Philips Hue Lighting - owners thread

[anonymous-user]

Just a product review for everyone:

This device here, works perfectly with Hue - https://www.samotech.co.uk/products/zigbee-switch-...

I have replaced the switch/timer for my outdoor lights with this, which has been brilliant. I can now control all my outside lights via the Hue app, and set a Hue automation for sunset = lights on etc.

[JagYouAre]

UTH said:

Does anyone have any of the outdoor kit?

Tempted to look into something like this now that I'm pretty much all Hue'd up indoors!

https://www.philips-hue.com/en-gb/p/hue-white-and-...

I have recently bought the Discover Floodlight and the Daylo wall light.

I am using the Floodlight as a security light using the outdoor motion sensor. It’s a bit of an expensive way of doing it for sure but it fits my Hue ecosystem. My only annoyance is that the sensor is slightly too sensitive, even on the lowest setting it picks up cars driving down the road (about 8-10m from the house) so it is on and off a lot (also the minimum ‘on’ time with the motion sensor is one minute when I think 30s would be better). I need to find a better sensor location that doesn’t pick up the road traffic when I get round to it. It’s bright enough to light up the whole drive without annoying the neighbours, and certainly helps when doing things like putting the bins out or when arriving home after dark.

The Daylo I have actually mounted on the ceiling in our porch and just set on a timer to be on from sunset till about 10.30 or whenever I go to bed. Works very well for this purpose.

Thinking of getting some up/down lighters for the back of the house at some point but for now just got a hue bulb in a lantern type light fitting.

Overall I think the outdoor stuff is a bit on the expensive side but I’m a sucker for this stuff!

[wjwren]

I have the flood light and might sell it I now want it on a PIR and will just buy a normal one from screwfix. All of the Hue kit is overpriced. Some of it is better value than others but like others have said it is very good stuff.

[matrignano]

dapprman said:

Adding to this one as I've just been reminded of something when I got back home this evening. Do you leave wifi on when you're out ? Part of the problem you may have is your phone trying to connect to someone else's wifi before you get close enough to home, preventing the software from sending the turn on signals.

Yes I leave Wi-Fi on. Should I not?

[dapprman]

matrignano said:

Yes I leave Wi-Fi on. Should I not?

Opposite - though since I posted the above I've found it has become hit nad miss again, think there might have been another update which may have part broken it again ....

[AB]

Has anyone come across a decent MR16 (colour) that works with Hue?

We had a new bathroom fitted not long ago and the spot above the shower is built into the extractor and is MR16 LV - it is really ruining my bath time ambiance having one stop on full brightness while I'm trying to create a relaxing Arctic Aurora!

[wjwren]

Same issue with mr16 - I replaced mine with a GU10 shower one ip66.

[wjwren]

Anyone seen these for sale in the UK. Amazon UK says currently out of stock.

[bonerp]

Can I check something - in my new kitchen I want to run a Hue strip 2m+1m along the top.
I also want to provide light under the cabinets. I have 2x 500mm cabs with a 600 cabinet in between which the hob is on and extractor above.
So can I run an extension lead and splitter from the strip light at the top, feed it to a 1m extension cut in half? One 500mm length can then be the downlight on each side of the hob.
thanks

Edited by bonerp on Monday 31st January 14:42

[UTH]

Anyone used any trunking that fits this hue light strip: https://www.philips-hue.com/en-gb/p/hue-white-and-...

I'm going to be installing them in such a way that the bulbs would be facing towards you, so I need to cover the strip with something as it'll look pretty awful if you're looking directly at the bulbs

This is looking like my best bet at the moment, but I don't think it's an ideal solution for the space it'll be going in:
https://www.theledstore.co/led-profile-surface-mou...

Edited by UTH on Tuesday 1st February 14:48

[anxious_ant]

We are thinking of getting 2 of Being ceiling lights for our 8m x 5m living area.

We require fairly bright lights as there will be no other lighting in the room.
Spec says 2350 lumens but not sure if the actual output is bright enough.
Hopefully someone here have these can comment.
Also, would this work in a living room? To me round lights are more for bathrooms.

[UTH]

anxious_ant said:

We are thinking of getting 2 of Being ceiling lights for our 8m x 5m living area.

