Philips Hue Lighting - owners thread

[weeboot]

Blown2CV said:

so you really do change the colours regularly, and doing so does have an emotional impact?

Yes I do, no it doesn't, not massively anyway.
I wake up with a simulated sunrise in a nice warm yellow.
I watch films with a dim cold warm blue
I cook with numerous hues, depending on what I'm doing.

My downstairs lighting is connected to a switch which allows me to bounce through a number of scenes, I pick which ever one feels right at the time.

[Blown2CV]

weeboot said:

Blown2CV said:

so you really do change the colours regularly, and doing so does have an emotional impact?

Yes I do, no it doesn't, not massively anyway.
I wake up with a simulated sunrise in a nice warm yellow.
I watch films with a dim cold warm blue
I cook with numerous hues, depending on what I'm doing.

My downstairs lighting is connected to a switch which allows me to bounce through a number of scenes, I pick which ever one feels right at the time.

fair enough maybe i wasn't open enough to the idea! I also know someone who has it, and just uses it to show off so maybe it's that putting me off. I think I'd want it to make me feel tangibly different though, in a good way!

[Roger645]

Blown2CV said:

can someone tell me why these aren't a gimmick? Do people genuinely adjust the colour to their mood or is it just a 2 minute show-off thing for when people come round (and roll their eyes behind your back)?

We don't change them for mood as such but we use the different colours for different lighting options. One end of our landing is dark so we use one of the down lighters instead of having a light tunnel and mimick daylight during the day but later in the evening it switches to a more orangey light and fades down after bedtime

Downstairs we use them to add some backlighting and again change colour depending on what's happening.

[ecsrobin]

Just picked up the hue lux starter pack for £30 in tesco, apparently a UK wide deal.

I know it's old tech and only white but thought at that price it's a good start to the world of hue

[Roger645]

ecsrobin said:

Just picked up the hue lux starter pack for £30 in tesco, apparently a UK wide deal.

I know it's old tech and only white but thought at that price it's a good start to the world of hue

That's a great price!

[son of a vette]

Been reading this thread ahead of picking up the colour starter kit for my living room, wonder if some of the current owners could answer a couple of things for me?

I love the techy app idea, but know my wife will just want to turn them on and off, I presume if you turn off your lamp as per the normal switch the bulbs will then come back on like a normal bulb to a preset setting when you flick the switch back on?

Can I set these that if I turn on the living room lamp (with a hue bulb) can that prompt the other Hue bulbs in the room to turn on to a preset? Sort of like one master switch for lighting?

Thanks

[devnull]

son of a vette said:

Been reading this thread ahead of picking up the colour starter kit for my living room, wonder if some of the current owners could answer a couple of things for me?

I love the techy app idea, but know my wife will just want to turn them on and off, I presume if you turn off your lamp as per the normal switch the bulbs will then come back on like a normal bulb to a preset setting when you flick the switch back on?

Can I set these that if I turn on the living room lamp (with a hue bulb) can that prompt the other Hue bulbs in the room to turn on to a preset? Sort of like one master switch for lighting?

Thanks

When you turn the lights on and off with your traditional rocker switch, the bulbs switch back to "warm white" - to be honest this was the point that sold it for me - useful for when you want the tech to just work.

If you want them to switch on in the way you asked for the living room lamp, use the hue tap and just tell the button to load a present when its pushed. The present will be a 'scene' in the app that says "Turn the living room lamp on to x brightness and colour, and also turn on the bulbs in the specific way"

[MBBlat]

I got some hue bulbs, so far working well, any recomendations for a better android compatable app though?

[HairyMaclary]

I know the is isnt a lightify thread but they have updates their OEM app now so it includes stuff like sunset/sunrise settings.

I've repaced our heating controls with a Nest so both are connected. Gutted in a way as the old Honeywell system the nest replaced was top of the shop and only 4 years old ffs.

[ecsrobin]

So I have an AppleTV 3&4 and the old hue bridge I'm very tempted to get the new bridge to link it to the AppleTV, is it worth it? I'm thinking of getting this kit as for an extra £10 it's 2 more bulbs http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/smart-tech/smart-tech... however I need bayonet fittings not screw does anyone know if they offer the same kit in Bayonet?

