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

matrim

These arrived for me yesterday and fit nicely over my light switches. They might not be as nice as the above but are a decent option to prevent accidental switching

T-b0n3

I've got my starter kit arriving tomorrow, but I was curious, I know the physical switch is bought separately and it sounds like it's an import part of the setup.

Do people have a physical switch per room or what's optimal?
I understand each switch can control 10 bulbs, but seems impracticable to use it for multiple rooms?

TitianGerm

T-b0n3 wrote: »

I've got my starter kit arriving tomorrow, but I was curious, I know the physical switch is bought separately and it sounds like it's an import part of the setup.

Do people have a physical switch per room or what's optimal?
I understand each switch can control 10 bulbs, but seems impracticable to use it for multiple rooms?

The dimmer switch? I thought it can only control two bulbs without using other apps to tweak it.

Anyway I find I never use my switch and 95% of the time I use Alexa to work the lights.

T-b0n3

emmetkenny wrote: »

The dimmer switch? I thought it can only control two bulbs without using other apps to tweak it.

Anyway I find I never use my switch and 95% of the time I use Alexa to work the lights.

Yes sorry the dimmer switch: Here

I don't have Alexa, but would look at getting it, or more likely Google Home in the future.

AndyBoBandy

T-b0n3 wrote: »

I've got my starter kit arriving tomorrow, but I was curious, I know the physical switch is bought separately and it sounds like it's an import part of the setup.

Do people have a physical switch per room or what's optimal?
I understand each switch can control 10 bulbs, but seems impracticable to use it for multiple rooms?

You don't need any Hue switch at all, the switchs people speak of are the traditional light switches that all homes/rooms have.
Hue dimmer switches are completely optional

The hue dimmer switch will control up to 10 hue bulbs without a bridge, however with a bridge (which you get in the starter kit) you can control a lot more than the 10 bulbs, as well do a lot more than just turn them on/off (you can recall certain scenes with up to 5 presses of the on button)

Optimus Prime

Hi, is there a difference in size between the Colour and White Ambience GU10s ? The colours dont fit in the fittings in my room without me changing them, im wondering are the white ones smaller?

Thanks

AndyBoBandy

Optimus Prime wrote: »

Hi, is there a difference in size between the Colour and White Ambience GU10s ? The colours dont fit in the fittings in my room without me changing them, im wondering are the white ones smaller?

Thanks

Yes, the white ambiance bulbs are smaller, more like standard size GU10 bulbs.

Optimus Prime

Thanks Andy, maybe they will fit in my fittings. thanks a lot.

AndyBoBandy

Optimus Prime wrote: »

Thanks Andy, maybe they will fit in my fittings. thanks a lot.

They will definitely fit.

I'll see if i can do a side by side picture with a white ambiance and a regular GU10 bulb tomorrow when I'm home

Extension Lights

I have the startet kit, the bulbs are all upstairs. We in the planning stages for builing an extension at the back of the house so we have an open plan living area. The extension will have an apex roof. I'm not sure if I should just get standard down lights or try to incorporate philips hue lights. What would people suggest?

irelandrover

Extension Lights wrote: »

I have the startet kit, the bulbs are all upstairs. We in the planning stages for builing an extension at the back of the house so we have an open plan living area. The extension will have an apex roof. I'm not sure if I should just get standard down lights or try to incorporate philips hue lights. What would people suggest?

I'm redoing the attic as a bedroom at the moment and i'm going to use the hue lightstrips along the beams. Ill pair them with some lamps in the room that have hue bulbs.

Extension Lights

irelandrover wrote: »

I'm redoing the attic as a bedroom at the moment and i'm going to use the hue lightstrips along the beams. Ill pair them with some lamps in the room that have hue bulbs.

I wonder would those gu10 bulbs be a good repalcement for down lights in the ceiling.

OU812

Extension Lights wrote: »

I have the startet kit, the bulbs are all upstairs. We in the planning stages for builing an extension at the back of the house so we have an open plan living area. The extension will have an apex roof. I'm not sure if I should just get standard down lights or try to incorporate philips hue lights. What would people suggest?

Built extension with apex roof earlier this year. Its the kitchen & I used strips along the tops/underneath of the units. We also have nine spots, one of which is a Hue (for effect with the strips). We almost NEVER turn the spots on.

