Philips Dynalite
Philips Dynalite support is integrated into Home Assistant as a hub that can drive the light, switch, and cover platforms.
There is currently support for the following device types within Home Assistant:
- Lights
- Switches
- Covers
A Philips Dynalite hub connects to the Dynet network, which is composed of areas, channels, and preset.
A Dynalite area typically (although not necessarily) defines some physical area, such as a room.
Each area can have one or more channels that correspond to the different devices they control. A channel can relate to a dimmable light, or other devices.
Additionally, each area can have one or more presets that determine the behavior of all the channels, and sometimes trigger additional actions. Typically, preset ‘1’ in an area means ‘on’, and preset ‘4’ means ‘off’. Additional presets could be used for scenes and dimming.
Configuration
Since Philips Dynalite has virtually no auto-discover capabilities, it needs to be configured via the configuration.yaml
file:
# Example configuration.yaml entry
dynalite:
bridges:
- host: DEVICE_IP_ADDRESS
Configuration Variables
Actively query network. When starting, it will query all devices for their current status, and also will send queries when some changes are in progress (e.g., lights dimming or covers moving). Better experience but creates more load on the Dynalite network. Value can be on
, off
, our init
, where init
will only send queries during the initial init of Home Assistant.
Polling interval for devices in transition. Value in seconds. When devices are in transition (e.g., a light fading), it will ask for a new state every X seconds until it is at the target level. Only relevant when active is set to on
.
Enable auto-discover. As Dynalite does not support native autodiscovery, this tracks events on your network, so if you turn on a light, it will be added to Home Assistant.
Definition for the various Dynalite areas.
The Dynalite area number, 1-255.
Type of template to use for the area. Supported values are: room
and time_cover
. They are described in detail below in the template section. If the template parameters are different than defaults, they can be overridden in this section as well.
This can be any of the settings of the template. For example, for template room
: room_on
and room_off
are possible options.
Value from template section or system defaults
Specific presets for the area.
The Dynalite preset number in the area.
Do not use the default presets defined globally, but only the specific ones defined for this area.
Map of the channels in this area.
The Dynalite channel number in the area, 1-255.
Type of entity this channel should appear as. Can be either light
or if this is a device that is not a light (e.g., water heater), can be switch
.
Default presets for any area without the nodefault
option.
The Dynalite preset number in the area.
Name of the preset. When used in an area, it will be ‘AREA_NAME name’. For example, if a room’s name is ‘Kitchen’ and preset 4 is defined with the name Off
, it will appear in HA as ‘Kitchen Off’.
AREA_NAME Preset PRESET_NUMBER
Set the default parameters for the templates.
This is used to define a room that has a preset to turn on all the channels in the area and a preset to turn off.
This is used to define a cover that has 3 presets: open
, close
, and stop
. Potentially can also use a channel that some systems (e.g., Control4) use to also send commands to open and close the cover. It uses the duration it takes to open or close to determine position. In addition, many times, these covers include tilt by opening or closing for a short time, so this can be defined as well.
Time in seconds it takes to open or close the cover tilt. 0
means that the cover does not support tilt.
Type of cover for Home Assistant. Any of the possible cover classes (e.g. blind
, garage
, shutter
) are possible.
Examples
# Example configuration.yaml entry specifying optional parameters
dynalite:
bridges:
- host: DEVICE_IP_ADDRESS
port: 12345
autodiscover: true
polltimer: 1
area:
'1':
name: Office
template: room
'2':
name: Living Room
template: room
nodefault: true
room_on: 2
room_off: 5
channel:
'2':
name: Entrance Spot
fade: 10.0
'3':
name: Dining Table
preset:
'5':
name: Blinking Lights
'6':
name: All Off
fade: 3.0
'4':
name: Curtain
template: time_cover
preset:
'1':
name: "On"
'4':
name: "Off"
template:
room:
room_on: 1
room_off: 4
Initial Configuration and Discovery
Maybe the most difficult thing about a Dynalite system is finding out the areas and channel mapping. If you have them or have access to the Dynalite software and your configuration files, this could be easy, but in the likely case that your system was installed by an integrator, you will have to discover them on your own.
This is where the autodiscover
option comes handy. If it is on, the component will track the Dynet network and every time a device is used, it will be added to Home Assistant. It will initially show as “Area 123 Channel 7”, but you can then add it to your configuration.yaml
with the correct configuration.
For example, you would go to your kitchen light and turn it on. Now you log into Home Assistant and see what the channel was. If there was more than one discovered (e.g., someone turned off the living room lights), you can try one, turn it on and off in Home Assistant and see which light it affects.
The initial process can be a bit time consuming and tedious, but it only has to be done once. Once you are done configuring, it is better to set autodiscover
to false
, since there are many “fake” channels and areas that the system uses for internal communication and you do not want to have visible.
Services
Service dynalite.request_area_preset
Send a command on the Dynalite network asking an area to report its currently selected preset. Normally, channel 1 (default) is used, but in some implementation, specific areas will need other channels.
This does not return the area preset. It sends a network command asking the area to report its preset. Once it reports, that will be caught and handled by the system.
Service data attribute | Optional | Description |
---|---|---|
host |
yes | Which gateway to send the command to. If not specified, sends to all configured gateways. |
area |
no | Area for the requested channel. |
channel |
no | Which channel to request. |
Service dynalite.request_channel_level
Send a command on the Dynalite network asking a specific channel in an area to report its current level.
This does not return the channel level. It sends a network command asking the channel to report its level. Once it reports, that will be caught and handled by the system.
Service data attribute | Optional | Description |
---|---|---|
host |
yes | Which gateway to send the command to. If not specified, sends to all configured gateways. |
area |
no | Which area to request the preset for. |
channel |
yes | Which channel to use. If not specified, uses the area configuration or system default. |
Events
Event dynalite_preset
Event dynalite_preset
is fired every time a preset is selected in a given Dynalite area.
Field | Description |
---|---|
host |
Host IP of the Dynalite gateway |
area |
Area number where preset was selected |
preset |
The specific preset that was selected |
Event dynalite_packet
Event dynalite_packet
is fired whenever there is a packet on the Dynalite network.
Field | Description |
---|---|
host |
Host IP of the Dynalite gateway |
packet |
List of integers representing the 8-byte packet, including the checksum |