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 

Known issues:

1. Unable to use Tempe Visualizer or TyreWiz Data Field alongside Smart Bike Lights:
https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/i/bug-reports/lightnetworklistener-onbikelightupdate-not-called-when-certain-data-fields-are-installed

  • Would it be possible for some kind soul to provide me with a config?

    I have an Edge 1030 Plus and a Varia RTL515 and I looking for the following behaviour:

    Day defaults to OFF

    Gentle braking - SOLID

    Hard braking - DAY FLASH

    Night defaults to PELOTON

    Gentle braking - SOLID

    Hard braking - NIGHT FLASH

    Both day and night should DAY FLASH on approaching vehicles

    Many thanks

  • Here is the configuration:

    ###0,73535488::1:#8,6!CAR:1:7:0:0I]-1]0!HBRAKE:2:7:0:0A[-20Er0,s0!HBRAKE:2:6:0:0A[-20Es0,r0!GBRAKE:1:4:0:0A[-10!NIGHT:1:5:0:0Es0,r0!:1:0:0:0D=1##6,5:Varia 515:0:16777215:-1!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

    For gentle braking I setup to trigger between 10-20% speed decrease per second and 20+% for hard braking. Feel free to tune this if you see that is too sensitive.

  • Thank you ever so much maca88 that's really good of you. And thanks for the data field, it's incredibly useful.

  • Hi,

    Sorry, I got the notification for your message only a few hour ago. If you are still struggling with this, you can follow these steps for Garmin Express:

    1. In Garmin Express, select your device, then click the Apps button (manage apps on your...).

    2. Find “Smart Bike Lights” in the list and click the “…” button next to the name:

    3.  Paste the configuration into the “Lights Configuration” app settings:

    4. Click the “Save” button to save the settings

     

  • I have set the control modes to Smart / Manual. But the name of the button can't be changed and stays Smart/Network/Manual.

    How can I adjust the name of the button? (Varia515 and 1040)

  • How can I adjust the name of the button? (Varia515 and 1040)

    It is not possible to change the button name for control mode as it is not static. It can be S, M or N depending on the current mode. 

  • Hi everyone,

    to improve the capabilities of my Varia 516 in combination with my Edge 530, I installed and used the Connect IQ App "Smart Bike Lights" for two years. After the last update, however, the functionality of the app (which is a data field) is lost. 

    Usually, there should be a light mode "smart" available with the app working. Unfortunately, this light mode is missing now. I've just the light modes which come with the Varia itself without the app. I've also tried to retrieve the functionality by de-installing and re-installing and also reconfiguring the app. Neither worked.

    Any ideas about this issue? 

    Thank you for paying attention to my request!

    Stephan

  • Hi,

    Did you check if your configuration is still present in the "Lights Configuration" app setting? If it is, make sure the light is in Smart mode, you should see "S" inside the light icon. If you’re not sure how to enable Smart mode, check here: https://github.com/maca88/SmartBikeLights?tab=readme-ov-file#changing-control-modes

  • Hi maca88,

    thank you for your answer. I've tested it, the data field settings were set to "N" instead of "S". Probably the problem is solved. I'm going to test the functionality tomorrow - it's past 10 PM local time ....

    Thank you for your patience!

    Kind regards

    Stephan