Extension Lights

OU812 wrote: »

Built extension with apex roof earlier this year. Its the kitchen & I used strips along the tops/underneath of the units. We also have nine spots, one of which is a Hue (for effect with the strips). We almost NEVER turn the spots on.

Which of the bulbs are compatible with Irish spot lights? Could you take out the spots and replace them with a hue bulb?

OU812

Extension Lights wrote: »

Which of the bulbs are compatible with Irish spot lights? Could you take out the spots and replace them with a hue bulb?

They're open spots, theres an attachment that goes onto the bulb & then the bulb clips into the ring. There's no "inside" to them

AndyBoBandy

Here's a regular GU10 bulb next to a Hue White Ambiance GU10

Virtually identical

bk

Extension Lights wrote: »

Which of the bulbs are compatible with Irish spot lights? Could you take out the spots and replace them with a hue bulb?

There is no such thing as a regular "Irish spots", they can me multiple different fittings, though normally they are either MR16 or GU10 fittings.

Hue lights are GU10's

If your spots are MR16 or some other fitting, then it is relatively easy to replace the fitting (though obviously a little extra time and cost) with GU10's.

I replaced 12 MR16 fittings in my place with GU10's in about two hours.

You could try it with just one fitting first and a standard cheap GU10 LED first to check that it will work and fit ok before shelling out for a lot of expensive Hue GU10's

BTW one thing to be careful of if your spots aren't currently LED's (e.g. Halogen) and they are connected to a dimmer switch, you may also need to replace the dimmer switch, old dimmer switches weren't designed to handle the low wattage of LED bulbs and can cause problems.

AndyBoBandy

bk wrote: »

There is no such thing as a regular "Irish spots", they can me multiple different fittings, though normally they are either MR16 or GU10 fittings.

Hue lights are GU10's

If your spots are MR16 or some other fitting, then it is relatively easy to replace the fitting (though obviously a little extra time and cost) with GU10's.

I replaced 12 MR16 fittings in my place with GU10's in about two hours.

You could try it with just one fitting first and a standard cheap GU10 LED first to check that it will work and fit ok before shelling out for a lot of expensive Hue GU10's

BTW one thing to be careful of if your spots aren't currently LED's (e.g. Halogen) and they are connected to a dimmer switch, you may also need to replace the dimmer switch, old dimmer switches weren't designed to handle the low wattage of LED bulbs and can cause problems.

and on top of all that the original spots might be 12v and have a transformer, but again, its an easy enough fix

I had 10 kitchen MR16 12v spots, I replaced the mr16 fitting to GU 10 while also removing the transformer, each fitting took about 5 minutes to do.

Hue bulbs are 230v

allybhoy

Hi All, just bought a house and been loosely following this thread for a while, im interested in looking to implement a HUE setup, where is the best place to start... we need to do some lighting upgrades to the house as it is, install extra bulbs\spots\switches throughout as the lighting at the moment is minimal at best. Should i just engage with an electrician and get them to carry out the upgrades first and then look at replacing the bulbs with HUE down the road or should i be looking at installing specific HUE compatible fixtures \ switches from the start...also if anyone knows the cheapest\best place to get a starter kit it would be appreciated.

bk

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

and on top of all that the original spots might be 12v and have a transformer, but again, its an easy enough fix

I had 10 kitchen MR16 12v spots, I replaced the mr16 fitting to GU 10 while also removing the transformer, each fitting took about 5 minutes to do.

Yup I didn't the same when switching out the MR16's as you say it was pretty easy and a relieve as those transformers were pretty rubbish and were a pain to replace.

allybhoy wrote: »

Hi All, just bought a house and been loosely following this thread for a while, im interested in looking to implement a HUE setup, where is the best place to start... we need to do some lighting upgrades to the house as it is, install extra bulbs\spots\switches throughout as the lighting at the moment is minimal at best. Should i just engage with an electrician and get them to carry out the upgrades first and then look at replacing the bulbs with HUE down the road or should i be looking at installing specific HUE compatible fixtures \ switches from the start...also if anyone knows the cheapest\best place to get a starter kit it would be appreciated.

I'd have your electrician doing the following:

- All spots should be GU10 LED's, try and make sure there is plenty of space in the fitting if you plan on getting Hue colour GU10's later as they are longer.

