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

AndyBoBandy

irelandrover wrote: »

I have pendanytlights so put 2 in the 2 front bedrooms upstairs. Also had one in the living room window and the light just above the door. Had the music blaring out from an upstairs room. Next year ill do the same and also put the Hue go outisde.

for my upstairs rooms, I just used the OnSwitch all to colour the rooms red, or fade in/out of the various shades of red.

Roen

Roen wrote: »

Well after three months wait the Hue Being lamp finally shipped today!

As far as I know the Being, Still and Fair Hue lights were all hit with recalls and Philips had to start over manufacturing of these products. They are hard to pick up.
Used DMlights in the Netherlands. They should also have them back in Amazon before long too, lead time says 1-2 months.

Well the second Being arrived from Amazon a week or so ago and I got around to installing them both this morning. The mad thing was I had these fittings in mind as we were viewing the house for a potential purchase.

Before, the shades that were here when I moved in about 9 months ago. They were using the White Ambiance bulbs so it's pretty much a like for like replacement.



During, right pain in the arse getting these on to the ceiling, they fit pretty much flush to the plaster so the connections either have to be made in the plastic housing inside the Being or shoved up into the ceiling space. I opted for inside the light.
Used spring toggles for two out of the three screws and luckily the other screw hole was below a joist.





My new favourite electrical connector.
Wago 3 port lever clamp



After, really makes the hall ceiling seem a little taller and adds more space to the place.





Bonus points for spotting other HA tech And please excuse odd picture placement. They are hung there to cover hooks/holes from previous things the former owners had up.

The high horse brigade

Bonus points, is that a Netatmo smart thermostat?

Roen

Close. Right shape, wrong manufacturer!

The high horse brigade

Roen wrote: »

Close. Right shape, wrong manufacturer!

Hive?

Roen

The high horse brigade wrote: »

Hive?

Bingo!

OU812

Those little wagos are nice. Nest have a great connection block also.

Roen

OU812 wrote: »

Those little wagos are nice. Nest have a great connection block also.

I took a punt after seeing them on Amazon. Using them to wire in a Fibaro relay today. Fingers crossed!

Capslock

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Capslock wrote: »

Hi all, just wondering what are the best paid apps for Hue and are they worth it? I have three colour bulbs as well as two Iris lamps in the sitting room. I enjoy the Hue app, but is there anything better I should consider? Thanks!

You could look at Hue Disco, Hueloween (obviously only really good at Halloween), there are a lot of good free ones aswell

Thanks Andy!

copacetic

Has anyone used a splitter cable kit?

I've a lot of strips needed for some kitchen work and thinking if simplifying it a bit by just having one controller on top of cabinets and a 3 way splitter to light the top of cabinets and the under cabinets and plinths. It looks like just linking extensions to extensions should work.

Obviously limits you to same settings on all of them. So possibly will just link top and plinths and keep under cabinets as seperate or even non hue white only strips.

Something like the below, a bit steep, but cheaper than their tiny corner cables which are about same for 4 corner pieces.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Parallel-Cable-Kit-for-Philips-Hue-Lightstrip-Plus-Splitter-2-3-4-5-6-7-way-/272544586488?var=&hash=item3f74ec5af8:m:mfG36D3XyM2NJaxtD8YyMCQ

OU812

copacetic wrote: »

Has anyone used a splitter cable kit?

Yup. Had to make a jump across a unit (over the hob). as it turned out, I had enough in the strip to run the entire length of units but that gap was stumping me. Didn't really want to cut it.

Decided to take the leap of faith, bought one, cut strip & hooked them up. Worked perfectly, so I cut a channel in the wall & then buried the cable under the cooker hood.

Works perfectly.

paulbok

copacetic wrote: »

Has anyone used a splitter cable kit?

I've a lot of strips needed for some kitchen work and thinking if simplifying it a bit by just having one controller on top of cabinets and a 3 way splitter to light the top of cabinets and the under cabinets and plinths. It looks like just linking extensions to extensions should work.

Obviously limits you to same settings on all of them. So possibly will just link top and plinths and keep under cabinets as seperate or even non hue white only strips.

Something like the below, a bit steep, but cheaper than their tiny corner cables which are about same for 4 corner pieces.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Parallel-Cable-Kit-for-Philips-Hue-Lightstrip-Plus-Splitter-2-3-4-5-6-7-way-/272544586488?var=&hash=item3f74ec5af8:m:mfG36D3XyM2NJaxtD8YyMCQ

It was literally yesterday evening that I wondered did such a thing exist.
I was looking at the upper corner kitchen cabinet and am thinking of replacing the display light in it with a strip, but would need to split the existing run of strips under the cabinets to jump back to where I want it.
I have a strip extenders in use underneath it so could easily add one of these.
Let us know what you go for and how they perform.

wexfordman2

Ok, the last few posts have got me thinking.

