Razer Chroma with SimHub
Last updated · SimHub 9.11.22
SimHub can drive Chroma Link compatible external lights, with two limits that decide whether it suits you. It exposes five areas, and those areas are defined by the manufacturer rather than by you — so you cannot split a strip into the zones you want, and no setting inside SimHub changes that. And the wiki notes that latency on this path may be higher than on most direct control, because the data goes through Razer's own Chroma layer rather than straight to the light. Chroma is a reasonable answer if your desk is already Razer; it is the wrong answer if you are buying specifically for sim racing effects.
This page exists mostly to stop people spending an evening looking for a setting that does not exist. The five-area limit is real and it is not yours to change.
Five areas, and why you cannot have more
Chroma Link is Razer's interface for lighting that is not a Razer keyboard or mouse — the hook third-party software uses to say "make the lights do this". It presents a fixed set of five areas, and which physical LEDs each one covers is decided by the device manufacturer.
So the mapping between "area 3" and a place in your room is not something SimHub can offer you control over. It reports what Chroma exposes.
What this rules out. Anything that wants spatial detail. A spotter effect that shows which side a car is on works fine with five areas. A spotter effect that shows roughly where the car is does not. Same for a shift-light bar running along a strip — five steps is not a bar.
The latency note
SimHub's own documentation says latency on Chroma "might be higher than most direct control". That is the whole of the published claim and it is worth taking at face value rather than inflating: there is a vendor SDK between SimHub and the light, and there is not one on an Adalight strip over USB.
For ambient wash — the screen-average colour behind your monitors — this is unlikely to bother you. For a flag warning, where the point is to be told something quickly, it is a consideration.
A reasonable split. Use Chroma for room ambience because it is already there, and put anything you need to react to — shift lights especially — on hardware in your eyeline. Peripheral lighting and information lighting are different jobs.
If SimHub shows no Chroma devices
- Confirm Razer Synapse is installed and running, with the Chroma Connect module enabled. SimHub talks to Chroma through Razer's software, not to the hardware directly.
- Confirm the device is Chroma Link compatible, not merely a Razer product with lights. Keyboards and mice expose their own Chroma device types; Chroma Link is the one for external lighting.
- Enable third-party app control in Synapse if it is off — this is a Razer permission, and SimHub is the third-party app.
- Restart SimHub after any of the above, so it re-enumerates.
If Synapse itself does not show the device, that is a Razer problem and nothing in SimHub will reach past it.
Common questions
Why does SimHub only give me five Chroma zones?
Because Chroma Link exposes five areas and the device manufacturer defines what each one covers. It is a limit of the Chroma interface, not a SimHub setting you have missed.
Is Chroma slower than other options?
SimHub's documentation says latency may be higher than on most direct control, because the data passes through Razer's Chroma layer. For ambient wash this rarely matters; for a flag or shift warning it is worth knowing.
Do I need Razer Synapse running?
Yes. SimHub reaches Chroma devices through Razer's software with the Chroma Connect module enabled, so if Synapse is closed or the module is off, SimHub sees nothing.
Can I use my Razer keyboard as a shift light?
Chroma Link is the external-lighting interface, and it is what SimHub's ambient light support targets. A keyboard is a poor shift light regardless — it is outside your eyeline while you are looking at an apex.
Chroma or a DIY strip?
Chroma if you already own compatible lights and want room ambience. A DIY Adalight strip if you want effects with real spatial detail or the lowest latency, because five vendor-defined areas will not carry those.
Sources
Related guides
SimHub is developed independently by Wotever and is not affiliated with OESimRacing. This page was checked against SimHub 9.11.22 on 4 August 2026; where the interface has moved on since, the version stamp tells you how far. More on what SimHub is and what it costs.