Can't get Milight / Limitlessled to run with my RGB CCT ledstrip

Hardware
1

Recently I installed a RGB CCT ledstrip over the full length of my living room. The dream is to use an Amazon echo dot with a harmony hub so I can start a movie activity by voice and the tv, receiver, firetv are all turned on, as well as the led strip.
I started out with ha-bridge server on my NAS, but when I stumbled upon Home Assistant I got a raspberry immediately.

The configuration was easy, however the light does not turn on and Home Assistant shows no errors.

My hardware:

  • Milight LS2 ledstrip controller
  • Milight FUT089 remote
  • Milight iBox 2 wifi bridge
  • Raspberry Pi 3B

Software:

  • First tried out Hass.io, however found it difficult to debug with a distro so small, so installed Hassbian
  • Hassbian (image of 11-10-2017) ran all the update scripts
  • Home Assistant 0.60 latest update

I took the steps from Tim in his thread. Unlinked the led strip, Reset the wifi bridge, selected the FUT089 remote in the app (Milight v7.1.2) and linked the ls2 with zone 1.
The app controls the led strip just fine. So I took over the config from Tim and changed the ip and bulb type.

# Milights
light:
  platform: limitlessled
  bridges:
    - host: bridge_ip
      version: 6
      port: 5987
      groups:
      - number: 1
        name: led
        type: rgbww

The light shows up fine in the dashboard, but when switching it on/off nothing happens. The history show the light has been turned on, the log shows no errors, but the ledstrip does nothing.

I gave the bridge a static ip in the router, so it’s the correct ip.

2

Hello, funny I stumble across Home Assistant also because of Mi-Light lights it toke me about 2 weeks to get them working :joy:

I think version 6 correct port is 8899.
I haven’t used the milight component for almost a year, the component doesn’t track the state if I use the remotes each bridge has a bulb limit and everytime you restart Home Assistant the lights will go out “to sync” which is very annoying if your all house is using milight and you are playing with Hass configuration.

Instead I use a project from @sidoh that emulates unlimited bridges and lets me control the lights thought MQTT https://github.com/sidoh/esp8266_milight_hub works flawless!
It doesn’t track the remote state 100% but we mostly use Google Home or Alexa to turn them on or off so the state in Hass doesn’t really matter anymore.
Haven’t used my bridges and ibox1 ever since.
And it only uses a ESP a nrf24l01 radio and 7 wires (3/4euros…)

3

I just remembered I don’t know why but I could only control my milight on Hass after enabling “Enable UPnP” on my router.

You can try that and changing the port to 8899 and see if it works.

4

Hej @Sthope, thanks for your reply. I will try with the other port, although I think that is the port used by older bridges. Also I think I have UPnP enabled as also my Sonos and Harmony hub are found. But I will check that too.

Hmm that ESP8266 project is interesting.

5

Unfortunately the new strip controllers won’t work with the current home assistant component (I found this out after installing 4 of the LS2!).

Just like Sthope I made one of the sidoh hubs and that works perfectly, i’d definitely suggest building one if you can as it’s better all round than the iBox controllers.

6

Hej @zestyphresh, thanks for your reply. Just this afternoon I found a thread where someone also had a ls2, which she could not get to work with the limitlessled component.

I also found a java util with which can capture and pass on all of the app packets, maybe I can feed the guys from the limitlessled component some info. Github issue

Will also look into the sidoh hub though.

7

Hello

I am near finishing remodeling an apartment and I am planning to use only RGB Led strips to illuminate it using through linear profiles channels installed at the ceiling/walls.

I was looking at Broh´s led strip guide, and than I stumble across an issue related with ease of use. Using such method on the day to day turn on/off and adjust to my liking would not be practical. This would still give me the addressable lights and all yet it has to be through Home Assistant web interface.

Than I was wondering if I could use Mi Lights limitelessled. One of the benefits using such led receiver is being able to use the milight wall controller. Its fine looking and give much-needed user friendly access for those just wanting to dim in/out change colours and can also add it to the web and module interface also it works with RGBWW led strips. This capability on its ow,n is a good deal and RGBWW adds an array of white light improving considerable the savings with electricity.

  • What Id like to know is if someone has had experience with a similar setup.
  • I listed few Aliexpress items and I wanted to check if you know if that would work just fine. I’m not a led strip specialist so your input would be really appreciated.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2-4G-wireless-FUT089-remote-8-Zone-RF-Dimmer-B8-Touch-Panel-Wall-mounted-LS2-5/32854369788.html?spm=2114.search0604.3.9.617723b9mNTkf2&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_1_10065_5730911_10068_5729811_10547_319_317_10548_10696_10084_453_454_10083_10618_10307_537_536_10059_10884_10887_100031_321_322_10103,searchweb201603_51,ppcSwitch_0&algo_expid=5d9e2a3d-efb0-4eca-939e-d2ecf154e75b-1&algo_pvid=5d9e2a3d-efb0-4eca-939e-d2ecf154e75b

Wall mount B8

Remote FUT089

And Receiver LS2 (not sure if LS2 are still not accepted if not which receiver do you suggest?)

3 - I have also came across the https://github.com/sidoh/esp8266_milight_hub to integrate it with home assistant and finally using this https://www.aliexpress.com/item/BEILAI-SMD-5050-4-in-1-RGBW-RGBWW-LED-Strip-Waterproof-IP65-IP67-IP20-5M-300LED/32812984029.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.274.4fb53c00UUZo3N for the led strip.

8

Hi,

Definitely go with Chris’s emulator instead of the official MiLight hub (even if for the sole purpose of having more than 4 groups, which is the limit of the official hub). The emulator can, in fact, create a virtually infinite number (256k :wink: ) of official hubs.

I’m using the followings:

  • FUT045 controller (I don’t have however I think that LS2 is superior as it can use adaptive protocols vs. FUT045 which uses only FUT089/B8 protocol; if wanting to find out more about the different MiLight protocols have a look at Chris’s github).
  • B0, B4 and B8 wall switches; for individual rooms with 2 or more different lights B4 would allow (in addition to control all the bulbs in one step) to have individual settings for each bulb/led strip in order to get something similar to Philips Hue scenes; B0 and B8 use the same FUT089/B8 protocol (B0 can control one single light so it is great for rooms with single lights while for B8 it is obvious :slight_smile:); B8 can be used at the entrance so it can control the lights in the entire house; B4 uses an older protocol (FUT092; not really smart numbering of product generations…);
  • FUT092 and FUT088 handheld remotes (again, FUT088 uses same protocol as FUT089 but can control only one bulb/led strip);
  • FUT103 (GU10) bulbs -> FUT089&FUT092 protocol;
  • FUT105 (E27) bulbs -> FUT089&FUT092 protocol;
  • FUT014 (E27) bulbs (these use the FUT092 protocol only; not entirely true as the compatibility chart is way larger, but let’s keep it simple :slight_smile: ); in fact, FUT014 are not RGB+CCT but rather RGBWW;
    The problem is that not all lights are compatible with all controllers (either wall switches or handheld); B4/FUT092 is compatible with (nearly) all modern bulbs/controllers; FUT089/B0/B8 can control only newer bulbs (FUT105, FUT103 and controllers such as FUT04x).

With the controllers mentioned above (either FUT04x or LSx) almost any analog led strip can be used with great results so it basically depends on the budget (choices are for 30/60/144 led/m; rgb/rgbw/rgb+cct; waterproof vs. regular if planning to use in the kitchen/outside).

While some of the bulbs I have are sometimes loosing packets (either from the emulator or from the original wall switches), FUT045 has worked flawlessly so I highly recommend it.

Using the emulator instead of the official hub keeps the lights in sync with HA regardless of device used for control (handheld/wall remote/HA app/LimitLess phone app/etc.).

I’m using in each room smart switches (433 Mhz) and MiLight B0 and either the 433 Mhz remote or B0 can turn light on or off (B0 can control also the other properties). Having B0 physical wall remotes instead of relying solely on the HA to turn the lights on/off or setting different properties helps a lot case HA or if the emulator are down for any reason.

1 Like
9

Thanks @Petrica that really helps me out.