- All standard bulbs should use the E27 fitting, rather then the more old fashioned B22 Bayonet fitting. Strictly speaking, Hue comes in B22 too, but I think E27 is a better fitting (more secure) and Philips seems to launch on E27 first, what with it being the EU standard. Also all Ikea bulbs are E27 and they make for a good cheap option where you don't need Hue.

- Lamps should use the E14 fitting.

- Anywhere the electrician is installing a dimmer, make sure it is a LED compatible model.

- If installing new light switches, make sure to have him use extra deep back boxes and put a Neutral at the switch. You don't need this for Hue, but it will be handy if you decided to get different smart switches in future, which could indirectly work with Hue.

- You might want to think if you might want to use Hue light strips in future (ontop of/below cabinets, etc.) and where they might go and if you need extra plug sockets for them placed above/below cabinets, etc.

You don't need to have Hue from the start, the beauty of the system is that it is relatively easy to retrofit. But following the above advice makes it easier. You could stick cheap LEDS bulbs for now and gradually replace them with Hue as sales, etc. come up.

As for where to get a starter kit, Amazon has a pretty good deal on it at the moment, cheapest it has ever been I think:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Ambiance-Wireless-Lighting-Starter/dp/B01K1WP7Z4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494592603&sr=8-1&keywords=hue&th=1

allybhoy

bk wrote: »

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Ambiance-Wireless-Lighting-Starter/dp/B01K1WP7Z4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494592603&sr=8-1&keywords=hue&th=1

Cheers for this... we need to get spots and additional light fixtures installed so ill take all your advice onboard and pass this over to the electrician.

im tempted to purchase the starter kit now and get going....feels like im going to have a row with the missus over the credit card bill

AndyBoBandy

bk wrote: »

- Lamps should use the E14 fitting.

When I started off with Hue, E27 (&GU10) was the only horse in hue town, I was renting at the time and had only bought cheap E14 lamps in Dunnes to fill a gap, so used E27-E14 adaptors in them, but since moving to our own house 3 years ago, I got proper lamps as gifts every year from my mother (as in lamps for life, not just 'this will do' cheap ones), and they all happened to have E27 fittings in them.

So for the lamps, it really wouldn't matter whether they were E14, E27 or B22, as you might see a particular lamp that fits with your room/decor plans and you wouldn't want to not get it because of its bulb fitting, as lamps are something thats changeable down the road (but still try and avoid B22 lamps as Edison Screws (E14/E27) fit so much better, B22 can go loose due to old fittings etc, and their general design, and not sit right in their sockets)

bk wrote: »

- You might want to think if you might want to use Hue light strips in future (ontop of/below cabinets, etc.) and where they might go and if you need extra plug sockets for them placed above/below cabinets, etc.

This all day long.

I have a double socket on my kitchen wall up over units, hidden from view, and I've my lightstrip plus, as well as an Apple Airport Express, and set of laptop speakers plugged into it. The neighbour is an electrician and did it for the previous owners when they did yo the kitchen a year before selling the house :D

AndyBoBandy

allybhoy wrote: »

im tempted to purchase the starter kit now and get going

Thats a very good price for the starter kit. I'd imagine it will be back up to £150 very soon.

your getting 3 bulbs (which are £50 each when bought separately) and a Bridge for £120.

I'm raging!!! I bought 2 colour bulbs a few weeks ago for £100, had I have known this deal was coming I'd have paid the extra £20 for another bulb!!
and just give away the bridge!! (or put it in my mothers house as she currently uses my 1st gen bridge)

allybhoy wrote: »

feels like im going to have a row with the missus over the credit card bill

My OH is the one that started me off with it, she bought me the starter kit for my birthday, I've just added to it slightly, with 35 more bulbs, 6 dimmer switches & 2 sensors!!

allybhoy

Cheers lads, I just took the plunge and purchased the starter kit, and because it was such good value I purchased the 2m lightstrip aswell. Came in at roughly 230 euro all in.

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

My OH is the one that started me off with it, she bought me the starter kit for my birthday, I've just added to it slightly, with 35 more bulbs, 6 dimmer switches & 2 sensors!!

