Phillips Hue Light Bulbs

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#1963931 25-Feb-2018 16:54

sbiddle:

So both light fittings are on the same circuit and not independently switched (ie they're both on if you put regular lamps in?)

I still really struggle with the concept of smart bulbs and actually think they're the dumbest invention ever. Smart light switches on the other hand are the best invention ever as they don't require a change to habit or training everybody how the lights now work.

I agree with that philosophically but I've had some not so good experiences. I have 5 bulbs in my landing area controlled by 3 switches. I had a sparkie swap out what he thought was the main switch with a "smart" Insteon module installed in the switch cavity that can be controlled by a remote or via the physical switch. The module is smart so that it knows when the light is on or of (via a live wire) and so it doesn't matter which method you use to turn the light on/off - it will always work. Alas it never really worked as designed perhaps because the sparky didn't know what he was doing having never done this before and it got confused by the two other light switches in the circuit.

To get OT again I replaced all the bulbs with Hue bulbs and control them via Alexa and GH and now my wife won't ever bother using that light or asks me to turn it on and off since she does not want to use voice. A smart switch would have been great had it worked.

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JAGGZ

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#1964311 26-Feb-2018 10:52

Thanks all for your feed back there were some good points made, so after completing updates on the bulbs there was still no joy, however I think it has to do with internal wiring within the building (apartment).

The two light sockets in question are operated by one light switch if I put one bulb into the room light socket, the bulb will turn on, if I put the other bulb into the second light socket still only one bulb works, the second bulb does not light up.

As an exercise I left one bulb in the light socket in one room and added the second bulb to single socket in a different room still only one bulb worked, when I take out the first bulb the second bulb in the other room worked.

I have succumb to the the fact that these Phillips Hue bulbs will never work as ceiling lights in this apartment however, a simple solution was to put the Phillips Hue bulbs into beside lamps which actually worked out much better, it meant we could have smart bulbs in two rooms rather than just one.

rphenix

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#1964315 26-Feb-2018 10:57

As has been mentioned - Hue bulbs can operate like a standard bulb when first put in - so if they've been physically off from the regular power switch, and you turn the switch on they will turn on regardless of HUB status, firmware or anything else - if this doesn't work - its something with the socket/circuit. This is my favorite feature about them when people stay at our house I don't mention the TAP switches or anything else they can simply use the main switches to turn lights on and off after they leave I go back to using the tap switch + hub.

trig42

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#1964317 26-Feb-2018 11:02

rphenix:

As has been mentioned - Hue bulbs can operate like a standard bulb when first put in - so if they've been physically off from the regular power switch, and you turn the switch on they will turn on regardless of HUB status, firmware or anything else - if this doesn't work - its something with the socket/circuit. This is my favorite feature about them when people stay at our house I don't mention the TAP switches or anything else they can simply use the main switches to turn lights on and off after they leave I go back to using the tap switch + hub.

Question - can you set the colour that the Hue bulbs turn on at when turned on at the switch? I'd hate to have them come on bright cool white for example.

richms

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#1964439 26-Feb-2018 14:08

No. Hues come on at bright warm white which is why I got rid of the ones I tried. That and the horrid colours from them

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#1970354 7-Mar-2018 08:58

I have just finished installing the new Hue downlights in my family/theatre room. I also installed the hue dimmer switch (not the Tap one) and put it beside the original 240V switch. In addition I replaced the mech in the power switch with a guarded pushbutton type. The combo of the guard with the dimmer switch right beside has quickly trained my family to operate the lights without turning them off at the power switch.
I went Hue rather than the smart switch/dumb bulb for this application because I want to be able to individually control the bulbs for different use cases as the room is multi purpose.

Note: When I say "I" in the above, I mean my sparky for the bits that will kill you if you get it wrong!

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Lizard1977

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#1971029 8-Mar-2018 09:02

Dingbatt: I have just finished installing the new Hue downlights in my family/theatre room. I also installed the hue dimmer switch (not the Tap one) and put it beside the original 240V switch. In addition I replaced the mech in the power switch with a guarded pushbutton type. The combo of the guard with the dimmer switch right beside has quickly trained my family to operate the lights without turning them off at the power switch.
I went Hue rather than the smart switch/dumb bulb for this application because I want to be able to individually control the bulbs for different use cases as the room is multi purpose.

Note: When I say "I" in the above, I mean my sparky for the bits that will kill you if you get it wrong!

I've done much the same, except I haven't done anything to the existing switches (I did contemplate sticking some white duct tape over the switch so visitors wouldn't accidentally turn them off at the wall).

A key benefit for me in having the dimmer switches throughout the house has been the ability to place them lower on the wall in the kids rooms. My three year old is now able to turn her lights on/off without needing a stool to reach the "adult" level switch. As she gets older, we can just move the switch higher.

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#1971275 8-Mar-2018 15:03

Lizard1977:

A key benefit for me in having the dimmer switches throughout the house has been the ability to place them lower on the wall in the kids rooms. My three year old is now able to turn her lights on/off without needing a stool to reach the "adult" level switch. As she gets older, we can just move the switch higher.

When she is older she can just tell Alexa or Google :-)

Slightly OT but I got a dimmer (and bulb) and found with some free software I could program the switches to control 3 sets of lights/scenes (could be four).

So the main On/Off control one bank (the primary reason for the purchase) while the Dim Up and Dim Down buttons control two banks (press Dim button to turn on the bank, long press the button to turn off and same with the other Dim button). That's pretty cool.

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#1971279 8-Mar-2018 15:07

I think you can do something very similar with the standard Hue app and the dimmer switch. Through the app I can apply up to five different scenes to the on/off switch, and multiple presses just cycle through those scenes. Most of my rooms just have a single/white bulb, so I usually have it cycle between dim/bright scenes, but presumably you could have different scenes programmed to use specific bulbs or sets of bulbs. I find this handy in our baby's room - one press brings the light up to its lowest setting (good for night time feeds), a second press brings it up half way (good for nappy changes), while a third press brings up full lights.

lchiu7

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#1971504 9-Mar-2018 07:55

Possibly so but the native app isn't that intuitive. But the freeware app I downloaded can do it so I am happy with the outcome.

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#1971632 9-Mar-2018 10:42

lchiu7:
Possibly so but the native app isn't that intuitive. But the freeware app I downloaded can do it so I am happy with the outcome.

And that app is?

I have found it is easiest to use Alexa or GH to control individual lights within the group.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

lchiu7

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#1971731 9-Mar-2018 11:56

For Android. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.renewahl.all4hue

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lchiu7

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#1971734 9-Mar-2018 12:01

And it's good when people who don't like talking to Alexa or GH

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#1971742 9-Mar-2018 12:12

lchiu7: For Android. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.renewahl.all4hue

Yes have already downloaded that. Just unsure whether I want to shell out $10.50 for the pro version just yet. It's a shame the official Philips app is so pathetic.

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lchiu7

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#1971745 9-Mar-2018 12:17

I did my configuration purely in the free version. Don't use the rules wizard, just use rules.

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