Philips Hue WiFi lighting set up - what do you have?

Optimus Prime

Im the opposite I don't really use the routines , dunno why really. I just don't like to leave the lights on in a room when I'm not in it. Maybe it was my parents always telling me to turn the lights off haha

I do have one setup for the two blooms I have. I used IFTTT to turn them on at sundown and off at half eleven.

My plan is to get motion sensors everywhere so I don't need to use the light switches or even the app for normal lights. Only for colour changing and scenes etc.

Graham

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

my own pic is in there at my desk so I'll randomly go in and out of the office throughout the evening some days

Just to check it's still there or do you stare wistfully at the image of the younger you?

AndyBoBandy

Graham wrote: »

Just to check it's still there or do you stare wistfully at the image of the younger you?

should have said my own personal computer is there, as well as my work computer.

But I do also have a pic of myself on the wall facing me, as well as 3 more pics of myself in frames scattered about my desk, and my work computer (2 monitors) has a desktop back round made up of pictures of myself as well I am all that

Shane732

Bought 6 GU10's and motion sensors but the bloody plugs don't fit into the light fitting.

Arghh...

AndyBoBandy

Shane732 wrote: »

Bought 6 GU10's and motion sensors but the bloody plugs don't fit into the light fitting.

Arghh...

How do you mean? Are the holders you have not GU10? Can you post a pic?

Shane732

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

How do you mean? Are the holders you have not GU10? Can you post a pic?

They are GU10 but the fitting doesn't match perfectly. I've had this problem with other light fittings....

AndyBoBandy

Shane732 wrote: »

They are GU10 but the fitting doesn't match perfectly. I've had this problem with other light fittings....

I had to change my 10 kitchen fittings from 12v MR16?to 220v GU10, I bought the 10 GU10 fittings from eBay for about €5 and easily changed them out while also removing the little transformers,

bk

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

I had to change my 10 kitchen fittings from 12v MR16?to 220v GU10, I bought the 10 GU10 fittings from eBay for about €5 and easily changed them out while also removing the little transformers,

I did the same, well worth doing, the MR16's and their transformers had my heart broken. GU10 is far better.

jones

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

I had to change my 10 kitchen fittings from 12v MR16?to 220v GU10, I bought the 10 GU10 fittings from eBay for about €5 and easily changed them out while also removing the little transformers,

I'm in the same position whole house is decked out with 12v MR16 halogen's (approx 40 of them).

Is a simple job to remove the transformers?

AndyBoBandy

jones wrote: »

I'm in the same position whole house is decked out with 12v MR16 halogen's (approx 40 of them).

Is a simple job to remove the transformers?

Yeah, it's a piece of pi$$ to do, each light took about 3/4 minutes to change, I'm no electrician, but I'd consider myself fairly handy at basic wiring, plugs/lights etc..

All I did was cut the 240v supply at the transformer, and fed that straight into the lamp holder junction box (removing the transformer box and it's feed into the jb), then on the other side of the jb, remove the MR16 fitting and replace it with the GU10 fitting.
(Obviously make sure everything is isolated before cutting anything)

AndyBoBandy

jones wrote: »

(approx 40 of them)

Are you going to replace them all with Hue GU10's? Ou€h

£2,000 for 40 colour GU10's
£900 for 40 white ambiance GU10's

I put 10 colour GU10's in my kitchen and 4 white ambiance GU10's on my landing, and in fairness, 99% of what the kitchen ones do would be covered by the white ambiance bulbs, but I thought I'd always regret not going for the colours, and as I've said a few times in this thread, including the OP, the colour does lose the novelty factor after some time, but in my situation, with only 10 required, I felt it was worth going for!

jones

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Are you going to replace them all with Hue GU10's? Ou€h

£2,000 for 40 colour GU10's
£900 for 40 white ambiance GU10's

I put 10 colour GU10's in my kitchen and 4 white ambiance GU10's on my landing, and in fairness, 99% of what the kitchen ones do would be covered by the white ambiance bulbs, but I thought I'd always regret not going for the colours, and as I've said a few times in this thread, including the OP, the colour does lose the novelty factor after some time, but in my situation, with only 10 required, I felt it was worth going for!

In the long run i'll replace the lot but definitely not all at once. I'll start off with the twin pack white and replace bit by bit. Nightmare that i've so many of the power hungry halogens. I want to get the sensor for the landing as well.

Probably just get the white bulbs to begin with. I already have the Hue iris with bridge and i love it but dont think i'd really need coloured lights everywhere

beanian

Shane732 wrote: »

Bought 6 GU10's and motion sensors but the bloody plugs don't fit into the light fitting.

Arghh...

Offer €30

AndyBoBandy

Shane732 wrote: »

Bought 6 GU10's and motion sensors but the bloody plugs don't fit into the light fitting.

