @@ public abstract class AbstractMqttHandler extends BaseThingHandler
         String brokerName = getConfigValueAsString(CONFIG_BROKER_NAME);
         if (broker.getName().equals(brokerName)) {
             // this is our broker!
+            this.logger.info("Got correct broker, subscribing to topic {}", getTopic());
             currentBrokerConnection = broker;
             warnNoBrokerConnection = true;
             updateTopicLength();
             try {
+                currentBrokerConnection.start();
                 if (subscribeTopic()) {
                     broker.addConsumer(this);
                 }
@@ -98,6 +102,8 @@ public abstract class AbstractMqttHandler extends BaseThingHandler
                 this.logger.error("Could not add subscriber to broker {}", brokerName);
                 updateStatus(ThingStatus.OFFLINE, ThingStatusDetail.COMMUNICATION_ERROR,
                         "Could not add subscriber to broker " + brokerName);
+            } catch (ConfigurationException e) {
+                this.logger.error("Error during first connection to mqtt broker", e);
             }
         } else {
             this.logger.debug("Got another broker, not interessted!");
@@ -151,7 +157,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractMqttHandler extends BaseThingHandler
 
     /**
      * Subclasses may override this to subscribe to a special subtopic.
-     * Do not add a leading not a trailing slash!
+     * Do not add a leading nor a trailing slash!
      *
      * @return <code>null</code> by default to not use subtopics
      */
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/openhab/binding/openlicht/handler/SkyWriterHATHandler.java b/src/main/java/org/openhab/binding/openlicht/handler/SkyWriterHATHandler.java
index d5d97b9638ee7c26159722bc25d067b12211052b..a31acaf776ac0fb4a1104c4ee0e95ee7ffb8e167 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/openhab/binding/openlicht/handler/SkyWriterHATHandler.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/openhab/binding/openlicht/handler/SkyWriterHATHandler.java
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ import org.openhab.binding.openlicht.internal.ConfigurationHolder;
 
 /**
  * The {@link SkyWriterHATHandler} is responsible for handling commands, which are
- * sent to one of the channels.
+ * sent to the channel "$BASE_TOPIC/skywriter".
  *
  * @author René Schöne - Initial contribution
  */
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ public class SkyWriterHATHandler extends AbstractMqttHandler {
 
     @Override
     public void handleCommand(ChannelUID channelUID, Command command) {
-        logger.debug("Got command for read-only thing: {} {}", channelUID.getAsString(), command.toFullString());
+        logger.info("Got command for read-only thing: {} {}", channelUID.getAsString(), command.toFullString());
         // TODO: handle command
 
         // Note: if communication with thing fails for some reason,
@@ -41,8 +41,12 @@ public class SkyWriterHATHandler extends AbstractMqttHandler {
 
     @Override
     public void processMessage(String topic, byte[] payload) {
-        String state = new String(payload);
-        updateState(CHANNEL_FLICK, StringType.valueOf(state));
+        try {
+            String state = new String(payload);
+            updateState(CHANNEL_FLICK, StringType.valueOf(state));
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            this.logger.warn("Could not process message", e);
+        }
     }
 
     @Override