LIFX - Alternative connections to Homey? (MQTT/web/other?)

Devices
1

Hi guys,

Since the official LIFX app(link) uses cloud, it is unfortunately too slow to be useful in many cases. Therefore I would like to find another way to integrate my LIFX Z Lightstrip with Homey.

Anyone out there that could maybe help make this reality?

Any amount of help is appreciated, be it either suggestions on what direction to go with it, to helping create it. Since I am no developer, and have extremely limited experience with everything from MQTT to APIs, before I try to do anything myself, it would be great to know where to focus my effort.

I have a Synology NAS running (among other things) Home Assistant, that I use as a dashboard. Through the excellent MQTT hub. Adding my Lightstrip to Home Assistant controls the strip perfectly, with instant response. If needed, I can run something on the NAS to help integrate it with Homey.

I have found some integration examples that might be able to reveal a quick solution:
LIFX LAN Protocol
Python 2.7 command line controls
Home Assistant integration
SmartThings NodeJS webservice
LIFX MQTT
Home Automation Bridge
Node-RED HTTP API nodes
Node-RED LAN Protocol nodes

2

This is all you need. It won’t do effects though but I just do lifx API calls for that. You can also run both apps if you want.

3

I believe I read somewhere it is not compatible with newer products like the Z strip?

4

Hi, New Homey Pro user here!

Just want to chime in, the LIFX Cloud API is not slow. It is less than 300ms usually, everything included. See here: http://status.lifx.com
When I use the LIFX app with a cellular connection, I get response times of less than 0,1s.

The problem is the app, and not the API. It seems to be inefficiently coded.

5

Had the same problem with performance. So I am rewriting the LIFX Lan Driver with the new SDK at the moment. Looks promising so far. Already supports more than the past versions.

6

Oh, forgot to update this thread.
Solution is there: