Finally sorted it… for anyone setting up LimitlessLED lights on a V6 bridge, here’s my working process and config to get you running.
General Overview
- Install the MiLight phone app
- Connect the bridge to your network/phone
- Link bulbs to one of 4 groups on phone app
- Add config to HomeAssistant’s configuration.yaml file
Install MiLight app
Install from your store of choice. I used v3.7 from the Google Play store.
Connect the bridge to your phone/network
- connect phone to home WiFi
- open MiLight app
- click + to go to configuration
- smart link
- enter home WiFi ssid and password
- press reset button once on bottom briefly, the two lights will start flashing
- press Start Configuration button on app
- it should say ‘Success’
- lights will go solid then one will slow flashing
- press back on the app
- press ‘Searching for device’ at bottom of screen
- your bridge should now be visible in the list, click on it to get into the configuration
If you want to get to the webmin console for your bridge, use ‘Advanced IP Scanner’ program or similar network scanner to locate the IP address. username: admin, password: admin. It’s a good idea to go in in there and set a static IP address for your bridge.
Link/bind a bulb
Before you can use HomeAssistant to control your bulbs you have to pair them to the phone app. This sends the config to the bridge. Once linked you don’t have to use the MiLight app at all if you don’t want to.
Pair your bulbs to the relevant 4 zones (tabs) along the top. These are the four groups that map to the ‘numbers’ in the configuration.yaml. For example the first tab or zone in the App is ‘- number: 1’ in configuration.yaml.
Make sure you choose the relevant logical remote control in the app for your lights. I messed around for hours and hours trying to use the default remote that had colour and colour temp.
- once the bridge is connected to your phone and network
- open MiLight 3.7
- click on the MiLight device
- you will see the 4 zones along the top
- click the two arrows icon in the top right to choose the relevant remote type for your bulb
- back on the main page, click the chainlink icon in top right corner to get to the Link/Unlink page
- unlink the bulb first (if you have already used it before)
- turn the light you want to connect to off and back on again at the wall
- within 3 secs press the red Unlink button
- light will flash 9 times and will now be unlinked
- select the tab/zone along the top for the zone you want to put the bulb into
- turn the light you want to connect to off and back on again at the wall
- within 3 secs press the green Link button
- light will flash 4? times and will now be linked
- go back to the main page and you can control it.
- Repeat the linking process for each bulb you want connected to the same group, ie. 4x kitchen lights all connected to the same tab.
I Have:
- 4x GU10 ww/cw bulbs for the kitchen spotlight fixture, assigned to zone 1 on the app using the 10th remote control along from the left; it’s the white only with 4 blue groups buttons at the bottom.
- The remaining bulbs are all E27 RGBW added to the relevant zone using the 2nd remote control from the left in the MiLight app v 3.7; this is the colour-only remote with 4 yellow group buttons at the bottom.
- Kitchen table, also added to zone 1, but from the colour only remote stated above. This appears to allow me to independently control it even though it’s on the same zone as the 4x GU10 bulbs. This is because they’re of a different ‘type’, ‘white’ vs ‘rgbw’ (see the config below). This is explained in LimitlessLED example page on the HomeAssstant webpage, though didn’t explain it very well.
- Lounge & Hall, both are bound to zone 2
- Study, bound to zone 3
- Bedroom, bound to zone 4
Other Tips I found on an article on the LimitlessLED website that might be of use:
We also had some feedback/tips from users:
Tip#10. I had to use the LimitlessLED v1.7 app to connect the bridge to my LAN, then it worked, thanks.
Tip#11. I had to use the correct remote screen in the app for my particular RGBW LEDs to sync, thanks.
Tip#12. I had to clear remote code pairing using section 3.3.5 of the manual, and then the app and wifi
bridge worked. Thx
Tip#13. “I figured it out. I was using a fixture that held multiple bulbs. Apparently there is interference
when you try to pair two bulbs at the same time. A fixture with a single bulb worked.”
Tip#14. It worked after I changed my wifi router to the standard wifi secure settings WPA2/PSK AES.
Tip#15. I was able to connect the bridge to my network after I set the SSID to visible.
Tip#16. I placed the wifi bridge closer to the wifi router.
Tip#17. After trying another usb power supply to the wifi bridge it worked.
Tip#18. Might be some sneaky power leaking on to your socket with the switch even off. So remove
the bulb from the socket, turn the switch on at the wall. Plug the bulb to the socket, and within 2
seconds press the group1 on button on the remote. Dual white remote for dual white bulbs, RGBW
remote for rgbw bulbs. Now for the App, you must sync it again separately, because the wifi bridge acts
just like its own remote.
Add the config to the configuration.yaml file
Here’s my working light section:
light:
platform: limitlessled
bridges:
- host: 192.168.0.138
version: 6
port: 5987
groups:
- number: 1
type: white
name: Kitchen
- number: 1
type: bridge-led
name: Bridge Light
- number: 1
type: rgbw
name: Kitchen table
- number: 2
type: rgbw
name: Lounge & Hall
- number: 3
type: rgbw
name: Study
- number: 4
type: rgbw
name: Bedroom
Then reboot your Pi.
You should now see the lights on your home page in HomeAssistant.
Things to note here…
- not sure if the version and port are required (docs say it’s optional), but I added for completeness and to remind me if I ever upgrade or run into issues
- There are a total of four groups because that’s all that the v6 bridge can handle… however… on my main page of HomeAssistant I have 6 independently controllable entities, i.e. there are 6 on/off switches listed. This is because each of the 4 number/groups here can have duplicates (see I have three ‘number 1’ entities) because each of those are a different ‘type’; a ‘white’, a ‘rgbw’, and the ‘bridge-led’.
- the bridge-led is the light on the v6 bridge, this is a special entity and think it can be assigned to any of the 4 groups, it doesn’t really matter.
- Even though my rgbw lights have warm white, they’re not the rgbww type because mine are the older type I think that doesn’t have colour temperature. Thanks to my buddy @noodlemctwoodle for that one… saved me hours, and was about to throw it all in the bin!
Hope this helps someone else. I’ll see if I can update the LimitlessLED page on github. [EDIT: submitted a PR, we’ll see if they allow it in.]
state would be nice but what I do is switch all on and off. That way I’m 99% sure they are in a state I put them in 