FLS-PP lp a ZigBee Light Link Wireless Ballast for LED Stripes

Devices & Integrations
#1

Hi,

the FLS-PP lp is a wireless ballast very similar to Philips hue LightStrip and has some nice advanced features (up to 10m 12/24V LightStripes, RGB and RGBW, … ). It’s a ZigBee Light Link (ZLL) certified product and as such it can be paired with ZLL gateways like Philips hue Bridge, Osram Lightify Gateway and others.

FLS-PP lp website

It supports all features the original Philips hue LightStrip does, and additionally:

  • extended scenes like ‘concentrate’ and ‘relax’
  • tunable white control - color temperature (ct) in the hue api

The interesting part for SmartThings system is it should work out-of-the-box. From ZigBee and hue api view it’s identical to Philips hue bulb.

The Philips hue API represents the FLS-PP lp as follows:

{
    "type": "Extended color light"
    "modelid": "FLS-PP3",
    ...
}

I’m the developer of the firmware so if there are any questions for SmartThings integration I’m keen to help :slight_smile:

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#2

Good looking stuff. Like the Hue will your device also join a standard ZigBee HA network? Or is it Light Link only?

#3

Yes, it joins standard HA network as well.
This is a requirement from the ZLL specification, a ZLL device must be able to join a HA network in order to be compatible with HA coordinators.

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#4

If someone wanted to use your LED Ballast with SmartThings do they need your hub, Phillips Hub, or should they connect directly to the SmartThings hub?

Just so I understand if someone wants to use your LED Ballast without SmartThings what hub do you recommend?

#5

I ordered one:

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#6

I would recommend the usage with Philips hub because that’s the hub most hue owners have, it works great.
The Osram Lightify Gateway also works but I would not recommend it - right now Philips has the better usability here.
The RaspBee Gateway is also a option but not the cheapest one.

Since SmartThings also talks to Philips hue bridge directly via the official Philips hue API, our LED Ballast is controllable from there like any other hue lamp.

#7

@manu Thanks for the answers. My Hue bulbs are connected directly to the SmartThings hub (No Hue Hub) I do this so my Hue bulbs will connect to my existing HA routers and all operate as one big network. Several other SmartThings uses do the same thing even though this is not a recommend solution it works very well.

However, SmartThings does not lock down their ZigBee HA hub to the ZigBee Light Link channels 11, 15, 20, 25. My SmartThihngs hub is on channel 14 and therefore my Hue Bulbs are all on channel 14. My Light Link remote from Phillips will not reset a Hue Bulb once it has joined with the SmartThings hub. I suspect this is because it is joining on a non Light Link channel. Does your company have a Light Link Remote that will reset my Hue bulb and your Ballast if it is on ZigBee Channel 14?? If so I will buy one today if it is affordable.

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#8

That’s true the Philips remote only operates on the ZigBee Light Link primary channels 11, 15, 20, 25.

We don’t have a remote but our Raspberry Pi ZigBee shield RaspBee is able to Touchlink reset ZigBee Light Link lights on all ZigBee channels (11 - 26). It’s quite easy through our WebApp which runs on the RPi itself.

Right now there are $35 shipping cost to US via Amazon we are working to get rid of these but it will take a few days.

By the way the Touchlink reset could also be implemented in the SmartThings hub directly since the scanning and reset of ZigBee Light Link devices doesn’t require the ZLL master key. Still it’s hard to do since the mechanism is quite tricky.

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#9

Manu, I have looked at your RaspBee before as I have seen it referenced in the Hue ZigBee forum. I haven’t bought it because it looked like a project in that I have to download and install the OS and configure drivers etc. Is there a way to buy a unit completely configured and ready to go? Is that what will be available from Amazon in the US?

By the way your company has been very helpful in the contributions they have made to the Hue ZigBee forum and I would like to say thanks as I know you didnt have to spend the time answering all the questions. I’m very happy to see you guys on this forum.

@urman Andrew, this may be the solution you and I chated about months ago when we were discussing the need for a device that would allow us to reset Hue Bulbs back to factory once they have joined SmartThings directly.

