LIFX

The LIFX integration automatically discovers LIFX lights on each network that is enabled in Home Assistant’s network configuration. Suppose any of your LIFX lights are not automatically discovered. In that case, you can add them manually using the user interface by following the configuration steps below for each light you want to add:

Configuration

To add the LIFX integration to your Home Assistant instance, use this My button:

LIFX can be auto-discovered by Home Assistant. If an instance was found, it will be shown as Discovered. You can then set it up right away.

Set state

LIFX lights allow a change of color and brightness even when they are turned off. This way, you can control the light during the day, so its settings are correct when events for turning on are received, for example, from motion detectors or external buttons.

The normal light.turn_on call cannot be used for this because it always turns the power on. Thus, LIFX has its own set_state service that allows color changes without affecting the current power state.

Service lifx.set_state

Change the light to a new state.

Calculating zones to affect

The LIFX Z and LIFX Lightstrip each have eight (8) zones per segment. You can connect up to ten (10) segments to a single controller, which results in a maximum zone count of 80.

The LIFX Beam has ten (10) zones per segment and one (1) zone per corner piece. You can connect up to eight (8) segments and two (2) corner pieces to a single controller, which results in a maximum zone count of 82.

All devices start counting zones at zero (0), which means the zone numbers for the zones attribute of the lifx.set_state service range from 0 to 79 for the LIFX Z and Lightstrip and 0 to 81 for the LIFX Beam.

Set HEV cycle state

You can control the HEV LEDs in LIFX Clean bulbs using the set_hev_cycle_state service. The service can start or stop a HEV (or “Clean”) cycle either using the default duration configured on the bulb or for a custom duration specified when calling the service. Home Assistant will return or log an error if an incompatible bulb is specified when calling the service.

To determine whether or not a HEV cycle is currently running, Home Assistant exposes a Clean Cycle binary sensor for all HEV-enabled bulbs. This sensor can be used to trigger automations to occur when a HEV cycle starts or stops. To reduce network load, HEV cycle status is only checked every 10 seconds so this sensor may not update instantaneously.

Service lifx.set_hev_cycle_state

Sensors

The following sensors are available depending on the LIFX model:

Note that these sensors are only updated every 30 seconds and may not reflect the current state if changes are made externally to Home Assistant.

Themes

Home Assistant provides a collection of predefined themes for LIFX multizone lights, each designed to mimic the theme of the same name from the LIFX smartphone app.

To apply a theme interactively, use the theme selection drop-down box found on the device configuration screen.

To apply a theme as part of an automation, use the select.select_option service call. You can also apply a theme when calling the lifx.effect_move service. See the Light effects section below for more details, including how to set a custom theme for that effect.

The following themes are available: autumn, blissful, cheerful, dream, energizing, epic, exciting, focusing, halloween, hanukkah, holly, independence_day, intense, mellow, peaceful, powerful, relaxing, santa, serene, soothing, sports, spring, tranquil, warming.

Light effects

The LIFX platform supports several software-controlled light effects and one hardware based effect. You can start these effects with default options by using the effect attribute of the normal light.turn_on service, for example like this:

automation:
  - alias: "..."
    trigger:
      # ...
    action:
      - service: light.turn_on
        target:
          entity_id: light.office, light.kitchen
        data:
          effect: lifx_effect_pulse

However, if you want to fully control a light effect, you have to use its dedicated service call, like this:

script:
  colorloop_start:
    alias: "Start colorloop"
    sequence:
      - service: lifx.effect_colorloop
        target:
          entity_id: group.livingroom
        data:
          brightness: 255
          period: 10
          spread: 30
          change: 35

Hardware effects

The Flame (lifx.effect_flame), Morph (lifx.effect_morph) and Move (lifx.effect_move) effects are hardware-based and only work on specific LIFX devices. Flame and Morph are available on the LIFX Tile and Candle, while the Move effect requires a LIFX Z, Lightstrip, or Beam.

All hardware-based effects can be stopped and started regardless of the device’s power state, but the default behavior for each service is to turn the device on when starting an effect. Set the power_on attribute of the service to false to override this default.