Arghh...

beanian wrote: »

Offer €30

€35, and I'll collect them nationwide :D:D

alastair

jones wrote: »

In the long run i'll replace the lot but definitely not all at once. I'll start off with the twin pack white and replace bit by bit. Nightmare that i've so many of the power hungry halogens. I want to get the sensor for the landing as well.

I've exposed wire MR16s in the kitchen - nine lights. No possibility of replacing with GU10s for obvious reasons. I tried replacing all with LED MR16s, but unless I gut the (visible) transformers, that doesn't work, so I've ended up with a single halogen on each of the three transformers, and the rest LED's.

Gradually replacing all the MR16 downlighters elsewhere with GU10s - have six white hues on their way from Spanish amazon at the moment.

AndyBoBandy

jones wrote: »

Probably just get the white bulbs to begin with. I already have the Hue iris with bridge and i love it but dont think i'd really need coloured lights everywhere

The white ambiance are still a great bulb, and as I've said, will do 99% of your lighting needs.
from a warm yellowing relax light to a bright fluorescent blue like white, they really are great. I was having some work done on my boiler in my kitchen the other night, and I was able to light the kitchen up so bright with all the lights on concentrate, and then return to a much warmer glow later on. the double pack white ambiance GU10's are really fantastic.

Heres a pic of them on my landing;

don't mind the big crack on the ceiling its where the old attic access was before we got the conversion, and needs touching up

jones

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

The white ambiance are still a great bulb, and as I've said, will do 99% of your lighting needs.
from a warm yellowing relax light to a bright fluorescent blue like white, they really are great. I was having some work done on my boiler in my kitchen the other night, and I was able to light the kitchen up so bright with all the lights on concentrate, and then return to a much warmer glow later on. the double pack white ambiance GU10's are really fantastic.

Heres a pic of them on my landing;

don't mind the big crack on the ceiling its where the old attic access was before we got the conversion, and needs touching up

Looks great mate. I actually didn't know the white ambiance could change between warm and cold light so that's great to know. I'm thinking the double pack to begin with and just do it bit by bit £44.99 on amazon (UK) at the moment.

jones

alastair wrote: »

I've exposed wire MR16s in the kitchen - nine lights. No possibility of replacing with GU10s for obvious reasons. I tried replacing all with LED MR16s, but unless I gut the (visible) transformers, that doesn't work, so I've ended up with a single halogen on each of the three transformers, and the rest LED's.

Gradually replacing all the MR16 downlighters elsewhere with GU10s - have six white hues on their way from Spanish amazon at the moment.

Is the spanish amazon cheaper than uk?

AndyBoBandy

jones wrote: »

Looks great mate. I actually didn't know the white ambiance could change between warm and cold light so that's great to know.

There are 3 main types of Hue bulb;

White only - warm white only (the most basic version with only dimmable capability, but still have all the other features are available such as remotes, dimmers, sensors, app control etc..) - these are currently only available in B22 & E27 size bulb

White Ambiance - gives light from warm to cold white and everything in between. These are capable of running the light recipes that you might see/hear me quoting in the thread (Relax, Read, Energise & Concentrate)) they are the 4 main/primary hue recipes available, and great for instance in the early evening (dusk) to use a concentrate/energise recipe, as it almost mimics natural daylight, then later in the evening fade into a read/relax recipe which is better for that warmer cosy light you might want when relaxing. these bulbs are available in B22, E27 & GU10, they are also available built into some of the more expensive Hue lights that are all in one offerings (Phoenix as well as some other very expensive lights)

White & Colour Ambiance - these are the top range lights, they do everything the white ambiance lights do, but with the addition of colour as well - these are available in B22, E27, GU10 & Lightstrip (and possibly Iris)


The light strip plus is White & colour ambiance (I believe the original Friends of Hue light strip was colour only, like the Bloom), the bloom is colour only (doesn't do the white ambiance colours, but still does a warm yellow), and I'm not sure about the Iris as I don't have one, but from what others have said, they do do white & colour ambiance

Have a look at this pic, it's a colour bulb box, notice the 2 lines on the left, top one being white ambiance colours available, bottom one being the colours available.

jones

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

There are 3 main types of Hue bulb;

White only - warm white only (the most basic version with only dimmable capability, but still have all the other features are available such as remotes, dimmers, sensors, app control etc..) - these are currently only available in B22 & E27 size bulb

White Ambiance - gives light from warm to cold white and everything in between. These are capable of running the light recipes that you might see/hear me quoting in the thread (Relax, Read, Energise & Concentrate)) they are the 4 main/primary hue recipes available, and great for instance in the early evening (dusk) to use a concentrate/energise recipe, as it almost mimics natural daylight, then later in the evening fade into a read/relax recipe which is better for that warmer cosy light you might want when relaxing. these bulbs are available in B22, E27 & GU10, they are also available built into some of the more expensive Hue lights that are all in one offerings (Phoenix as well as some other very expensive lights)

White & Colour Ambiance - these are the top range lights, they do everything the white ambiance lights do, but with the addition of colour as well - these are available in B22, E27, GU10 & Lightstrip (and possibly Iris)


The light strip plus is White & colour ambiance, the bloom is colour only (doesn't do the white ambiance colours, but still does a warm yellow), and I'm not sure about the Iris as I don't have one, but from what others have said, they do do white & colour ambiance

Have a look at this pic, it's a colour bulb box, notice the 2 lines on the left, top one being white ambiance colours available, bottom one being the colours available.

