LIFX Integration app not adding more bulbs

Built-In Apps and Drivers Built-in Apps
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@bcopeland

Long time user of LIFX Integration (built-in) here. While the LIFX onboarding process is not a great UX, I’ve always found that, once the bulb is in the Lifx app, it’s easy and reliable to then pull them into HE.

Until today when I was adding about 10 new bulbs to the house. The first half dozen worked great. The last few are just not showing up in the HE LIFX Integration app after hitting Refresh, despite them all being in the Lifx mobile app and behaving fine.

No errors in the log. All bulbs have static IP reservations and are on a dedicated 2.4g WiFi with no VLANs involved. I’m getting the same behavior on two different hubs.

And I’ve reset bulbs within Lifx and still no joy in HE.

Anyone have any theories about what could be going on? Is there a cap on the number of bulbs using the LIFX Integration app? Feel like I’m staring it in the face but can’t see it.

EDIT; I’m running UDM Pro for my router and all bulbs have strong RSSI values.

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What model bulbs did you get? Some of their new models are Matter (not sure if the LIFX api is still used on these) .. But if they are Matter you don't have to use the LIFX integration.

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I got the BR30s, I don’t see a model number, but Amazon labels them as “ LIFX Color, 1100 lumens BR30 E26, 2.4GHz Wi-Fi Smart LED Light Bulb, Billions of Colors and White”

AFAIK these do not support Matter, at least not yet.

4

You are correct.. At least as far as I can determine from their website..

I also am on a Unifi network.. And have seen on occasion where I have to reboot the router because some bulbs won't discover.. I have no idea why this is, yet, because when it happens I'm usually in a hurry..

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Unfortunately I’ve rebooted the router multiple times. I’m stumped.

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Anything that would prevent broadcast packets? .. There is a setting in Unifi for this in relation to wifi devices (I don't recall what it is called)..

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^ This. I assume it's UDP, right? I'm looking to implement some kind of UDP broadcast relay (wip). But I'm a little skeptical it's the problem because all my existing LIFX bulbs work like a charm.

Although, now that I think about it, UDP is just for discovery perhaps?

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Bryan, I am completely stumped. I definitely have multicast activated on my UDM Pro but I'm still struggling with LIFX integration. Never have had this problem before.

EDIT: I’ve been troubleshooting this problem on a dev hub as well and just noticed that certain bulbs that aren’t available on my production hub (C7) are available on my dev hub (C8). And certain bulbs that were available on my production hub last night, aren’t available today. Hoping this additional context might spark other ideas.

EDIT2: One other clue: when I click the "i" in the circle in the upper right hand corner of the app screen, I can see that the app thinks it has integrated with all of my bulbs. They are all listed there. But back on the main app screen, only a small subset of them show up as installed devices. And nothing shows up under "LIFX Devices to Add" when clicking Refresh.

EDIT 3: I deleted the entire app instance, installed from scratch on my C8. Was able to install almost all of the bulbs. And then a couple hours later, most of them are no longer listed under Installed LIFX Devices and they can no longer be controlled from the virtu device. Stumped.

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And, does anyone know if the builtin LIFX Integration uses UDP broadcast?

I ask because UniFi UDM Pro, as I understand it, doesn’t block UDP within a subnet. If that’s right, then I remain stumped why my LIFX bulbs that work great in LIFX mobile app, don’t work consistently in Hubitat

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The LIFX local LAN protocol is indeed UDP based, and uses broadcasts as part of it's discovery process. See:

Communicating with a device &
GitHub - LIFX/lifx-protocol-docs: LIFX LAN protocol V2 documentation

And in general, nothing should block a broadcast within a given subnet (assuming that subnet is defined as a single VLAN) - And access controls or FW rules, apply ACROSS VLANs. - If both the hub, and the LIFX bulb are in the same VLAN, then there should NOT be a need for a broadcast relay.

If you trying to span VLAN's (hub on one, and bulb on another), that's a different & more complex story (that I wouldn't personally attempt while your trying to debug things). Some quick googling took me here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ubiquiti/comments/z83tot/udm_pro_and_broadcast_relay_how/

But if you have everything in a single VLAN, and aren't messing with multiple subnets, then I would leave the broadcast relay disabled. FYI, the LIFX app is working by connecting to their cloud, and using their cloud HTTP API - So it's not an "apples to apples" comparison to the local LAN protocol - That's why their App can work when you not at home or on your local LAN

Hope that helps.

1 Like
11

Really appreciate your insights. Thanks for sharing. I purposely am not using subnets. No vlans. Just the default network, with three wifi SSIDs: main one (dual band), guest one (irrelevant to this issue), and an IOT one. The last one is 2.4g and is where the bulbs connect--I created the IOT 2.4g wifi because the bulbs had trouble connecting consistently when trying to connect to 2.4/5g wifi. My Hubitat hubs are all connected via ethernet through a Unifi switch to the UDM Pro.

The new thing I figured out last night is that, of my ~30 LIFX bulbs (about 20 of which have been operating without a blip for years and the rest are the ones I just installed), Hubitat can see* 13, but not see the rest.

I've been trying to find common attributes (e.g., firmware, network config, etc.) of the well behaved vs. not well behaved, and can't just find any common factors. This this morning, I tried to install LIFX via Home Assistant. And, bam, the exact same pattern: HA sees 13 and not the rest.

Now, I should qualify what I mean by "see". In Hubitat using the built-in LIFX integration, only the 13 bulbs (which are a mix of old and new) show up under "Installed LIFX Devices" on the main UI of the app and no more appear in the dropdown when pushing Refresh. However, if I click in "i" in the circle in the upper right hand corner of the app UI, under Child Devices, it lists all 30 bulbs. This seems like an important clue, but I'm don't possess sufficient technical knowledge to infer what this means.