[son of a vette]

devnull said:

When you turn the lights on and off with your traditional rocker switch, the bulbs switch back to "warm white" - to be honest this was the point that sold it for me - useful for when you want the tech to just work.

If you want them to switch on in the way you asked for the living room lamp, use the hue tap and just tell the button to load a present when its pushed. The present will be a 'scene' in the app that says "Turn the living room lamp on to x brightness and colour, and also turn on the bulbs in the specific way"

Thankyou, thats exactly what I wanted to know, my wife will love the colours and playing, but most of the time she just wants it to work. I think I'll budget for a hue tap too. Should be up and running in a week or so, looking forwards to trying it out.

[Digger]

The Tap is very useful indeed!

[spants]

weeboot said:

spants said:

Just reporting back - they are working really well. Completely compatible with the Hue apps

Excellent!

Can you clarify what the connector is? I presume they're fine with any standard 5050 RGB strip?

Sorry - I missed your reply. I used these with it: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00UBW7Z32/ref...

- It supports RGB + a separate white channel.

[Magic919]

I mostly use the automation to switch Hue lights on and off. You can set daily alarms with about half hour random offset. If you can work out a pattern you can avoid turning them on or off yourself.

I have a couple of Hue remote switches upstairs for killing off sets of lights for sleep.

You can combine scenes and alarms to have warmer light in the evening, for example.

[Oakey]

Not Hue but I just saw something on Reddit for a product called Nanoleaf Aurora which makes Hue look old hat and SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

https://nanoleaf.me/en/

http://www.cnet.com/products/nanoleaf-aurora/previ...

[djdest]

Just found this thread, we also got into the world of Hue via a discounted starter set from Amazon!
Currently we have:

Kitchen
Strip with extension under the cupboards on the wall to light up the worktops
White bulb in outside door/drive way light

Living room
Ambience white bulb

Lounge
2x Ambience white bulb
Strip behind TV

Daughters bedroom
White and colour bulb

Our bedroom
2x Bloom

Office
Ambience white bulb

Still need to add some for the front outside, hall, landing, son's bedroom.

The kitchen strip lights was a bit of a mission, we have cupboards on the wall around the kitchen in 3 separate sections but I wanted them to all be controlled together.
I thought about it and wondered about the possibilities of extending the strips with wire, a quick google revealed someone else had done the exact same thing.
Basically it involved some fiddly soldering and lengths of cat 5 cable.
More info on the post I found about it here, I basically did the same thing:
https://www.reddit.com/r/huelights/comments/3pie1d...

[tankplanker]

ecsrobin said:

So I have an AppleTV 3&4 and the old hue bridge I'm very tempted to get the new bridge to link it to the AppleTV, is it worth it? I'm thinking of getting this kit as for an extra £10 it's 2 more bulbs http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/smart-tech/smart-tech... however I need bayonet fittings not screw does anyone know if they offer the same kit in Bayonet?

I couldn't find the official bulbs with a bayoney fitting so I used a screw to bayonet adapter, makes the bulbs slightly taller, which may be an issue depending on your application.

Phillips are launching the Hue motion sensor shortly, very useful for those that haven't already achieved similar with another home hub like Smartthings and 3rd party motion sensors.

http://www2.meethue.com/en-us/motion-sensor/

[djdest]

You can get bayonet but annoyingly not in that kit with 2 bulbs or I'd snap them up and sell the bridge 2 to get some cash back!

[weeboot]

djdest said:

The kitchen strip lights was a bit of a mission, we have cupboards on the wall around the kitchen in 3 separate sections but I wanted them to all be controlled together.
I thought about it and wondered about the possibilities of extending the strips with wire, a quick google revealed someone else had done the exact same thing.
Basically it involved some fiddly soldering and lengths of cat 5 cable.
More info on the post I found about it here, I basically did the same thing:
https://www.reddit.com/r/huelights/comments/3pie1d...

I did a split (on non-hue strips) via much the same method. Worked very nicely.

[sly fox]

Hue motion sensor released today . On amazon at £39.

Bought a few - think they will be ideal for lights on stairs and upstairs hallway outside the kids rooms.