Smoother Light Transition Help

Configuration
1

I have a number of Hue bulbs that support transition but the problem I’m having is that the transition is not smooth. The set transition time is 120 seconds but when the automation is triggered the bulbs snap straight on to, I would guess, 20% brightness, then continue fading up to the set brightness.

What I want to happen is the brightness to start at 0 and smoothly fade up to the required brightness.

Am I expecting too much?

Part of my automation code that handles it is this:

sunset_master_bedroom:
  alias: Master Bedroom Sunset
  sequence:
    - service: light.turn_on
      data:
        entity_id: light.headboard
        brightness: 160
        rgb_color:
        - 149
        - 66
        - 245
        transition: 120
2

Does anyone have any ideas on this one please?

I do recall seeing, a long time ago, some sort of calculation steps that would do this, possibly in a template style, but I can’t remember and can’t find the thread now.

3

I have Feit dimmable bulbs connected to Insteon dimmer that require a minimum turn on brightness value of 35, otherwise they flicker. If I turn them on at that value then I can dim them down to 12, any less though and they start to flicker.

I also have Sengled Zigbee bulbs that behave differently though. They can be turned from off to on at a brightness value of 1 (unlike my Feit/Insteon combo). However, when it comes to transitioning, the story changes as they remember their previous on value when you turn them on, which I think is your issue. I can transition from on at any brightness to any other brightness value and the transition time works no problem. If they were turned off though and I try to transition to on at 80%, if they were previously on at 100%, they snap on at 80% right away. If they were previously on at 20% though and I try to transition from off to on at 80% they delay the set transition time before they snap on at 80%.

So, if you want them to fade in from off to xx%, I would try an initial turn_on at 1% (no transition) followed by another on at xx% with transition.

4

FYI, when a dimmer returns to the previous brightness it is because the “Resume On Dim” configuration option is set to true. You can use the Insteon panel to change this to false which will have it return to full brightness each time you turn it off then back on again.