We require fairly bright lights as there will be no other lighting in the room.
Spec says 2350 lumens but not sure if the actual output is bright enough.
Hopefully someone here have these can comment.
Also, would this work in a living room? To me round lights are more for bathrooms.

I assume you don't currently have anything like a standard downlight/spotlight in the living room that you could just switch for Hue bulbs?

[Mark Asread]

anxious_ant said:

We are thinking of getting 2 of Being ceiling lights for our 8m x 5m living area.

We require fairly bright lights as there will be no other lighting in the room.
Spec says 2350 lumens but not sure if the actual output is bright enough.
Hopefully someone here have these can comment.
Also, would this work in a living room? To me round lights are more for bathrooms.

I don't have those, but I have 2 of the Aurelle with similar output. Our space is smaller, but they're way overspecced for it, and never get used at 100% brightness. I can easily imagine 2 of them in a 8x5m space doing a good job as main lighting.

https://bit.ly/34v9s9q

[anxious_ant]

UTH said:

anxious_ant said:

We are thinking of getting 2 of Being ceiling lights for our 8m x 5m living area.

We require fairly bright lights as there will be no other lighting in the room.
Spec says 2350 lumens but not sure if the actual output is bright enough.
Hopefully someone here have these can comment.
Also, would this work in a living room? To me round lights are more for bathrooms.

I assume you don't currently have anything like a standard downlight/spotlight in the living room that you could just switch for Hue bulbs?

Nope, 2 pendant fittings with bayonet bulbs. I suppose I can go with 2 hue bulbs but want something that looks nicer (and brighter).

[anxious_ant]

Mark Asread said:

I don't have those, but I have 2 of the Aurelle with similar output. Our space is smaller, but they're way overspecced for it, and never get used at 100% brightness. I can easily imagine 2 of them in a 8x5m space doing a good job as main lighting.

https://bit.ly/34v9s9q

Excellent, nice to hear that it's bright.

The Being does look a bit nicer with lights coming out from the side as well as bottom, but I am not too sure if having 2 round lights works in a living room.
We are looking to upgrade the pendant bayonet fittings to something nicer and struggling to find an option.
Missus has very specific demands, 4000K colour temp and lights cannot be in multiples of 3 or 5 (it's a feng shui thing...)
We also have low-ish ceiling so that rules out chandeliers.

[Mark Asread]

Philips used to do the Being shaped case in a fluorescent tube (not Hue range). It's those that the Aurelle replaced in our house. I'd say the Being did look a bit bathroomy, but ours were only in a hallway. I'm not sure they'd work in a living room either.

Out of interest, why are you limited to just the ceiling lights? My instinct with a living room is never to use the ceiling light, and to fill the place with side lights and mood lights.

[anxious_ant]

Mark Asread said:

Philips used to do the Being shaped case in a fluorescent tube (not Hue range). It's those that the Aurelle replaced in our house. I'd say the Being did look a bit bathroomy, but ours were only in a hallway. I'm not sure they'd work in a living room either.

Out of interest, why are you limited to just the ceiling lights? My instinct with a living room is never to use the ceiling light, and to fill the place with side lights and mood lights.

Might not have adequate space for side lights but we shall see.
Would really want to do something about the existing pendants though. It's basic 6" pendant with lamp shade.

I suppose 2 of these with Philips bulb to control colour temp would work, but struggle to find similar that's not 3 or 5 lights.
Other option is track light, but think it would look a bit strange in open plan rectangular room.

edit: How freaky is this? Right after posting this I have an email from Wayfair promoting lights. this one fits most of the criteria.

Edited by anxious_ant on Thursday 3rd February 13:40

[anonymous-user]

Apologies if this has been covered before, but can anyone recommend a brand/model of smart plugs that are Hue compatible (and obviously cheaper than Philips items)

Thanks

[loudlashadjuster]

Lord Marylebone said:

Apologies if this has been covered before, but can anyone recommend a brand/model of smart plugs that are Hue compatible (and obviously cheaper than Philips items)

Thanks

Anything that is Zigbee compatible will work. The ones available from Lidl from time to time generally seem the cheapest.

[dapprman]

Hard to get hold of at the moment but I have a couple of Innr, however if you have a Lidl near you and are in no hurry keep an eye out in case they sell their Silverline Zigbee plug adapters again (not the power strip) - these just £8 a pop, however being Lidl we may not see them again.