Possible future LED behaviour via Flic API

[areader0]

I doubt this is actually possible, but unless I ask, I won't know!

It would be excellent if the LED of the Flic button was accessible to program in some way - even if it was with restricted patterns so as not to be confused with the regular not-connected pattern.

Here's my use case, I'm sure there may be others:

Using Node-Red and a Raspberry Pi I am controlling my Hue Lights in my home - as the sun goes down, I've been automatically changing the colour of my hue bulbs from a blue/white light, to a yellow light - but before this happens, I've been flashing my hue bulb red, and Node-Red then waits for a click of my Flic button before beginning it's transition. No click - the transition continues, with a click, the transition is terminated and it stays on the whiter light.

It would be excellent if the LED on the Flic button itself could flash for a similar 'deadman switch' kind of scenario, when a hue bulb isn't handy or isn't related to the task to be achieved. For example, my coffee machine via a Wemo is set to turn itself off at 9am, but if I'm at home and haven't had a coffee yet, and am sitting at my kitchen bench, it would be great to have a 'warning' flash via my flic, and be able to intervene in order to stop the machine turning off.

As I said, probably a pipe dream, but would be a small and very cool way to add a significantly powerful feature to the Flic buttons.

[paull]

Hi @Emil I wanted to follow up. Is there a capability in the API now to control the Flic LED?

Thanks

[marcel_jung]

Any news about that? I need this too, because of the same reasons like the creator of this thread.

[Emil]

@kartikrao31 we're working full time to get the hub to the customers right now, so this is currently not a prio I'm afraid

[pepe.ki.fone]

How is the API development for the controlling the LED going?
I would need to get a simple feedback back to the end-user. A simple flash (repeated) would work just fine.
Do we have any timeline for this?
Any response?

[kartikrao31]

Do we have the API for controlling the LED on the button available yet? I have an use case where I need to flash the LED on a specific time of the day and also I need to glow the LED depending on the type of press.

[nikolai]

Do you have an approximate timeline for when controlling the LED is possible through the fliclib-linux-hci SDK?

[areader0]

@Emil Haha, yes, fliclib-linux-hci SDK.

I understand the battery life concern - it had factored into my thoughts a little, but good to know the specifics of how much of an impact it makes.

Me personally, I'd be making it pulse 6 times (or so) and that'd be it. Obviously, when/if opened up, everyone will have their own way of using it and might see the battery life decrease significantly.

When you say 'currently connected' would that mean an increase in power usage as well?

[Emil]

It's definitely possible to control the LED. We just haven't made that API available (yet).

As you say, it requires that the button is currently connected and the LED also consumes huge amounts of battery power. (For each minute the LED is on, the battery life is reduced with about one day).

I'll see what we can make available for an upcoming release.

Just a question: you are talking about our fliclib-linux-hci SDK, right?

[areader0]

I'm not sure if the firmware on the button only broadcasts a signal, or if it receives a signal as well (I guess it has to expect some sort of pairing signal for bluetooth, but maybe not any specific data packet)

The other risk is limiting the battery life of a button's battery if this is a feature used quite a lot.