WiFi controlled LED Bulbs

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StarBlazer

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Topic # 146888 1-Jun-2014 17:50

Without reading all 26 pages of the limitless thread, is there a quick FAQ/LED 101 page? I was at Armageddon today and looking at the WiFi lights stall and quite interested.

So who's the best supplier (I know that question is subjective)? Best price, starter kit and extra bulbs probably the colour ones? Best Reliability? Who has the most useful features including phone apps and automation (I like the sunrise/sunset timer)?

Any reason I shouldn't touch them with a barge pole?

Cheers ( I will move this question to the other thread if asked, but I thought others might like a summary thread)

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Reply # 1057668 1-Jun-2014 19:03

Who was selling them?

I bought some from limitless and am very happy. The wifi bridge drops or occasionally but other than that the bulbs are great. Keep in mind that the bulbs require the bridge to be controlled over wifi also the bulbs can't be accessed over 3g unless you port forward your modem.

If you Google limitless led you should find a comparison matrix of the different manufactures. Sorry I don't have the link handy.

PoHq

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Reply # 1057674 1-Jun-2014 19:25

I have the Phillips Hue. If you want the best in my opinion these are it. By best I mean best quality. Best support. Best smartphone apps. Best user community. Etc etc etc. You can even use theme with the ifttt recipes. i.e. Have them blink once when you get an email. They are perfect..........aside from the price and availability in NZ. They are as far as I know only available online at the Apple store and they cost $279 for 3 bulbs and the hub in the starter pack. Extra bulbs are $70.

Hope that helps you out.

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tchart

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Reply # 1057681 1-Jun-2014 19:53

The matrix is on this link;

http://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=159514

Given my experiences with CFL bulbs I can see how Philips HUE would be better than the rest (BTW I only buy their CFL bulbs). The price does put me off for the HUE bulbs.

Ive got Belkin WeMo switches so Im actually waiting for their LED bulbs. Im happy with my Limitless LED's for now though.

sdavisnz

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Reply # 1057682 1-Jun-2014 19:54

hey mate,

i have the limitless bulbs, with the new wifi bridge you dont need to port forward to have 3g access, also mine have never ever dropped out since i got them, I deal with the wifilights.co.nz guys, they are good guys and are always friendly and helpful.

the limitless led bulbs are actually have Samsung components in them so there not a cheap china ripoff.

I now have about 15 bulbs and use them everyday.

also if you choose to get them you can PM me for help of you need.

-steve

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Kyanar

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Reply # 1057711 1-Jun-2014 21:35

Also missing is LIFX. Now that they are actually in retail production (excepting GU10, which is still in testing) it's a valid option. Bulbs are $79USD each which is a bit more expensive than Hue, and way more expensive than Limitless, but they do not require a bridge of any kind as the bulbs form a mesh network linked by a master bulb to your wifi network (the master bulb is automatically elected by the bulbs themselves - you don't worry about that). You just plug it in, turn it on, and the app does the work of configuring them. They have support for music visualisation (the app does the grunt work) and stuff like that, and with the upcoming firmware it will finally support timers etc (not sunrise/sunset though - they're doing that with some sort of cloud thing, same as with IFTTT).

sdavisnz:

the limitless led bulbs are actually have Samsung components in them so there not a cheap china ripoff.

That's not actually true. Limitless bulbs are a Chinese OEM design manufactured under multiple names and sold with different brands. That said, Hue, LIFX, etc, are all also made in China, so this really doesn't matter.

StarBlazer

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Reply # 1057783 2-Jun-2014 09:14

Thanks for the information. Steve, may take you up on the offer and PM you when I'm ready. Sorry for all the questions, but it will be quite an investment to do it properly.

So, there's not much in it apart from price between the brands. Some require a bridge and some don't which affects price considerably. I'm not worried about colour accuracy, I'm not likely to be walking round with a Pantone colour swatch in my hand.

If I read it correctly, the bridges have only 4 zones each - Steve, you say you have 15 bulbs, how many bridges do you use? Can they be controlled independently or only as part of a zone? The same question regarding the remote controls - will they control all the bulbs in the same room or only individually or do they control the same zones as configured by the bridge.

The other question is the brightness. Even though the Limitless and WiFi Lights have the same wattage use, they both claim a different number of lumens and incandescent equivalent. Are they closer to 100W or 70W in old money?

My intention is to use them in lamps in the living room and as main lights in the bedrooms. If I like them then I will replace the CFL bulbs in the landing/stairs and kitchen as they are left on overnight (through routes to the bathroom) where it would be great to have a dusk to dawn timer (also good for security) or even turn them off and let the family use their phones/remote controls to turn them on when necessary.

Do they still use 9W even when dimmed or even "off"?

Last question, does this affect how you use your light switches, do you turn them on and off or leave them on all the time?

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Kyanar

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Reply # 1057794 2-Jun-2014 09:36

I personally leave my LIFX bulbs on all the time so that I can switch them on and off from the app. I assume that users of Hue and Limitless do the same.

To address the claim about different lumen claims etc from Limitless and Wifi Lights, they are both the same bulb. From what Limitless claims, they are the original designer, in which case their claim is most likely to be accurate. They will, however, use power even when off. The wifi radio (or 433MHz radio) and controllers still need to remain active to respond to your commands.

sdavisnz

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Reply # 1057818 2-Jun-2014 10:23

With the white leds you have 4 zones per WiFi controller.

I only have one WiFi controller atm

When u set the bulb up you can associate the bulb with a WiFi zone.
Egood zone1

Note that the controllers run independently from the WiFi controller.