Very informative mate cheers.

I actually have the Iris already in my sitting room along with the Hue bridge. From my messing around i don't think the iris does "white" but i might have just missed it i use it for colours obviously.

AndyBoBandy

jones wrote: »

Very informative mate cheers.

I actually have the Iris already in my sitting room along with the Hue bridge. From my messing around i don't think the iris does "white" but i might have just missed it i use it for colours obviously.

go down through the default recipes for the Iris, and if you see Concentrate, Relax, Energise & Read it means it will be able to do it, as those default scenes won't show up for a bulb that isn't capable of doing ambiance whites

alastair

jones wrote: »

Is the spanish amazon cheaper than uk?

It depends on whatever deals are going. In this case, yes. Always worth checking the continental amazons.

bk

jones wrote: »

Probably just get the white bulbs to begin with. I already have the Hue iris with bridge and i love it but dont think i'd really need coloured lights everywhere

When I first replaced the MR16's with GU10's I went straight to ordinary non-smart LEDs. 6 months later I got the Hue bug and started replacing them with Hue GU10's!

I still have the non-smart LED's in the hall and bathrooms. The hall will get switched over soon in conjunction with the motion sensor. The bathrooms I'm leaving for now as I'm not sure about leaving such expensive bulbs in such a damp environment.

No worries on only using the LED's for just 6 months. They paid for themselves in just 6 months in electricity savings and then they went to a friends place.

Getting rid of the MR16's was the best thing I've ever did. The MR16's had my heart broken. I seemed to have to change them about every 6 months and worse the transformers would go too which are more expensive to replace and harder to replace. It was such a pain I ended up leaving one or two dead for months on end which obviously doesn't look great. GU10 is far superior.

donegal.

jones wrote: »

Is the spanish amazon cheaper than uk?

i wouldn't hurt to shop around all the different amazons. i've got hue from .es, .de, and argos.uk.

(my wii u's from .fr and my nespresso's from .it)

Roen

Anyone ever seen any sign of the Hue Being ceiling lamps on sale yet?
Would suit my hall perfectly and free up a couple of B22's.

jones

bk wrote: »

Getting rid of the MR16's was the best thing I've ever did. The MR16's had my heart broken. I seemed to have to change them about every 6 months and worse the transformers would go too which are more expensive to replace and harder to replace. It was such a pain I ended up leaving one or two dead for months on end which obviously doesn't look great. GU10 is far superior.

This is exactly what is happening to me. It's not actually the halogen bulbs that are going in my house it is the transformers so i've a few dead lights knocking around as well. I had always planned to upgrade to LED so didnt see the point in replacing transformers. I'm going to get some main powered GU10 connectors and ditch the transformers altogether. Go Hue for certain zones and then regular LED for the rest.

Would something like this do the job for the above?

http://www.ledvista.ie/commercial-lighting-systems/downlights-fittings-mr16-gu10/gu10-connector-industrial-grade

Thanks for all the help lads

Stoner

That's all you need. There should be a plastic "OBO " box for the 220V connection into the traffo.

The REC you get to do.tnis will put them in they are not there , people just tapped up the connectors years ago.


However if the fittings you have are old open backed ones you could replace them with enclosed fire rated units units better for safety and drafts

AndyBoBandy

jones wrote: »

Would something like this do the job for the above?

http://www.ledvista.ie/commercial-lighting-systems/downlights-fittings-mr16-gu10/gu10-connector-industrial-grade

I bought 10 of these ceramic ones on eBay for €4.97, (they are now €6.28 for 10 + €2.34 postage), (they actually sent me 11), and they were more than adequate.
My neighbour (qualified electrician) gave them the once over and said they were perfect, and that you don't want to be paying more than €1 each for them anyway.

embraer170

then later in the evening fade into a read/relax recipe which is better for that warmer cosy light you might want when relaxing.

How do you gently fade between recipes?

AndyBoBandy

embraer170 wrote: »

How do you gently fade between recipes?

Just time a new scene to start while another scene is already running and set it to fade over 30/60 minutes.

Example;

Concentrate is timed to come on at 4pm in the living room.
Set Relax to come on at 6pm with a 1 hour fade, so from 6pm to 7pm the living room lights will gradually fade from concentrate to relax.

Easy

A single routine will only do 1 action, I.e. Only turn lights on or off, not both, so what's to say you can't have 10 routines for 1 set of lights doing various different things before the last routine is the one that turns them off?