LIFX bulbs turning on in series and not parallel

Mebejedi · 2019-12-20 03:10:26 UTC

I’m wondering if an ASYNC setting would have turned the lights on at approximately the same time.

Eric182 · 2019-12-20 03:22:44 UTC

ok. I don’t use that DTH for my lifx bulbs. I use Better_lifx_bulb plus. It’s by the same developer.

Lutraphobia · 2019-12-20 20:20:20 UTC

I think I tried that but it didn’t work. That was with the classic device handler / app I beleive.

Mebejedi · 2019-12-20 20:24:57 UTC

Oh, I meant as a piston:

ASYNC Turn on Light 1, Light 2, Light 3, Light 4.

That said, that’s how I send messages to multiple echos, and sometimes they’re almost in sync, and sometimes they’re off by a half or a full second, so it’s not a guarantee. If your method is working, I’d stick with that.

Lutraphobia · 2019-12-20 20:27:35 UTC

@Mebejedi - AH! I see. I thought I had tried that but now that you mention it maybe I just made the piston ASYNC and not the command. I didn’t know you could do that. Yea, I’ve already put a ton of hours into it and it’s working for me now. I DO appreciate all the help and the additional nuggets of golden information you are sharing. I do have VLC_Things and Bose speakers that I send alerts to. I’ll try using ASYNC on that. Cheers and happy holidays!

Mebejedi · 2019-12-20 20:29:18 UTC

Yeah, if you do it to the whole piston, then all the commands in the piston run ASYNC…that could cause problems, lol

Lutraphobia · 2019-12-23 05:44:46 UTC

Unfortunately, that doesn’t work. I tried to just make the action part of the piston, where it listed the control of my lights to use async. Still turned on one after the other. Bummer

Mebejedi · 2019-12-23 05:48:36 UTC

What does your piston look like?

Lutraphobia · 2019-12-23 06:28:02 UTC

I tried to turn the async on for the RGB bulbs.

The switches are for smart switches that control dumb lights (vanity, closet, etc) in the bathroom.

-W

Mebejedi · 2019-12-23 06:36:14 UTC

Just for fun, try putting the lights into device groups, such as this:

If that doesn’t work, you could try ASYNC on the WITH lines

Lutraphobia · 2019-12-23 06:45:02 UTC

That is just my ignorance on writing code. LOL

Thanks for helping @Mebejedi!!! I’ll give that a shot when I get back from vacation in a few days!

Mebejedi · 2019-12-23 06:45:45 UTC

Well, I can’t guarantee it’ll work, but it’s worth a try.

Enjoy your vacation!

Lutraphobia · 2020-01-22 16:39:21 UTC

I think I solved this after months of almost giving up.

I was able to LIFX Group of Groups running. With that, I am able to designate a bunch of bulbs as a virtual group.

Then I used the Smartthings app to create an automation to turn the virtual light group on via motion. Then a separate automation for that same group to turn it off if no motion is detected in x minutes.

The lights respond very fast, all gang load at once vs in sequence and with LGoG then fade in and out via a setting in the ST API. Everything that I wanted. I am very HAPPY! So is the wifey!