Wow, thats quite a lot, especially if they are 50 quid plus a bulb....do you purchase all your bulbs on amazon or are there other sites i should be keeping an eye on?

Are any of the chinese-y clones compatible with the HUE system and if they are, are you better off sticking with the OEM ones regardless.

Does one bridge manage the entire house or is there a limit to the amount of bulbs you can add.

One last question, forgive my ignorance, but i dont really see the point in purchasing white HUE's as opposed to the standard RGB ones...why wouldnt you either just stick with conventional bulbs (i know you can control them remotely etc but its a huge additional cost for such a small feature) or else just buy the RGB bulbs...do the RGB's not provide sufficient white light or am i missing something obvious.

Im going to re-read this thread from the start over the weekend to get fully up to speed..

AndyBoBandy

allybhoy wrote: »

Wow, thats quite a lot, especially if they are 50 quid plus a bulb....do you purchase all your bulbs on amazon or are there other sites i should be keeping an eye on?

Are any of the chinese-y clones compatible with the HUE system and if they are, are you better off sticking with the OEM ones regardless.

Does one bridge manage the entire house or is there a limit to the amount of bulbs you can add.

One last question, forgive my ignorance, but i dont really see the point in purchasing white HUE's as opposed to the standard RGB ones...why wouldnt you either just stick with conventional bulbs (i know you can control them remotely etc but its a huge additional cost for such a small feature) or else just buy the RGB bulbs...do the RGB's not provide sufficient white light or am i missing something obvious.

Im going to re-read this thread from the start over the weekend to get fully up to speed..

Originally bought from Apple, but the last year or 2, all have been bought from Amazon.

non Hue bulbs will work with Hue system, but Phillips could pull support at any time, for me, I'll only use Philips Hue lights.

1 bridge will do the whole lot, officially the bridge can work with up to 50 lights, but really it will work with up to 64 lights (Philips themselves have admitted this, just 50 is a solid number and any amount above that could cause issues! maybe delays etc..)

Hue white only bulbs are only £15, not a whole lot more expensive than equivalent regular LED bulb.

Optimus Prime

My hub is telling me it's full now but I think it's the 6 sensors and 4 remotes. I had to clear it up the last time and remove scenes to get the remote added. Don't think anymore will fit. Bulbs probably will but not devices. Unless there is some way to get around it.

AndyBoBandy

Optimus Prime wrote: »

My hub is telling me it's full now but I think it's the 6 sensors and 4 remotes. I had to clear it up the last time and remove scenes to get the remote added. Don't think anymore will fit. Bulbs probably will but not devices. Unless there is some way to get around it.

For me it's the routines and scenes that clog up space.

Don't forget every time you create a new room or add lights to a room, a lot of default scenes get added automatically by the Hue app, these default scenes hog a lot of space in the bridge.

Mech1

Hi all, im new to this section on boards.ie.

Got a Google Home last week in Argos Newry with a free Chromecast.
Got a Hue colour starter pack (3 bulbs + bridge) delivered yesterday.
loving it sofar and lots of reading needed.

Thanks for the forum.

Stoner

Mech1 wrote:

Got a Google Home last week in Argos Newry with a free Chromecast. Got a Hue colour starter pack (3 bulbs + bridge) delivered yesterday. loving it sofar and lots of reading needed.

Good stuff, that's all very well matched kit.

Spotify is a great one for Google home.

McG

Mech1 wrote: »

Hi all, im new to this section on boards.ie.

Got a Google Home last week in Argos Newry with a free Chromecast.
Got a Hue colour starter pack (3 bulbs + bridge) delivered yesterday.
loving it sofar and lots of reading needed.

Thanks for the forum.

have a look at what you can do with IFTTT and Stringify.

I have it set so that when I say "Ok Google, Goodnight" IFTTT calls a Stringify flow which fades out the living rooms lights over 2mins (giving me time to leave), turns on the hall light for 2 mins (to get me up the stairs) and sets the bedroom light to 'nightlight' so there's light for me but not so bright it'd wake the babies already asleep in there.
It also turns off the heating but you'll need smart thermostat for that.

Was very torn about getting the colour starter kit at that price. Already have bridge and ambiance bulbs but almost pulled trigger for the colour upgrade for the living room. Might do it next time and bundle the unneeded bridge and bulbs as a gift, or sell on eBay.