Yeelight, the Budget WiFi Bulb

Smart-lighting is a popular way to get in to Smart-Home technology. I was able to control my lights with my previous set up, but I was missing out on some cool features that smart bulbs are capable of. The bulbs I was using in my Living Room and Bedroom Lamps were not very bright. I thought this presented a good opportunity to try both, the Multicolor Yeelight and the Soft White Dimming Yeelight. The bulbs connect to WiFi, are compatible with Alexa, natively, and can also be connected to Home Assistant. You can also set each bulb’s default state that the bulb will revert to when power is disconnected, which I thought was a really cool feature.

This guide includes:

1. How to set up the Yeelight Bulbs
2. How to use the Yeelight with Alexa
3. How to connect and use the Yeelight Bulbs with Home Assistant

Lets get started!

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Setup the Yeelight Bulbs

• Setting up the Yeelight Bubs is pretty straightforward.
• First, you’ll need to download the Yeelight App from the Google Play Store or iTunes.
• The process for setting up both bulbs is identical.

Multicolor Yeelight Bulb

Soft White Dimming Bulb

• Now you’ll be able to control the light from the Yeelight app!
  • Be sure to change the names of the Bulbs to what you would like to call them.
• I also recommend giving the bulbs static IPs, using your router.
• The Yeelight app has some cool settings. Sunrise and sunset effects, candle flicker, and home are among the settings. The color bulb can also, obviously, change color.
• When disconnected from the power, the bulb will reset to a Default State
  • You can set these bulb’s “Default State”
    • Choose your bulb in the app
    • Access the settings in the bottom right hand corner of the screen
    • Select “Default State”
    • Select “Set default light”
    • In here, set the light to it’s new default (I like the “Home” setting)
    • Press “Save in the top right corner.

Using the Yeelight with Alexa

• The Yeelight bulbs are natively compatible with Alexa, so this part will be super easy.
• First, you’ll need to enable the Yeelight Alexa Skill.

• Log into the Skill using your Mi Account.
• Then Discover devices.
• Now you should be able to control your bulbs with Alexa.
  • “Turn on/off the lamp”
  • “Make the lamp blue”
  • “Set the lamp to 80%”
  • “Dim/brighten the lamp”

Using the Yeelight Bulbs with Home Assistant

• These Bulbs are also pretty easy to connect with Home Assistant.

https://gist.github.com/smarthomehobby/99fc99a2013a983b5521fced7abf3331

• In your configuration.yaml file, add the Yeelight Platform.
• Then, add the light to whatever groups you want it in.

https://gist.github.com/smarthomehobby/7062d4e48c63de03cb83d394419fdb43

• Since the Bulbs are voice controlled using the Yeelight Skill, be sure to hide the lights if you’re using the emulated hue component.

Some notes after using them for a few weeks

• Using Effects from a script seems to crash the bulbs.
• The bulbs also crash when using a transition that is too long.
  • Because long transitions don’t work, creating a “wake-up light” was frustrating. I had to break it down to smaller timeframes and delays. I made a script that brightens up slowly in around 4 minutes.
  • It looks pretty convoluted, but works well. You can see it here.
• The scenes in the Yeelight App don’t seem to be compatible with Alexa or Home Assistant.

https://gist.github.com/smarthomehobby/d09f92bd5916f522f7ac0427479a9387

• I found it helpful to make a script to reset the lamp to my preferred setting.
• The bulbs aren’t perfect, but they’ll do about 95% of what I wanted in a smart bulb and are much cheaper than it’s competitors.

These bulbs are great way to get started with smart-lighting at a reasonable price. I like that they work with a phone/tablet, an Echo, and Home Assistant; all independently of each other. This makes them a great place to start for anyone at any level of Smart-Home interest. They are also easy to setup and easy to use. If these guides have been helpful to you, please share them! If you have any questions, please reach out to me in the comments. Thanks for visiting!