RGBW led strip: Issues on Homekit

Configuration
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1

I’ve just set a RGBW light strip, controlled by a NodeMCU (ESP8266) using ESPHome.
On Home Assistant it works great, but on my apple devices (HomeKit) I can only control the RGB LEDs (no control for the white LED).

RGBW
RGBW826×1047 152 KB

It seems I have no control on the HomeKit for the HA Entity Attribute “white_value”.
Any help to get full control on apple devices???

2

That would be a question for apple support. It’s working in home assistant.

3

Ok. But my question is: isn’t there any configuration on HA that would allow it to work? I’m I doing it the right way?

4

Hey,
i have the exact same problem with ESPHome. My guess is the homekit integration handels only rgb and brightness of a light. So it wont change the white channel. A workaround would be to tell homekit that the light supports cold and warm white but let both output to the white channel. I will try this and report back if i found a way.

5

I’m using a similar approach as a workaround… I have one rgb entity for the RGB leds of the strip and another monochrome entity for the white leds, as they were 2 independent strips…
This way, I have 2 entities (lights), one for each part of the RGBW led strip…
I’m not 100% satisfied with this solution, but it was the best I could do for now…
Here’s my workaround code:

output:
  - platform: esp8266_pwm
    id: output_red
    pin: D1
  - platform: esp8266_pwm
    id: output_green
    pin: D2
  - platform: esp8266_pwm
    id: output_blue
    pin: D5
  - platform: esp8266_pwm
    id: output_white
    pin: D6

light:
  - platform: monochromatic
    name: ${upper_device_name} White LEDs
    output: output_white
    restore_mode: ALWAYS_OFF

  - platform: rgb
    name: ${upper_device_name} RGB LEDs
    red: output_red
    green: output_green
    blue: output_blue
    restore_mode: ALWAYS_OFF

Please, let me know if you’ve got something better!! :grin:

6

Did you end up finding a solution to this? I’m
Having the same issue now

7

Yes! You should try this solution: CW/WW and Colour Temperature slider support in custom Light Output

Check the color_interlock option on RGBW Light: https://esphome.io/components/light/rgbw.html#rgbw-color-interlock

8

did you ever find a way to add a second slider in homkit for the white channel? im worried that with the ESPHome colour interlock solution that when the home app tries to set warm white it well send a yellow mix rgb value rather than 255 255 255 and colour interlock wont kick in

9

I know this thread is old but wandering if there is any solution found.
It’s killing me that via apple home, you can control the RGB led or the withe LED only on or off but not the brightness of the white one …

10

Up, really smashing my brains out with this