I've just bought a Hue kit - what can it do?! :)

[JimbobVFR]

I may or may not have just spent a fortune on shed loads of hue stuff, whoops
I think you're partly to blame so I hope you're happy with yourself

[Blue Oval84]

JimbobVFR said:

I may or may not have just spent a fortune on shed loads of hue stuff, whoops
I think you're partly to blame so I hope you're happy with yourself

Well done, I don't think you'll be disappointed! It's good fun setting it all up and choosing the colours

[TheAngryDog]

I aren't sure I get the point? Can someone enlighten me so that I might understand. Please?

[Blue Oval84]

TheAngryDog said:

I aren't sure I get the point? Can someone enlighten me so that I might understand. Please?

What don't you understand?

[tenohfive]

TheAngryDog said:

I aren't sure I get the point? Can someone enlighten me so that I might understand. Please?

Voice control (if you're using Google Home or an Echo) so you can turn any light on from pretty much anywhere without going to the switch.
Ditto with your hands full.
External lights that switch on at sunset and turn off at sunrise.
Motion sensor connected lights (like a landing light that comes on at 10% overnight when movement is detected.)
Bedroom lights that flash if your back door opens after midnight or vibration is detected.
Lights that flash if your front door bell goes.
Fancy coloured lighting that can be set up different ways for specific occasions such as movie night, entertaining etc.

Don't get me wrong - some of it is a solution looking for a problem. Some of it is genuinely useful. Some of it is just a nice way of making your house look fancy. And some of it is just playing with toys.

If it's cheap...why not.

[ecsrobin]

TheAngryDog said:

I aren't sure I get the point? Can someone enlighten me so that I might understand. Please?

So keeping it simple with just white light, a yellow light is good for relaxing a blue light is good for concentrating this gives you the ability to adjust.

You can also have the lights (or select lights) come on when you arrive home and turn off when you leave the house.

Another thing you can do is programme the lights for when you go away or control whilst away great for simulating someone is at home when you’re not.

Connect to the motion sensor and you can have a hall light or toilet light come on only when motion is detected and at a low light level. Perfect for moving about the house at night.

And finally there’s the fun side of it, coloured lights for a party that change with the music or as me and the OP have found an orange light is perfect for watching a film.

[JimbobVFR]

Blue Oval84 said:

Well done, I don't think you'll be disappointed! It's good fun setting it all up and choosing the colours

You're not wrong. I'm absolutely loving it. I wanted to do as much of the house as possible and being as the kitchen has 13 GU10s I had to compromise a little bit to afford it all.

I've got 3 GU10 colour in the kitchen and a single colour E27 in the lounge, the rest of the bulbs are either tuneable white or just warm white. I've used a far few of the Innr bulbs which are a lot cheaper than Hue. If anything the Innr tuneable white GU10 actually performs better than the equivalent Hue White Ambience.

I'd highly recommend the Hue Dimmer switches, but don't use the Hue app to set them up. I used an app called HueDynamic on Windows 10 which lets you configure every button individually, including different types of presses. I've even set it up for a press and hold of the off button starts a bedtime routine where it turns the downstairs lights off gradually, turns the hall and landing lights on a timer and turns our bedside lights on. It's bloody brilliant.

[JimbobVFR]

JimbobVFR said:

I've used a far few of the Innr bulbs which are a lot cheaper than Hue. If anything the Innr tuneable white GU10 actually performs better than the equivalent Hue White Ambience.

I'll quote myself here. The Innr bulbs (E27) are really good however the GU10s all seem to buzz to greater or lesser extent, can't say I've noticed but it's driving my wife bonkers. She says the buzz changes as they're dimmed and is still there even when off. I guess years of riding motorbikes and loud music is paying off here as I can't hear them.

As a result I've just ordered another 8 white and ambience genuine hue bulbs.

As a bonus Amazon are doing 3 for 2 on hue bulbs today so it's actually worked out slightly cheaper for 4 twin packs (3 for the price of 4) than 2 of the Innr 4 packs. Even better it will mean I have all of the lights in the kitchen as tuneable white or colour.

[tenohfive]

Having gone from one smart plug controlling a lamp this time last week to a range of internal and external smart bulbs, I'm sold on the idea. I've just added extra motion and door sensors to my ST setup which are already making life a little easier.

And I keep looking at the OP's pictures and thinking how much of a difference a handful of smart coloured bulbs would make to how the place looks.
I shall be hunting around for something reasonably cheap - although now BF/CM is behind us I'm not holding my breath.

[dickymint]

Glad I found this thread.

Just received and tried out a 3 gu10 and bridge starter kit ... it’s awesome and I’m totally hooked on getting more!

Just about ready for first fix electrics in our new kitchen extension so my question is wether to not bother fitting hard wired light switches and just using a couple of Wi-fi dimmers. There’ll be about 10 gu10 spots and two pendants.

Thoughts appreciated

[ecsrobin]

dickymint said:

Glad I found this thread.

Just received and tried out a 3 gu10 and bridge starter kit ... it’s awesome and I’m totally hooked on getting more!

Just about ready for first fix electrics in our new kitchen extension so my question is wether to not bother fitting hard wired light switches and just using a couple of Wi-fi dimmers. There’ll be about 10 gu10 spots and two pendants.

