LIFX Built-in drivers - questions and discussion

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155

@dkilgore90 yes, that all makes sense. I understood that the default cloud mode of operation would introduce some latency issues but I thought I could live with that. A bigger issue is the possible loss of access to the servers either thru net outages or corporate issues. LIFX's parent (Buddy) has gone into Chapter 11 and while LIFX seems OK for now, that does worry me. The best solution is to implement some form of local control and I have been considering a few approaches.

  1. I looked at using Brilliant switches but I have read that there may still be a cloud dependency and in any case they don't seem to work with the 240VAC power we use in Australia.
  2. I have considered using a Wi-Fi to ZigBee bridge so that I can feed state changes straight to Hubitat. This seems a bit convoluted but it does overcome the polling issue. This link provides a starting point and for now I can live with the 32 channel limit.
    Setting up a Zigbee WiFi bridge using Tasmota and Sonoff hardware - Stuff Blog
  3. I could replace my LIFX switches with 4 gang ZigBee ones. A bit expensive and I would also need to add 10-15 Tasmota-ized Sonoff Minis to handle the dumb bulbs that are currently handled by the direct LIFX switch outputs. I am not sure that this is as straightforward as it sounds but I could start with one switch and find out!
  4. I could use some custom code and Home Assistant but that would most likely end up being a maintenance nightmare.
  5. Some other solution?

Thanks for your input, as you pointed out ,polling isn't practical as you would end up with unacceptable latency. Also, the LIFX switch doesn't support dimming and timed functions so it's not the best starting point. It will be fun finding the 'right' solution!!

156

@rlithgow1 I am pretty new to Hubitat so I don't have a good feel for how much load polling 20 4-gang switches would require. Perhaps dedicating a C7 to this might be ok? I had considered using a RPi to do this so that I could handle dimming and other functions and pass events across to the C7's.

157

Not sure if you resolved this - but I will add some more details on bptworld reply.

To resolve this, I created a group with all Child Devices of an LED which I use as a dimmer.

It works to dim the LED, though you can see it's heavy on Hubitat the network

158

Yes, I understand the issue now. In order to update from one of the child devices I need to poll and doing that at a rate that provides an acceptable latency will overload the C7. I might be ok for a few devices but I have 20 switches and hence 80 keys to poll.
This weeks 3.60 firmware update appears to add some additional LAN functionality so I am going to look into that.

1 Like
159

@bcopeland -- resuming development on expanded LIFX drivers, first focus is on MultiZone.

I have

cmds.add(new hubitat.lifx.commands.SetMultiZoneEffect(instanceId: 4824828, type: effectType, speed: 5, duration: duration))

-- no matter what value I specify for duration (have tried -1, Long.MAX_VALUE, and 5000, I get this error:

java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException: Cannot use rightShift() on this number type: java.math.BigInteger with value: 18374686479671623680 on line 381 (method setEffect)

Am I providing the duration input incorrectly? Appreciate any insight, variable types are not my strong suit.

160

@argyrou @j.koss2 Not to toot my own horn (at least not too loud), would suggest you check out the new "Enhanced" driver for multizone that I just published: [BETA] LIFX Enhanced Drivers

This utilizes the current state of each zone and the SetExtendedColorZones packet to adjust the level of each zone without changing the other values for hue, saturation, or kelvin.

2 Likes
161

Looks great. Having resolved the first issue, the popcorn effect on Strips is something that annoys me a bit every time, so I will give it a try next time I have a LIFX Strips day! :slight_smile:

162

Thank you! I've added your driver (and configured), but after some initial tests, it appears to still change the color each time, even after manual polling. After reviewing your code, I don't believe it is that, but I intend to go through the logs and find out why. I'll follow up here if I find anything.

163

Hi there, found this thread after running into the same issue you had requiring double tap. Have you found a solution?

164

Is Hubitat the only thing that's controlling the LIFX lights? It's best not to allow e.g. Alexa or the LIFX phone app to control them.

1 Like
165

I am starting to automate my LIFX setup using Hubitat. I have 8 LIFX bulbs in my living room ceiling and when I add them to a Hubitat Light Group to control them as one I get the popcorn effect. Any idea on how to prevent this from happening? I have a few ideas I was going to experiment with but figured I would try this forum first. Thank you in advance and thank you to the developer community.

As a side note I did come across this [BETA] LIFX Enhanced Drivers? I also had the idea of programming, let's call it a virtual lifx bulb, where it could be picked up by the LIFX app and Hubitat and respond as a real bulb. But it would essentially be a "proxy bulb" if you will for all of the other bulbs behind it under its control.

[EDIT] After some experimentation I found the popcorn effect to be lessened when I set the transition time to 1 s.

166

Additionally is there a way to set the transition time to something under 1 second? I believe the LIFX app configures this at 500 ms but will verify what the exact number is.

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167

I requested that a while ago, bcopeland said they would do it but haven't seen any updates since. Hoping it's still in the works.

168

HI Alan,
Have you looked at the Nue zigbee switches on Amazon.com.au They say they rated at 240VAC

169

I have a couple of 2 gang Lifx switches and got sick of them loosing connection to the Lifx server. So when I heard the Hubitat could control them directly I went out and bought one.
I have an issue, because the Lifx switch driver only operates one of the two switches and the 4-gang driver doesn't appear to work with the 2-gang switch.
Any advice?

170

Check out this post:

It implied that the 4-gang switch driver could be used if the LIFX app is configured as "non-lifx loads"

171

Howdy, do your drivers support the A60 Nightvision 1200 lumen bulb? I can’t see any reference to it since this post.

172

I've been usingy BR30 nightvision bulbs with the standard color driver - which works fine for color control. But I do still have to use the LIFX app in the rare moment that I want to adjust the IR settings.

2 Likes
173

Awesome, thank you.

174

OK....new to the game here. Brand new LIFX bulb and integrated Hubitat app.

Is there documentation on what all these setting in the driver are and do? I mean I was able to set the color, flash the bulb, turn off and on. What are all these settings? And the dashboard tile for "color bulb" does not affect the bulb at all. Only through the actual device driver can changes be made (other than

Screenshot_4
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off/on, dim, and temp change). Am I missing something?