The IP is pingable and unless they changed the port, it appears correct. I don’t get a MAC address filled in, and none of the buttons in the device work. Plus I keep getting the “Startup lua failed” message on the device. I Telnetted to 5577 and it connected, but since I don’t know the command structure, I couldn’t check to be sure it’s working. It does work in the phone app though.
I’m returning the 7W bulbs for the 9W ones. They were too dim. Perhaps the 9W ones follow the old spec and might work with the plugin. We’ll see. These lamps are pretty important in my setup and I really need them to work with the Vera.
There just are no real good RGB alternatives to Hue that work with the Vera that I could find. I tried a bunch of the Zigbee based ones and none of them pair properly. None of the ones they list as supported are available anymore. Really didn’t want to spend $200 on the Hue and have yet ANOTHER bridge to deal with.
also if it works with alexa you can control it with a vitual http rgb device and have alexa-remote2 control it from node-red using a custom routine node.
That’s interesting, and might help with the Alexa integration, but I have so many things that need to control these lamps from the Vera, they really has to work with that. I have Cooper RF9500 wireless switches that need to turn them on and off and scenes that control them at various times of the day and when certain things happen. Not sure I’d be able to move all of that to Node red and get it to work the way I want.
I’ll see if the 9W bulbs will work with the plugin and decide what I’m going to do from there. I love the Vera, but sometimes it’s a little flaky getting things to work properly with it.
The virtual http device controls the device from vera by sending http request to node-red , node-red turns on device and updates device status on vera.
My plan is to use the RGB bulbs for the bedroom and family room standalone lamps. I thought it might be nice to have blue or red when watching TV/movies in both those rooms. Most often they would be white and on/off/dim.
I did try putting the MAC in there but no joy on that either. I’ll look in the luup log and see what it says, I hadn’t thought of that. Thanks!
I wasn’t aware of the virtual HTTP device. That might work. Is it the one in the Apps section in the Vera? If I can use it as a device and have it send to Node red, and then have that control the lights, that might work. I’ll take a look at it since I already have the Node red server running. Thanks!
Everyone here is correct, I haven’t done much with this plugin in a few years. To be honest, I wrote it when I was fiddling with stuff to keep myself occupied while watching a newborn in 2016. I took rexbeckett’s (?sic?) code for the MiLight plugin and hacked at it until I figured it out. I don’t recall seeing anything about licensing, and I didn’t assert any particular license for my work.
I still use it in my vera for at least one bulb and a couple strips (when they stay on my wifi), but the primary control for those has been migrated to home assistant’s integration which is easily much more comprehensive than mine.
@Dataman100: Make sure you’ve got the ip and a port in the ip field, “123.123.123.123:5577” should be the value format. The error will pop up if it can’t contact the unit for whatever reason. The luup engine has to be restarted (or left to reboot on its own, as it does) for the error to go away.
The plugin doesn’t care about a mac address at all, it just sends UDP packets to the ip and port specified.
I’ve heard that there are a number of different integrators using whatever API the MagicHome app provides. I also wouldn’t be surprised if there are some API differences between the vendors that is just dealt with by the MagicHome app. I can’t account for that at all.
I’ll be happy to provide anyone interested with the API documentation I have for these bulbs, and will assist as I’m able if anyone wants to take my code and run with it. Life, unfortunately, between work and family, has kept me far too busy to keep up with the things I have to keep up with, let alone this little side project. However, I’m very happy to know people have gotten some use out of this. I took it on to dust off the coder side of my brain while I finished grad school and enjoyed the quiet moments of being a new dad.
Great! I’ll get that installed, but it looks like there’s some Node red programming needed to take the HTTP message in from the Vera and output it to the Magichome bulb. That might be a little beyond me.
@ceefin I’ve tripled checked the IP and port and still get the “Startup lua failed” message when I restart luup. I’m guessing something might have changed in the control protocol for the bulbs since you wrote the plugin so it can’t connect.
I’m on to something with Node red that might work for me.
Node red really is the way to go for programming automations. I haven’t quite figured out how to deal with passing variables along the chain myself, but if you’re just looking for a few static settings to send, you can configure the packet and send the command based on whatever virtual device you activate. I can post the API data I used if it’ll help you figure out the packets.
Should be straight forward, I actually have a Magic light in my Water feature. Been meaning to add more than on off. So will possibly work on it with you.
I have never gotten my light to work with this plugin, Not sure why, but i thought it may be because it is on a wifi extender in the garden.
@ceefin Cheers for your efforts, speaks volume about you. respect.
Thanks! I’d really appreciate any help. Not sure which MagicHome node would be the best to use for this. There are several that seem to support different things. Any thoughts?
API documentation here.
The packets consist of a byte sequence that specifies the command, the color specifics (if changing the color), and a check digit which is an 8bit value (0-255) that you get from adding up everything along the way… the sendTCP function in I_MagicHomeRGBW.xml lays it out pretty plainly (or maybe that’s just to me, I guess…)
It may be useful to simply use an existing node red package? Use this and figure out a way to have vera poke whatever flow you need.
Here’s where I think I’m going to run into a problem. These lamps are currently connected to standard z-wave dimmer modules and are primarily controlled by Cooper RF9500 wireless wall switches, (also by some timed scenes).
The problem is, no one has ever been able to get an RF9500 to work as a scene controller with the Vera, even though it’s supposed to work as one. They only work by Direct Association to the device. You can set the association with the Vera, but if you try to use it as a scene controller, it doesn’t work. Since the virtual HTTP switch can’t be associated to the device, (only real devices can), the Cooper won’t be able to control it. I don’t think I’m going to be able to use these bulbs the way I’d like.
Yes, right now they are regular bulbs. My plan was to remove the z-wave dimmers and just plug the lamps directly into the wall and use the Smart bulbs on/off/dim/color features instead. I’d remove the z-wave modules.
Replacing Z-Wave dimmers with “Smart” bulbs seems like a step backwards to me.
Smart bulbs are not so smart when the wall switch has been turned off and they have no power. Not so smart then as you can’t turn them back on via the system.
What are you wanting to achieve?
Where are the desired bulbs actually located?
Fixed ceiling or wall mounted light fixtures connected to a wall switch? or just side table lamps?
For ceiling lights I use regular white bulbs and Fibaro Dimmer 2 modules behind wall switches.
For side table lamps I either use Z-Wave dimmer plugs with regular white bulbs or Philips Hue RGBW bulbs.