I am getting a new kitchen in, and with that, some kickboard lights, which would be distributed across three different sections/walls so likely 3 diferecnt sections of stip lights or otherwise.

The kitchen comes with kickboard spotlights, so I could possible replace these with hue bulbs, or go for a coupld of led strip lights.

Anyone any recommendations on what the best approach would be, again, seeing as I have three sections to light up, both form a practical and aesthetics perspepctive what would be the best approach ?

randombar

Have a couple of hubs going on Adverts if anyone is interested, usual boardsie discount applies.

lawred2

GaryCocs wrote: »

Have a couple of hubs going on Adverts if anyone is interested, usual boardsie discount applies.

be more interested in discounted bulbs

copacetic

paulbok wrote: »

It was literally yesterday evening that I wondered did such a thing exist.
I was looking at the upper corner kitchen cabinet and am thinking of replacing the display light in it with a strip, but would need to split the existing run of strips under the cabinets to jump back to where I want it.
I have a strip extenders in use underneath it so could easily add one of these.
Let us know what you go for and how they perform.

Spoke to the guys selling them and did some calculations, it would work fine, but the lowish power on the controller would mean in my case light output would drop off too much. I would be running 10m or so off 2m driver.

Would drop off to 50% or so output even running two controllers, so will run a controller and 2m section plus extension for under cabinet and then a controller, splitter and extensions to get 6m or so on top and bottom of cabinets where the output drop off won't matter so much...

noel100

20% off range of hue lights on Amazon.
Just bought 4 white light bulbs with.dimmer control £23.99 each
Ambient white light bulbs x2 + dimmer switch and hub £79.99 starter kit
2 x white bulbs starter kit £47.20

noel100

Bought hue light fitting £120 to £80

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01L99H832/?tag=ho01f-21

jones

Dispatch in 1 to 2 months? Wow

noel100

jones wrote: »

Dispatch in 1 to 2 months? Wow

Been looking for one of these for a while dispatch is a bit of a joke but be happy to get it in may. At least they don't charge till they are ready to send.

Roen

noel100 wrote: »

Bought hue light fitting £120 to £80

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01L99H832/?tag=ho01f-21

I installed two a couple of weeks ago, one took two months and another took four months to ship. Was about to have a fit when I saw the price drop but the black ones are not discounted. Phew!

Love the fitting, bit of a pain in the ass to get up and wire in though.

phantom_lord

Has anyone managed to get Alexa to change the colours of Hue bulbs?

It's working for some users but not all.

https://www.cnet.com/uk/news/alexa-can-finally-change-the-colors-of-your-philips-hue-lights-sort-of/

flangemeistro

phantom_lord wrote: »

Has anyone managed to get Alexa to change the colours of Hue bulbs?

It's working for some users but not all.

https://www.cnet.com/uk/news/alexa-can-finally-change-the-colors-of-your-philips-hue-lights-sort-of/

Ya once you save your coloured scenes in the HUE app and then discover those scenes in the Alexa App you can just say "Alexa turn on Blue/pink/green etc in Kitchen"

It takes a small bit of setup first getting your chosen shades right and renaming the scenes but once that's done it's great.

paulbok

Will it work on a group of lights?
Eg I have 3 in the living room and have a scene where they are all a little different.

bk

paulbok wrote: »

Will it work on a group of lights?
Eg I have 3 in the living room and have a scene where they are all a little different.

Will which work? A z-wave switch?

It should do, if you are using it virtually, to trigger scenes on the Hue Bridge

Note: I haven't tried this yet.

lawred2

Really irritates me that I can't save a library of colors/tones that I like..

Saving current settings as a scene only applies to that particular light group. And it can't be exported to another group.

Also annoying that the same bulb can't be in two different groups.

The Philips stock app really doesn't do justice to their lights.

AndyBoBandy

lawred2 wrote: »

Also annoying that the same bulb can't be in two different groups.

The Philips stock app really doesn't do justice to their lights.

Not ideal but the original Hue app does allow single bulbs in multiple scenes (I know its not rooms, but it is a workable workaround)

paulbok

bk wrote: »

Will which work? A z-wave switch?

It should do, if you are using it virtually, to trigger scenes on the Hue Bridge

Note: I haven't tried this yet.

Using Alexa

paulbok

I'm not associated with this ad, and I consider it a bit pricey for what is just a plastic cover, but anyone looking for a cover to go over a regular light switch and place your hue dimmer over it, might be interested in this.

randombar

paulbok wrote: »

I'm not associated with this ad, and I consider it a bit pricey for what is just a plastic cover, but anyone looking for a cover to go over a regular light switch and place your hue dimmer over it, might be interested in this.

Got five of them off him, sound fella, they're actually made of aluminium so v good finish. Have them in my place now and they've finally solved my "switching off" issue in a nice way.