Transition

In stead of immediately switching to a new state, gradually transitioning to the desired state (i.e. colours, brightness, etc.) is possible in the AiLight firmware.

Transitioning will change the light's colours cross fade from the current to the next state given the specified time:

• If the light is already switched on, the Ai-Thinker RGBW Light will cross fade from the current colours to the new settings.
• If the light is switched off, the Ai-Thinker RGBW Light will cross fade from the off (i.e. '0') to the new settings.
• In case the new settings are set to '0' or 'OFF', the Ai-Thinker RGBW Light' will cross fade from the current colours to the off state.

The transition feature can only be used by either sending a specific instruction to the MQTT command topic or using the Home Assistant automation component. It is not possible (yet) to set transition via the Web UI.

How to use

1. Home Assistant

Using Home Assistant's Automation component, you can have your Ai-Thinker RGBW Light transition to the new settings by a specific trigger and certain conditions. For example, why not have your Ai-Thinker RGBW Light turn on (gradually) 30 minutes before sunset:

automation:
  - alias: 'Switch on the light 30 minutes before sunset'
    initial_state: 'on'
    trigger:
      - platform: sun
        event: sunset
        offset: "-0:30:00"
    action:
      - service: light.turn_on
        data:
          entity_id: light.ailight_office
          color_temp: 350
          transition: 20

This will switch on your Ai-Thinker RGBW Light 30 minutes before sunset, gradually changing it's colour to the colour temperature of ~2857K (= 350 mired) in 20 seconds.

Please check the Home Assistant Automation and Actions documentation pages for more information on how to configure Home Assistant.

2. Using MQTT

You can alternatively have your Ai-Thinker RGBW Light transition to a new state by publishing an MQTT message to your MQTT broker. To do that, simply send a JSON message to the MQTT Command Topic set for your Ai-Thinker RGBW Light.

Example:

{"state": "ON", "transition":"5", "color": {"r": 255, "g": 255, "b": 0}}

This will make your Ai-Thinker RGBW Light switch on to the colour yellow in 5 seconds.