Infrared

Infrared illumination is available on our "LIFX +" range of lights available in A19 and BR30 form factors. Products that can do IR will return a "has_ir": true when queried over the HTTP api.

While you can send commands to any light or group of lights our API service will ignore the IR set commands on lights that do not support it. To verify that a light does support Infrared commands do an authenticated GET operation on the /v1/lights/:selector path. this will return a json object listing the light information.

Please see the List Lights page for full details on this call.
Each bulb will return an object similar to the below snippet. If the has_ir key in the map is set to true the light supports Infrared.

"product": {
    "name": "LIFX+ A19",
    "company": "LIFX",
    "identifier": "lifx_plus_a19",
    "capabilities": {
        "has_color": true,
        "has_variable_color_temp": true,
        "has_ir": true,
        "has_multizone": false
    }
}

The infrared channel works differently to the other LIFX color channels (Hue, Saturation, Brightness and Kelvin). When the brightness of the primary channels drops below a certain threshold the light will turn on the Infrared channel. In the future other metrics such as ambient light levels and the overall temperature of the bulb may also be used to adjust the Infrared channel. In addition to this limitation the infrared channel does not support waveforms or durations.

A brightness value of 0.0 indicates that the infrared LEDs will not be used, and a value of 1.0 indicates that the bulb should set the infrared channel to the maximum possible value given the other sensor information.

Retrieving and setting the maximum brightness of the infrared channel is done via GETs or PUTs on the state endpoint.

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Viewing Infrared Light

Unfortunately testing the LIFX infrared capabilities can be difficult as it is invisible to the naked eye. The easiest way to see infrared light is to use a camera. Not all cameras will work as some contain lenses that filter out IR. You should be able to test by pointing a TV remote at the camera while pressing a button. If the camera can see infrared light while you press a button on the remote you should be able to look through the camera and see the remotes LED flash.