#10

yup all of this sounds super cool

samples? :smile:

#11

@Manu meet Andrew @urman. Andrew is the SmartThings Engineer or Hackineer that works with vendors and approves new device types and has been a great resource in helping me navigate through the creation of SmartThings device types for our ZigBee products in development. I think he is the guy that will officially sign off on the custom device type for your Light Link Ballast. You guys may already be talking and if so that’s great. If not please remember I’m the one that introduce you and I will be happy to buy drinks the next time I’m Californian and Germany.

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#12

A hearty second vote for ANY solution that will get SmartThings to let go of an (accidentally) claimed Hue bulb. I have one that is effectively dead to the world (unless you like expensive white light bulbs) until there is a way to get ST to find whatever channel the bulb is stuck on and then release it back to unpaired, any-channel can claim me status.

I really don’t like this Hotel California situation (you can check in, but you can never leave…)

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#13

yep I have 4 bulbs in that state. Freaking $200 of nice warm white light.

#14

Thanks, we really do like the whole interop stuff and that the systems are going to be more open. ZigBee is one of the main topics for us so we are quite happy about places where developers and users come together. By reading posts about similar products we learned a lot about what is important to users but also what are the biggest complains, how to do it better.

Like the reset of a device, as you know resetting a hue bulb is quite adventurous and requires a extra remote control or the hue bridge nearby for Touchlinking lots of people had issues with that. To make life a bit easier in addition to TouchLink we added a power on/off sequence to our device after that it will be resettet. The sequence is quite complex so can’t be triggered by accident - as last resort it’s nice to have this option.

There is the option to order the RaspBee Gateway on Amazon it’s completely configured and ready to go but compared to the DIY option quite expensive.

Also have you tried the tool Lampstealer for Philips hue bridge?
I’m not sure if the Touchlink scan runs over all channels 11-26 but it could also be used to get the hue bulbs back into the bridge network. The bridge and the bulb must be in close distance.

This could also be triggered from the SmartThings hub by opening a TCP port 30000 to the hue bridge and writing the following command:

[Link,Touchlink]
....
[Link,Touchlink,failed]
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#15

Yes, yes - tried Lampstealer, to no avail - it always reports “something went wrong” and nothing changes. Ran the [Link,Touchlink] multiple times - sometimes it says “success”, other time it says “failed”, still Hue can’t find the lamp. Run it with ST hub off (so it doesn’t steal the lamp), still no joy.

I’m with the theory that once the lamp gets stuck on the ST Zignee channel (mine is 24), it will NEVER be seen again on 11, 15, 20 or 25 (the channels the Hue seems to use exclusively).

And I hardly think buying a RaspBee Gateway for 70 bucks is rational - for that price, I can buy a replacement lamp and chuck the one I have. But I’m morally opposed to such wastage…especially since it should be ST’s responsibility to give me back my bulbs in a working manner…

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#16

I have raspberry pi’s so if @manu will sell me just the zigbee module at a fair price shipped to the US and let me download the required raspberry pi image. I will allow anyone to send me their bulb and I’ll do the reset for them if they cover the cost of shipping. I’ll do this at no charge for now, unless it becomes too popular, then I may ask for a small donation.

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#17

I received this yesterday but just got in from out of town.

Hooked it up to my LED RGBW strip and paired it quite quickly.


It comes up as a hue bulb. I now can control the color like a hue. However, I don’t seem to have much control over the white and the white is dim. I assume I need a specific device type since hue is only RGB and not RGBW.

Got other things I have to work on but thought I would let the community know this looks like a good device.

#18

Where did you see the gateway for $70 the Amazon link above was for $238 and I agree that is way too much to just reset the bulbs back to factory.

#19

@mattjfrank, I like this idea I will be happy to make a donation and also pick up shipping. I have four bulbs ready to go let me know when your ready!!

Oh you may want to Manu’s web site http://www.dresden-elektronik.de/funktechnik/solutions/wireless-light-control/raspbee/?L=1 they have what appears to be drivers you can download.

#20

Ooops…I thought the gateway was like $35 bucks plus $35 shipping…$238 is like CRAZY,

So is shipping my bulb to someone else to reset…SmartThings owns the problem - THEY need to fix it.

EDIT:

Here’s just the RaspBee (I already own 2 Pi’s):

RaspBee on Amazon

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