So some remotes can control specific bulbs as u wish.

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hamish225

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Reply # 1058987 4-Jun-2014 00:22

ive had huge issues with my wifi bridge, to put it plain and simple it just doesnt work.

i cant control the lights from the iphone app, the bridge drops packets, its been a nightmare.

apparently its because the airport express doesnt like it, but the dlink dir-615 i have from truenet does the same thing.

dont bother with the bridge, just get the remotes :P

StarBlazer

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Reply # 1059021 4-Jun-2014 08:18

hamish225: ive had huge issues with my wifi bridge, to put it plain and simple it just doesnt work.

i cant control the lights from the iphone app, the bridge drops packets, its been a nightmare.

apparently its because the airport express doesnt like it, but the dlink dir-615 i have from truenet does the same thing.

dont bother with the bridge, just get the remotes :P

Which brand did you buy?

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hamish225

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Reply # 1059048 4-Jun-2014 09:12

StarBlazer:
hamish225: ive had huge issues with my wifi bridge, to put it plain and simple it just doesnt work.

i cant control the lights from the iphone app, the bridge drops packets, its been a nightmare.

apparently its because the airport express doesnt like it, but the dlink dir-615 i have from truenet does the same thing.

dont bother with the bridge, just get the remotes :P

Which brand did you buy?

i got them from limitless led

maxeon

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Reply # 1059107 4-Jun-2014 11:24

hamish225:
StarBlazer:
hamish225: ive had huge issues with my wifi bridge, to put it plain and simple it just doesnt work.

i cant control the lights from the iphone app, the bridge drops packets, its been a nightmare.

apparently its because the airport express doesnt like it, but the dlink dir-615 i have from truenet does the same thing.

dont bother with the bridge, just get the remotes :P

Which brand did you buy?

i got them from limitless led

I have 20 plus bulbs and 4 remotes for four rooms.
Most of them are from LimitlessLED and they are working as mentioned. LimitlessLED and WifiLights are the same bulbs and limitlessLED is a bit cheaper.

I have one remote configured for each room, each remote has 4 zones that you can use, I used 2 bulbs each for each zone.

My biggest room has 9 bulbs. I configured one remote in the following way.
Zone 1 - 2 Bulbs
Zone 2 - 2 Bulbs
Zone 3 - 3 Bulbs
Zone 4 - 2 Bulbs

You need to calculate how many rooms you are going to have swapped with these bulbs and then decide how many remotes you need for each room / zones accordingly.

I have One bridge for all of these, and it works flawlessly. It was a bit tricky to setup initially because the instructions to setup are flaky and the App's that are on Playstore are wrong. As long as you download the right App and do the setup you are fine.

When programming the bridge you need to switch off the lights from wall and turn it on and then program it.

Hope this helps.

hamish225

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Reply # 1059147 4-Jun-2014 12:55

maxeon:
hamish225:
StarBlazer:
hamish225: ive had huge issues with my wifi bridge, to put it plain and simple it just doesnt work.

i cant control the lights from the iphone app, the bridge drops packets, its been a nightmare.

apparently its because the airport express doesnt like it, but the dlink dir-615 i have from truenet does the same thing.

dont bother with the bridge, just get the remotes :P

Which brand did you buy?

i got them from limitless led

I have 20 plus bulbs and 4 remotes for four rooms.
Most of them are from LimitlessLED and they are working as mentioned. LimitlessLED and WifiLights are the same bulbs and limitlessLED is a bit cheaper.

I have one remote configured for each room, each remote has 4 zones that you can use, I used 2 bulbs each for each zone.

My biggest room has 9 bulbs. I configured one remote in the following way.
Zone 1 - 2 Bulbs
Zone 2 - 2 Bulbs
Zone 3 - 3 Bulbs
Zone 4 - 2 Bulbs

You need to calculate how many rooms you are going to have swapped with these bulbs and then decide how many remotes you need for each room / zones accordingly.

I have One bridge for all of these, and it works flawlessly. It was a bit tricky to setup initially because the instructions to setup are flaky and the App's that are on Playstore are wrong. As long as you download the right App and do the setup you are fine.

When programming the bridge you need to switch off the lights from wall and turn it on and then program it.

Hope this helps.

perhaps i should have explained further, i have synced the bulbs with the bridge, when the bridge is in AP mode (broadcasting its own unsecure network completely seperate from the rest of my network and the internet) it works just fine then.

But shortly after it connects to my network it starts droppinng packets (when i ping its IP address from my PC) and the commands mostly dont ever get through from the app or if they do its about 30 seconds to a minute later.

the person from limitless led seems to think its because my airport express is blocking UDP broadcast packets, although if it was blocking anything they would just never get through at all, im getting weird ping results like this:

my airport express isnt even the router though, its just in bridge mode so it should have no business blocking anything.

sorry about hijcking your thread, this silly device has me wanting to peal my own face off.

maxeon

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Reply # 1059159 4-Jun-2014 13:18

Does the Bridge work with your Airport Express turned off?

AKT

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Reply # 1060135 5-Jun-2014 22:34

I am looking into this and I was going to get the Phillips Hue as I thought these were the best. LIFX may be another option too now I've seen these - does anyone know if there's any comparison between the two. Also WeMo may be an option for us to now - any idea when they're due out?

We have a load of MR16 down lighters (24+) which I'd happily change to GU10's but this seems like it is both expensive and much more complex than just changing the fitting....grrrr the downside of the Hue is that the GU10's are only available overseas but the LIFX will ship here.

A

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