Philips Hue Lighting - owners thread
Discussion
murphster said:
Do these lights still work if the wifi is down? I.e can I just get them to turn on like a conventional light? Or is this just a downside to using these types of lights?
If it's just your wifi (and not your entire home network) that fails then you could still theoretically control the bulbs with something that has an ethernet connection, as the hue hub (old version anyway) will be ethernet connected. In practice though, it means you won't be able to use the mobile apps which are likely going to be your main interface to the system.Edited by murphster on Monday 28th December 07:45
That said, something like a Hue Tap or a paired 'Living Colours' remote would still work as they don't use the hue hub. This is because the lights themselves use a separate mesh network of their own and don't depend on your house wifi to talk to each other and a suitable controller can talk directly to this network.
The Hue and Hue Lux lightbulbs can work as normal bulbs with an on/off switch, even without being controlled by anything else. If you turn them off at the lightswitch, they will go full brightness white when turned back on and function just as a regular white bulb. The accent lights however will retain their state when last powered on so they may not be useful if they were dimmed down to the off state.
DSLiverpool said:
Ta - I have an old one but for the price the bulbs were worth it, its for one room and I was going to buy wifi plugs until I saw this.
The bulbs are going to be compatible with either hub so if there was something that needs a newer one for compatibility, you could just buy one in the future to use with your existing Hue setup.Also, the main difference between the hubs is that the newer one has wifi. I can't see any reason why one would have more or less compatibility with 3rd party standards than the other, unless Philips are going to play silly marketing games (which given their behaviour with blocking 3rd party bulbs with a recent firmware update, I guess they might do).
I got the new 2m Light Strips Plus kit yesterday, unfortunately it's going straight back as some of the white LEDs on a section of strip simply don't work and the yellow LEDs flicker when yoy move it about. The RGB ones work fine though.
Seen a few comments on Reddit over the last few weeks from people with the same issue.
It looks like the new strip is more prone to failure as the ribbon cable is just loosely enclosed in a rubber sheath rather than being encased in resin like the gen 1
Seen a few comments on Reddit over the last few weeks from people with the same issue.
It looks like the new strip is more prone to failure as the ribbon cable is just loosely enclosed in a rubber sheath rather than being encased in resin like the gen 1
I have the new hub and white bulbs. My living room, dining room, and bedroom now have bulbs. I think it's very good. I have timers on the lights and scenes. For example, I use Sleep Cycle on my iPhone connected to hue, and this wakes me up in the morning. I then have a timer to turn on lights for when I go for breakfast, and I've set them all to turn off when I leave the house.
The best thing is Sleep Cycle and using Hue to turn on my bedroom light. It works so well, and wakes me up before the alarm goes off.
The white bulbs are fairly good value at £15. But the colour ones are crazy expensive!
The best thing is Sleep Cycle and using Hue to turn on my bedroom light. It works so well, and wakes me up before the alarm goes off.
The white bulbs are fairly good value at £15. But the colour ones are crazy expensive!
HairyMaclary said:
Picked up a lightify starter kit for £10 from Tesco earlier. Bulbs are half price at £15.50 too.
Whats the best app to use on android? The osram stock one wont do a sunrise startup. Wanted it for this feature!
Any ideas?
It's showing £20 online just for the hub. May have to see if my local tesco has it for £10Whats the best app to use on android? The osram stock one wont do a sunrise startup. Wanted it for this feature!
Any ideas?
ecsrobin said:
HairyMaclary said:
Picked up a lightify starter kit for £10 from Tesco earlier. Bulbs are half price at £15.50 too.
Whats the best app to use on android? The osram stock one wont do a sunrise startup. Wanted it for this feature!
Any ideas?
It's showing £20 online just for the hub. May have to see if my local tesco has it for £10Whats the best app to use on android? The osram stock one wont do a sunrise startup. Wanted it for this feature!
Any ideas?
Has anyone tried an e14 to e27 adapter and are they safe? The ones on Amazon have okay reviews but the 1 star ones put me right off.
They range from the screw part coming off in the lamp to it starting to melt.
Given the simplicity of such a thing you'd think they'd be a little more well constructed.
They range from the screw part coming off in the lamp to it starting to melt.
Given the simplicity of such a thing you'd think they'd be a little more well constructed.
Oakey said:
Has anyone tried an e14 to e27 adapter and are they safe? The ones on Amazon have okay reviews but the 1 star ones put me right off.
They range from the screw part coming off in the lamp to it starting to melt.
Given the simplicity of such a thing you'd think they'd be a little more well constructed.
They range from the screw part coming off in the lamp to it starting to melt.
Given the simplicity of such a thing you'd think they'd be a little more well constructed.
Have the ikea ones throught the house. Think they were a quid for two. House hasnt burned down yet. They are all used on led bulbs so wont be getting very hot.
I popped into tesco and they had the osram, belkin and Phillips offerings. All of a similar price with hub and 2 bulbs. I held off just to check what fittings I'd use and now I think I'm actually sold on the hue mk2 however my light fitting needs 4 bulbs so that's £200 with hub and I wanted the strip light at £70 but nowhere has it in stock. Suddenly I feel like a normal bulb is fine.
To keep the cost down I'm using a mix of Phillips Hue and "normal" LED bulbs in devices controlled by a z-wave socket across my house. I use openhab to monitor the Phillips Hue bulb(s) in the room and then turn on the normal bulbs that are also in the room. Depending on the time of day and/or lux in the room (I have z-wave motion sensors) I can then further tweak the bulbs.
ecsrobin said:
I need gu10 fittings for most of the house which don't come in the White bulb.
You'll want to make sure they actually fit as they're bigger than normal GU10s apparently.Also, Amazon and John Lewis have the Light Strip. Good luck though, I got my replacement and although all the LEDs work this time there's one 12inch section where if you merely press your finger on it the white LEDs will turn off and back on when you release. The previous model was encased in resin which I suspect protected the ribbon cable, the new one, it's very easy to crease the ribbon without even trying.
The adhesive is also crap, I used some super strong double sided foam tape I had but even that won't keep the Light Strip stuck down to a surface, I think the heat from the LEDs just cause it to peel away from whatever it's stuck to.
HairyMaclary said:
ecsrobin said:
HairyMaclary said:
Picked up a lightify starter kit for £10 from Tesco earlier. Bulbs are half price at £15.50 too.
Whats the best app to use on android? The osram stock one wont do a sunrise startup. Wanted it for this feature!
Any ideas?
It's showing £20 online just for the hub. May have to see if my local tesco has it for £10Whats the best app to use on android? The osram stock one wont do a sunrise startup. Wanted it for this feature!
Any ideas?
I would have preferred to get the Osram Lightify kit, but from what I can see it is virtually impossible to get the bulbs with a bayonet (B22d) mount. Has anyone got any ideas or know of a supplier for B22d lightify RGB bulbs? I'm also after about three GU10 bulbs. Lightify is (according to Belkin) compatible with WeMo, but every supplier I've come across only seems to do E27.
I can't use an E27 to B22d adapter as the light fitting that I'll be using it in is only just big enough to take the WeMo bulb as it is, without adding any extra length to it!
Edited by Teppic on Wednesday 20th January 16:22
Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff