Philips Hue Lighting - owners thread

[ecsrobin]

They also have bayonet bulbs at £25 https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0152WXCYG/?ta...

[5678]

fk! Went out to walk the dog, came back and they've sold out!

[Magic919]

Three of mine are on ES-BC adapters and have been fine.

[Tycho]

Hi all, I'm looking at some smart bulbs to go with the Amazon Echo I got for Christmas but it is a minefield with all the different options.

With the Hue system, can you get a switch to replace your existing ceiling lights? I'd just change the bulbs but the previous owners have put in small halogen lights in the ceiling so it isn't really feasible.

[Crumpet]

Does anyone know if the Remote Dimmer Switch (the one you stick to the wall but can detach the remote) communicates with the bulbs themselves or with the hub?

I've just added some new bulbs upstairs in two bedrooms but I'm finding the remotes to be annoyingly intermittent. Sometimes they work perfectly, other times nothing happens until you've pressed it ten times. I'm wondering whether I'm at the limit of the wireless range of the hub due to 3 foot of stonework and a floor. The bulbs work instantly if I use the app which makes me wonder whether the remotes communicate with the hub rather than the bulbs.

[Crumpet]

DELETED: Comment made by a member who's account has been deleted.

Thanks! I think that's where the problem lies - I tried standing on the landing with the remote and it works perfectly well. Not very helpful that.

Ten lights is also really not enough. My kitchen has 18x GU10s in it but only eight with Philips Hue so not sure I'll upgrade the remaining ten if I can't use the remote to control them! The more I use the Hue system the more I realise it does have some pretty serious flaws.

[Mattt]

Use an Amazon Echo - it's a much better way to control them without having to dig out a phone

[Magic919]

Messages go to the hub, but they should be going via the lights as it creates a mesh network.

[Digitalize]

As a sort of general heads up Argos currently have a 25% off code on home products which includes Hue stuff, just ordered the colour starter kit for £112.50.

[5678]

Digitalize said:

As a sort of general heads up Argos currently have a 25% off code on home products which includes Hue stuff, just ordered the colour starter kit for £112.50.

What's the code?

[dmsims]

5678 said:

Digitalize said:

As a sort of general heads up Argos currently have a 25% off code on home products which includes Hue stuff, just ordered the colour starter kit for £112.50.

What's the code?

Look on the Argos site ???????????????????????????????????????????????

[Digitalize]

5678 said:

What's the code?

Sorry, it's HOME25.

[tankplanker]

Crumpet said:

Thanks! I think that's where the problem lies - I tried standing on the landing with the remote and it works perfectly well. Not very helpful that.

Ten lights is also really not enough. My kitchen has 18x GU10s in it but only eight with Philips Hue so not sure I'll upgrade the remaining ten if I can't use the remote to control them! The more I use the Hue system the more I realise it does have some pretty serious flaws.

You can use a secondary or even more hubs, each configured with a separate account and the nearest set of lights bound to them. Then you need to use something like IFTTT (I do something similar with Openhab so I'm not dependant on the Internet)

1) Expose your secondary Hue bridge to the IFTTT Hue channel
2) Expose the bulbs you want to be able to control
3) Add your SmartThing hub to the IFTTT ST channel
4) Expose a physical or virtual switch
5) Create two rules in IFTTT that when the switch is turned on/off that the bulbs are turned on/off too

Its a lot more work to setup but it means you can bypass all of the limitations of Hue, such as more than 50 bulbs, more than 10 bulbs controlled by a single switch, control lights/sockets from other vendors (I have lights controlled by WeMo sockets that turn on when my Hue bulbs turn on). It is exactly the same effort to control as a pure, single hub Hue system.

Starting from scratch for an entire (large) house I'd go with adding automation to the light sockets not the bulbs, but if you have made a significant investment into Hue already then this is the only option till Phillips sort out the current limitations.

[Shaw Tarse]

Digitalize said:

5678 said:

What's the code?

Sorry, it's HOME25.

Thank you, more help than others

[joheartss]

Hello everyone, I am a complete newbie when it comes to lighting and now I am a bit worried I may be doing something wrong.

I have ordered some Philips Hues lights and have only just seen that the Lumens are a lot higher that what it says I can use in the lamp that I have. The Hues lights haven't turned up yet, so before they do I thought I would try to get some advice.

The lamp says 400 lumens, the bulbs say 800 lumens???? Am I asking for trouble? Or does it mean the lamp will only supply 400 lumens at most and the lights just wont reach the brightest they can? Or does it mean that I should not be putting the higher lumens in there and something will blow? This is a huge floor lamp so thought it would handle a powerful bulb. I have also looked up loads of lamps and none say they can handle 800 lumens???

I don't mind if they are not as bright as they should be, I am more concerned that I will cause a fire!

Many Thanks in advance.


This is the lamp:
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/lighting/floor-...


These are the bulbs:
http://www.johnlewis.com/store/philips-hue-white-a...

[weeboot]

Lumens is a measure of visible light output.
Personally, I wouldn't worry too much, but I'd keep an eye on the temperature of the bulb and the lamp in the first few hours of running it, just to make sure that things aren't getting out of hand.

ETA : Just been and had a quick look at the lamp, I'm sure you'll be fine, they recommend a 400 lumen lamp, but you're putting a dimable Hue bulb in.

[Matt..]

joheartss said:

This is the lamp:
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/lighting/floor-...


These are the bulbs:
http://www.johnlewis.com/store/philips-hue-white-a...

That lamp says its for E14 bulbs. Hue bulbs are E27. Hue bulbs will not fit without an adapter.

[Tiggsy]

as above, temp is no issue as the hue is led so runs colder than a regular bulb. Even on full you can touch it easily.

But hue comes in bayonet or screw and that lamp is "small" screw - and a hue bulb is huge anyway compared to a little small screw bulb - so with adapter and a hue bulb - it will look iffy!

[joheartss]

Hi, thank you everyone for the responses.

Would it also matter about the wattage at all? The sticker on the lamp says 7 Watts Max, and the hue bulbs say 10 Watts?

I know about the screw size issue, and have ordered E27 to E14 adaptors. I don't mind them becoming a bit longer as they should still be covered okay as the bulb covers are quite large. The Hue lights turned up today, but the adaptors are still on their way....and nothing in my house has an E27 fitting so I can't test them out yet.....the box looks nice though

[Digitalize]

The wattage rating might be an issue as it's suggesting it's only rated to supply 21W and you'd be asking 30W from it.