All the available light effects and their options are listed below.

Service lifx.effect_pulse

Run a software-based flash effect by changing to a color and then back.

Service lifx.effect_colorloop

Run a software-based effect that continuously loops colors around the color wheel. All participating lights will coordinate to keep similar (but not identical) colors.

Service lifx.effect_flame

Run a hardware-based effect on LIFX matrix devices that creates a flame effect on the device. The device will be powered on by default, but this can be overridden by setting power_on to false. The speed attribute controls the speed of the flames.

Service lifx.effect_morph

Run a hardware-based effect on LIFX matrix devices that animates blobs of colors across the device. The speed attribute controls the speed of the movement.

You must provide a palette or theme to use for the effect, but not both. The palette attribute allows you to select the colors used by the effect, while the theme attribute allows you to select one of the pre-configured themes which match those found in the LIFX smartphone app.

The device will be powered on by default, but this can be overridden by setting power_on to false.

Service lifx.effect_move

Run a hardware-based effect on LIFX multizone devices that move the current colors on the device in a particular direction. The direction and speed of the animation are controlled by the speed and direction attributes. You can change the effect’s colors while running using the lifx.set_state service.

The effect will not be visible if all LEDs on the device are set to the same color and is ignored by unsupported devices.

Service lifx.effect_stop

Run an effect that does nothing, thereby stopping any software or hardware effect that might be running.

Infrared brightness

Home Assistant will automatically create an Infrared Brightness configuration entity for LIFX Night Vision bulbs. Changing the state of this entity will change the brightness of the LEDs on the bulb.

Buttons

The LIFX button platform creates two buttons for each LIFX device.

Identify button

The Identify button will flash the bulb three times at maximum brightness then return the bulb to the state it was in prior. Successful identification requires the bulb to be powered on and already configured in Home Assistant.

Restart button

The Restart button triggers the bulb to restart in exactly the same way as a physical power cycle, which makes it ideal for triggering a new DHCP request from the bulb.

HomeKit Accessory Protocol

Most LIFX devices support Apple HomeKit via the HomeKit Accessory Protocol (HAP). If a LIFX device has not already been added to HomeKit natively using an Apple iOS or macOS device, it can be paired with Home Assistant using via the HomeKit Controller integration which uses HAP.

This enables the use of LIFX devices in Home Assistant that are not supported by the LIFX integration. See below for specific details on controlling LIFX Switches.

The LIFX integration currently has to poll the device every few seconds, as opposed to using the HomeKit Controller integration, which offers push updates, encrypted communications, and significantly less network traffic.

Discoveries from control protocols that are not desired can be ignored in the UI. LIFX devices that support HAP will be discovered by both methods if they have not been added to native HomeKit using an Apple iOS or macOS device. It is possible to set up control of the device in Home Assistant using both protocols simultaneously by configuring both the LIFX integration and the HomeKit Controller integration for the same device.

LIFX Switch

The LIFX integration does not support the LIFX Switch. However, the HomeKit Controller integration can be used instead for LIFX Switch running firmware 3.90 or higher. Follow the LIFX documentation to obtain a HomeKit code prior to integrating the Switch with Home Assistant as it will be needed during the process.

When using the HomeKit Controller integration, each button on the LIFX Switch is discovered as a stateless switch and will not appear as an entity in Home Assistant. Relays that are configured as wired to non-LIFX devices will appear as normal switches in Home Assistant.

Troubleshooting Discovery

Lights

LIFX and HomeKit based discovery of LIFX bulbs relies on Home Assistant having a network interface connected to the same subnet as your LIFX bulbs. If you use a segregated IoT network to which Home Assistant is not directly connected, use the manual configuration method documented above to bypass discovery.

If you have multiple network interfaces, ensure that the interface connected to the same subnet as your LIFX bulbs is enabled in Home Assistant’s network configuration.

Switches

If your switch is not automatically discovered or you get a “Cannot add pairing as device can no longer be found” error during the config process, reboot your LIFX Switch as they only broadcast HomeKit compatibility for 15 minutes.