Thoughts appreciated

A friend has just ordered these: Wifi Smart Light Switch, In-wall Tempered Glass Touch-Screen WLAN Light Switch,Works With Amazon Alexa And Google Home,Control Your Fixtures From Anywhere,Timing Function,Overload Protection,No Hub Required (Switch-3 Gang) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B075JC83TP/ref=cm_sw_r...

[JimbobVFR]

dickymint said:

Glad I found this thread.

Just received and tried out a 3 gu10 and bridge starter kit ... it’s awesome and I’m totally hooked on getting more!

Just about ready for first fix electrics in our new kitchen extension so my question is wether to not bother fitting hard wired light switches and just using a couple of Wi-fi dimmers. There’ll be about 10 gu10 spots and two pendants.

Thoughts appreciated

When we did our kitchen diner I spent ages designing the lighting layout, 13 GU10 split into 3 zones all controlled by a 4 gang Varilight touch and IR dimmer (4th zone for under cupboard lights in the kitchen)

Since fitting Hue I've realised having 13 zones and dimmers (and full control over white tone and 3 colour bulbs) is a massive improvement.

The old light switch has been replaced by a nice varilight screwless blanking plate with a Hue dimmer switch attached. The dimmer is setup to give me access to multiple scenes, start and stop a colour cycling effect. I'm a big fan as you can probably tell, I'm running out of lights to change over.

[Blue Oval84]

JimbobVFR said:

When we did our kitchen diner I spent ages designing the lighting layout, 13 GU10 split into 3 zones all controlled by a 4 gang Varilight touch and IR dimmer (4th zone for under cupboard lights in the kitchen)

Since fitting Hue I've realised having 13 zones and dimmers (and full control over white tone and 3 colour bulbs) is a massive improvement.

The old light switch has been replaced by a nice varilight screwless blanking plate with a Hue dimmer switch attached. The dimmer is setup to give me access to multiple scenes, start and stop a colour cycling effect. I'm a big fan as you can probably tell, I'm running out of lights to change over.

Oh I like what you've done with that! Is that a double width blanking plate in order to accommodate the Hue dimmer? I'll need to do something similar when I get all the bulbs in the room and hallway moved across to Hue.

Can it be taken on and off easily as required if I needed access to the underlying switch?

Unfortunately since starting this thread one of my expensive LED wall lights has failed, so now it looks like instead of being a permanent part of my decor, they're going to be replaced with regular wall lamps and Hue colour ambience bulbs. More expense than I wanted, but it does remove the problem of having three "non-Hue" bulbs on the wall...

[JimbobVFR]

Yes it's a Varilight branded blanking plate from Screwfix, there's no switch behind there just the original switch wires terminated together with some Wago connectors.

This switch actually has a separate master switch for all the kitchen lights so I still have a switchi in this room should I need it.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/varilight-2-gang-blanki...

[Oakey]

If you have no physical switches it might inconvenience you a bit when the hub / app goes pear and your lamps become unresponsive

[JimbobVFR]

It wouldn't be a massive hassle though, it's a matter of a few minutes to remove the plate to disconnect or replace the switch.
My kitchen isn't actually connected to the lighting circuit anyway, all 4 lighting circuits run off a main FCU "master switch" so I still have a switch if needed. Most rooms also have lamps with hue bulbs anyway, even the bathroom has a separate shower light and extractor fan so I have contingency options.

[Blue Oval84]

JimbobVFR said:

Yes it's a Varilight branded blanking plate from Screwfix, there's no switch behind there just the original switch wires terminated together with some Wago connectors.

This switch actually has a separate master switch for all the kitchen lights so I still have a switchi in this room should I need it.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/varilight-2-gang-blanki...

I see, I thought it was more of a cover for the existing switch that could be easily removed if you needed to use the underlying physical switch.

No matter, it still makes sense, the Hue stuff seems reliable so far **crosses fingers**, I'd definitely still consider it rather than ending up with a Hue dimmer AND a regular switch next to each other.

[JimbobVFR]

I was considering the 3D printed covers that go over the top of the switch but they wouldn't work in the kitchen as it's a double gang switch. I'm using similar white plates but vertical in other places. I've drilled new holes in the back plate you screw to the wall so it fits vertically over a single backbone. It's easy to revert back should the lack of switches be an issue but I'm happy with it. I've used Wago lever connectors so they're well-insulated and easy to connect and disconnect.

[dickymint]

Oakey said:

If you have no physical switches it might inconvenience you a bit when the hub / app goes pear and your lamps become unresponsive

Decided to utilise two existing switches (one in lounge and one in utility that were due to be made redundant) to power all the new extension lighting as a back up and fit Wi-fi dimmers at the two entrances and a motion sensor to the main entrance route.

[hostyle]

I've just bought the starter kit with just the dimming white lights. In march of next year were planning to redo all downstairs (kitchen and living room, new windows/doors to garden, etc.), so this is a test to see if we like it and how we can expand the set-up.

Has anyone deleted all of their existing light switches? I'm tempted to go that route with the works next year, as a) it'll save me money/time and b) it'll look better. Any reason not to?