Smart Bike Lights (Data Field) / Bike Lights Control (Widget)

I've made two open source CIQ applications to control ANT+ lights:

- Smart Bike Lights (data field): https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/0d9fd828-c932-4470-9c37-fd2828881888 

      Configurator: https://maca88.github.io/SmartBikeLights/ 

- Bike Lights Control (widget): https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/fa3c2332-76e3-4ba1-8528-32a0fd617ab1 

     Configurator: https://maca88.github.io/BikeLightsControl/ 

Smart Bike Lights features:
- Automatic light control (Smart mode) based on the configured filters (sunset, sunlight, speed, ...)
- Manual light control (only for Edge devices with a touch screen or devices with CIQ 3.2 and more than 32KB memory)
- Records lights modes that are displayed in Garmin Connect

Bike Lights Control features:
- Manual light control (available to all devices)

Both applications can be installed on the same device, which can be useful for low end devices (e.g. Edge 520) where "Bike Lights Control" can be used to change light modes manually and "Smart Bike Lights" for automatic light control.

Currently registered ANT+ lights:
- Bontrager Ion Pro RT
- Bontrager Ion 200 RT
- Bontrager Flare RT
- Garmin Varia RTL500
- Garmin Varia RTL510
- Garmin Varia RTL515
- Garmin Varia HL500
- Garmin Varia UT800

in case your ANT+ light is not on the list you can help by doing the following:

1. Install Bike Lights Control
2. Pair your bike light with your Garmin device
3. Open the widget:
- Edge with a touch screen: post which numbers are displayed on the buttons and what mode each button represents when pressed
- Other devices: Select the "Light modes" menu and post which numbers are displayed in the menu and what mode each menu item represents when selected

Example for Bontrager Ion Pro RT:


1 -> High steady beam
2 -> Medium steady beam
5 -> Low steady beam
63 -> Day flash
62 -> Night flash

There are some features that could be possible to add in the future, but would require Garmin to add them to the CIQ api. In case you are interested in any of the below features, consider upvoting their feature request thread:

1. Control lights based on the ambient light sensor available on some devices:
https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/i/bug-reports/ambient-light-sensor-api-access 

  • You are right. When using individual light network and both lights are disconnected, you cannot access the menu. I will fix this in the next version. I am still baffled on how it is possible that the lights do not connect anymore in your case. For example, if I take my Edge away from the lights (using individual light network), the screen gets blank and when I move Edge closer to the lights, they will be reconnected without requiring to refresh the configuration. I never needed to refresh the configuration to reconnect the lights.

  • Sadly I now have this behaviour often, so i'm back to Garmin Light Network reliability. During the day i've had just one light working. Fixed it, now i resumer 830 and 2 showed up (cache), than zero, than one. I'm using sleep mode and the impact is as on Garmin: longer sleep -> more lights dropping off. Perhaps there are no connection retries.

    Thanks for the improvement. Actually it's enough to tripple click and go back to reset.

    udpate: next day: again just one light

  • Hi,
    I'm switching to Edge 1040, can I ask for smart settings for Edge 1040 and Varia RTL515 package.

    BTW I don't understand the configuration page a bit. Maybe some tutorial for this page?

  • Hello,

    Thanks for this app !

    Is it possible to configure Varia RTL515 to automatically shutdown it if there are no vehicle approaching ? Of, course, Varia must be power on when a vehicle approach.

    Thanks

  • If you know Polish, there is also a video on Youtube that I recently stumbled upon describing how to set it up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOxg5FC8ySM  

  • Hi,

    yes, it is possible by using the Radar filter. Here is an example configuration for Edge 1030 Plus:

    ###0,73535488::1#2,2!RADAR:1:7:0:0I]-1]0!:1:0:0:0D=1##6,5:Varia 515:0:16777215!2,:-1,Off:0!1,Solid:4!1,Peloton:5!1,Day Flash:7!1,Night Flash:6#0::#0:0#123!:123!#0#0#B3570##3#0#0

    Which will turn on the light only when a vehicle is approaching. Make sure that you set the light to Smart (S) mode, otherwise it will not work.

  • thank you for your instructions

  • I’ve upgraded to an edge 840 from a 830. I copied my same string and everything seemed ok. 

    today I noticed my front light (ion 200) keeps switching to M mode. No matter how many times I switch back to S. I checked and I have my network mode to “individual”. 

    is there something I might be missing? I’m using it as a data screen. 

  • Is the switching to manual mode happening when you scroll through data screens or it is switching randomly even without touching the screen? Also, does the light remain on the same light mode or it moves to another mode when the switch to manual mode happens?
    In order to avoid that, you can use the "Force Smart mode" feature (set in the configurator), which will prevent switching to manual mode.