I've been working with chatgpt5, but it's slow going. Appreciate anybody's insight on what to try.

BTW, I have set up my UDM Pro with IGMP Snooping set to OFF, mDNS set to ON, and mDNS Proxy set to ALL. I also use Unifi's Site Magic to have a site-to-site VPN between our main home and our vacation home. Anyone see a problem with any of this?

EDIT: Two other causes I have ruled out: weak wifi signal or bulb firmware in need of updating. FWIW...

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OK - The hardwire of the hub to the switch helps make things easier (and I'm doing that myself with LIFX and my hub).

The fact that both HE & HA has the same issue, and sees the same 13 out of 30, makes this feel more like a network thing, than a driver/app issue specific to HE.

I'll have to go back and re-read the Unifi docs, around IGMP snooping, mDNS and mDNS proxy settings - And some of the needed site-2-site VPN settings may conflict with mDNS disovery IOT needs. - So we may break (short term) the VPN during troubleshooting - I'm not clear if the site-2-site VPN has critical uptime requirements, or is more a convenience.

Can you send a screen shot of you network and Wifi (SSID) settings in the UDM? - I'm specifically interested in you you have 3 SSIDs overlaid on a single network, and how interacts with the DHCP scopes. - The single network/VLAN is definitely going to make things easier here (versus multiple VLANs and FW rules/forwarding), but it does feel like something is intermittent or timing out, in terms of the wireless config. - Also good that the bulbs are all on a seperate 2.4G network, versus a 2.4/5G shared SSID.

Given the similar HA & HE behaviours, my instinct is to look at the wireless configuration details, as well as mDNS settings (which I'll read back up on later tonight).

1 Like
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Also, just to clarify, given the 2 sites, and the cross home VPNs, the bulks and hub running LIFX app are all on the same site of the (not trying to control/find LIFX bulbs in house B, from a hub running in house A?) - The "cross house" VPN stuff is just for Hub Mesh? Or there is no interaction between the two? - I'm assuming there are seperate subnets between the two homes/sites? Or is there a hub in each home/site, or just one that's used across the VPN for both homes?

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@guyman, I really appreciate your input here....you have no idea how much I've been struggling with this. ;|

Re; the S2S VPN, it's totally a convenience. Sometimes, when we're at house #1, I want to easily access a resource on house #2's LAN, and vice versa. So I did the S2S. But, for now, I can easily turn it off. Will report back.

Give me a few minutes and I'll post my network and wifi settings below....

Network Settings (no VLANS, just this default one)

image
image1118×1073 56.4 KB

Wifi Settings for Main Dual Band Wifi

UDM Pro Main Wifi Settings
UDM Pro Main Wifi Settings616×1001 50.8 KB

Wifi Settings for IOT/2.4g Wifi (where LIFX Bulbs are all connected)

UDM Pro Olsonet Wifi Settings
UDM Pro Olsonet Wifi Settings580×1004 50.7 KB

One footnote: I only just disabled "Enhanced IOT Connectivity" and have yet to test whether it helped (I'm going to next). Otherwise, these configs are exactly what is not working.

TYVM!!!

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Once I deleted the S2S VPN and disabled "Enhanced IOT Connectivity", I was able to get the HE LIFX Integration working. I hope it sticks, as previous attempts would work temporarily as well. But so far, so good.

I do notice, however, that when adding bulbs to the LIFX mobile app in the first place, it often takes 3-4 attempts with lots of reset/retry in between. Curious.

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Yeah, given a single VLAN/subnet, and recent LIFX bulbs - I personally had some doubts around the "Enhanced IOT Connectivity" - That was my next suggestion on what to disable.

I wasn't really clear yet, what the S2S VPN was doing, in terms of routing, different site subnets and broadcast traffic - As that introduces another layer of complexity. I would leave the IOT stuff "disabled" for a few days, and see if things are stable.

Once the dust settles a bit, then perhaps this weekend, try re-enabling your S2S VPN - to me it's 50/50 if that breaks things (or not) - Again, since it's the "site magic" is doing god-knows-what. That's the downside of all the Unifi wizard stuff, it's great till something breaks, then all the important logs and details are hidden. My general UniFi approach is get SSH access, and then you have to "dig into the details" via the CLI yourself.

Finally, my next suggestion, was going to start looking at the mDNS details around the working/not-working bulbs - but if things are working now, then no need for that additional "mucking in the weeds". -

My final suggestion is leave the "Enhance IOT" wifi stuff disabled - It's not going to help a newer LIFX bulb. - And I'm still not clear of the details around what the S2S VPN is doing, so I would try and bring that back, once you have a working baseline.

Very glad it sounds like you "see some light in the tunnel" at this point.

1 Like
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Great advice, thank you.

For now, I’m not going to touch anything. Just make sure it’s stable. Then I’ll test whether it’s S2S VPN or Enhanced IOT Connectivity. I’m hoping (and guessing) the problem is the latter.

Thanks again for all your help. Once I’ve tested, hopefully I’ll remember to come back here and post lessons learned so others can avoid all the pain and suffering!

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hi. the same problem now... some update on the udm-pro ( network ) and now i only see 2 lamps....

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i cannot understand.... working again.
I just changed the "IoT" wifi definition to "Application: IoT". But all the config i have now defined are the same when i was with "application: standard"...

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I still have the occasional disappear/reappear with some Lifx bulbs. I believe it’s due to some aspect of my UniFi network. Several times, I noticed that all my misbehaving bulbs were connected to a single common wireless access point — restarting the AP resolved the problems. On a few other occasions, a restart of my router resolved matters.