I'm not asking for an app that can flash a bulb. This has been hashed numerous times in the Community with the last discussion being closed around late 2022.
In nearly every case the idea was to repeatedly call the device's switch capability, using a pause between switch calls. I want to call the FLASH capability that already exists in HE's Advanced Zigbee [CT/RGB/RGBW] Bulb driver.
From the device page of my Sylvania/Osram Zigbee bulbs, the FLASH button produces a wonderful and continuous flash that stays on until the FLASH button is clicked a second time.
Prime application would be for HSM to trigger the bulb with a SET COLOR/LEVEL followed by a FLASH, then pause for nn Seconds, followed by another FLASH command, followed by returning the bulb to its original state.
Since this is an LED flash and it's not cycling physical contacts, it could alternatively flash indefinitely/until HSM Alert is cancelled, without overheating. Someone might disagree here, and if so, please speak up.
Would be happy to donate to someone's PayPal for writing a small app.
While this would be a simple app to write, you don't need one; you can just write a Rule Machine rule using the "Flash switches" action (under the "Control Switches, Push Button" category). I can't remember if anything changed at some point in the history of the app, but as of now, it just calls the flash() command on the device -- which sounds like exactly what you want.
To get the entire automation you're asking for, you can also look into the "Capture Devices" and "Restore Devices" actions (which will capture and restore the on/off state of the device and, if on, the current color or CT and level) -- plus some HSM-based trigger and possibly some Wait in your actions for another HSM event, depending on exactly what you're looking to do.
does anyone know if hue bulbs have a built in flash command? would be nice in terms of fire or water leak.. right now i just have them come on a certain color.
If they are directly Zigbee, the Advanced driver would work. If they are Hue Bridge bulbs, CoCoHue has a Flash command, but it sounds will stop its own after a minute or so due to how the API apparently works. The other community integration may have something similar. The built-in integration does not.
Didn't realize this until now, but the Sylvania/Osram RGBW only wants to flash the color of Incandescent. You can set it to to any color or color temp and when you hit FLASH it flashes Incandescent, then returns to previous set color when you stop it.
Will surely get one's attention but doesn't have the effect that color would.
