The NZXT HUE 2 lighting system is a refresh of the original HUE+. The main improvement is the ability to mix Aer RGB 2 fans and HUE 2 lighting accessories (e.g. HUE 2 LED strip, HUE 2 Underglow, HUE 2 Cable Comb) in a channel. HUE+ devices, including the original Aer RGB fans, are also supported, but HUE 2 components cannot be mixed with HUE+ components in the same channel.
Each channel supports up to 6 accessories and a total of 40 LEDs, and the firmware exposes several color presets, most of them common to other NZXT products.
All configuration is done through USB, and persists as long as the device still gets power, even if the system has gone to Soft Off (S5) state. Most capabilities available at the hardware level are supported, but other features offered by CAM, like noise level optimization and presets based on CPU/GPU temperatures, have not been implemented.
The NZXT HUE 2 controller features four lighting channels.
The NZXT HUE 2 Ambient controller features two lighting channels.
The NZXT Smart Device V2 is a HUE 2 variant of the original Smart Device fan and LED controller, that ships with NZXT's cases released in mid-2019 including the H510 Elite, H510i, H710i, and H210i.
It provides two HUE 2 lighting channels and three independent fan channels with standard 4-pin connectors. Both PWM and DC fan control is supported, and the device automatically chooses the appropriate mode for each channel; the device also reports the state of each fan channel, as well as speed and duty (from 0% to 100%).
A microphone is still present onboard for noise level optimization through CAM and AI.
The NZXT RGB & Fan Controller is a retail version of the NZXT Smart Device V2.
After powering on from Mechanical Off, or if there have been hardware changes, the device must first be initialized. Only then monitoring, proper fan control and all lighting effects will be available. The firmware version and the connected LED accessories are also reported during device initialization.
# liquidctl initialize
NZXT Smart Device V2 (experimental)
├── Firmware version 1.5.0
├── LED 1 accessory 1 HUE 2 LED Strip 300 mm
├── LED 1 accessory 2 HUE 2 Underglow 200 mm
├── LED 1 accessory 3 HUE 2 Underglow 200 mm
├── LED 2 accessory 1 AER RGB 2 140 mm
├── LED 2 accessory 2 AER RGB 2 140 mm
├── LED 2 accessory 3 AER RGB 2 140 mm
└── LED 2 accessory 4 AER RGB 2 120 mm
The device can report fan information for each channel and the noise level at the onboard sensor
# liquidctl status
NZXT Smart Device V2 (experimental)
├── Fan 2 duty 42 %
├── Fan 2 speed 934 rpm
└── Noise level 62 dB
Only NZXT Smart Device V2
Fan speeds can only be set to fixed duty values.
# liquidctl set fan2 speed 90
| Channel | Minimum duty | Maximum duty | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| fan1 | 0% | 100% | |
| fan2 | 0% | 100% | |
| fan3 | 0% | 100% | |
| sync | 0% | 100% | all available channels |
Always check that the settings are appropriate for the use case, and that they correctly apply and persist.
LED channels are numbered sequentially: led1, led2, (only HUE 2: led3, led4). Color modes can be set independently for each lighting channel, but the specified color mode will then apply to all devices daisy chained on that channel. There is also a sync channel.
# liquidctl set led1 color fixed af5a2f
# liquidctl set led2 color fading 350017 ff2608 --speed slower
# liquidctl set led3 color pulse ffffff
# liquidctl set led4 color backwards-marquee-5 2f6017 --speed slowest
# liquidctl set sync color backwards-spectrum-wave
Colors can be specified in RGB, HSV or HSL (see Supported color specification formats), and each animation mode supports different number of colors. The animation speed can be customized with the --speed <value>, and five relative values are accepted by the device: slowest, slower, normal, faster and fastest.
| Mode | Colors | Notes |
|---|---|---|
off |
None | |
fixed |
One | |
super-fixed |
Up to 40, one for each LED | |
fading |
Between 2 and 8, one for each step | |
spectrum-wave |
None | |
backwards-spectrum-wave |
None | |
marquee-<length> |
One | 3 ≤ length ≤ 6 |
backwards-marquee-<length> |
One | 3 ≤ length ≤ 6 |
covering-marquee |
Up to 8, one for each step | |
covering-backwards-marquee |
Up to 8, one for each step | |
alternating-<length> |
Two | 3 ≤ length ≤ 6 |
moving-alternating-<length> |
Two | 3 ≤ length ≤ 6 |
backwards-moving-alternating-<length> |
Two | 3 ≤ length ≤ 6 |
pulse |
Up to 8, one for each pulse | |
breathing |
Up to 8, one for each step | |
super-breathing |
Up to 40, one for each LED | Only one step |
candle |
One | |
starry-night |
One | |
rainbow-flow |
None | |
backwards-rainbow-flow |
None | |
super-rainbow |
None | |
backwards-super-rainbow |
None | |
rainbow-pulse |
None | |
backwards-rainbow-pulse |
None | |
wings |
One |