Controlling Philips Hue with Fibaro Home Center Lite via Node-RED Raw TCP
If you have a home automation setup running on a Fibaro Home Center Lite (HCL) controller, you may have run into a common limitation: native integration with modern smart lighting systems like Philips Hue can be tricky. While full Fibaro gateways (like the HC2 or HC3) support LUA scripting to make direct HTTP API requests, the HCL relies exclusively on Virtual Device buttons sending raw TCP strings across local sockets. By using Node-RED running on a local server (such as a Raspberry Pi or Docker instance) as a lightweight middleware translator, you can seamlessly connect Fibaro HCL Virtual Devices to your Philips Hue Bridge without writing complex code. The Architecture Overview Instead of forcing Fibaro HCL to handle modern HTTP headers and authentication tokens, HCL dumps simple text commands over a raw TCP socket. Node-RED listens for these incoming raw TCP streams, parses the command parameters, and triggers the target light using local Hue APIs. [ Fibaro HCL Virtua...