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

BobbyT28

BrownFinger wrote: »

you could try one of these.
I havent looked but I bet there is a euro model

http://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F7C030/

Yeah I see that but I think it only turns lights off and on. Looking for something that does that but also to dim lights.

BobbyT28

Optimus Prime

BobbyT28 wrote: »

nothing compares to hue

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Try it out first behind the couch when you get the strip for the kitchen, try it out in all the places you want to do it,

Yeh good idea when I get the first one I'll try it in a few different places

MaceFace

Two motion sensors due to arrive today.

Plan is for one to act as a security sensor - place in porch area and when it senses movement, switch on outside light and maybe downstairs light, possibly with a delay.

The second sensor will be for the bathroom for nighttime - turn on a dimmed light between certain hours, and maybe a brighter colour after 7am.

MaceFace

Well, Amazon sent me two Dimmer switches instead of Motion Sensors. Absolutely furious because they appear to be not available again for another month or two.

And I had to travel to the post office to collect, and go back again to return.

Furious!

AndyBoBandy

I just spent 2 1/2 hours driving around Kent to first a Currys/PC World, and then a Maplin only to find out the Currys don't hold any hue stock apart from the standard colour bulbs, and Maplin don't stock hue all together anymore!!

And there was me thinking I was going to fly home tomorrow with at least 4 GU10's to install (turn my kitchen into a disco)

MaceFace

MaceFace wrote: »

Well, Amazon sent me two Dimmer switches instead of Motion Sensors. Absolutely furious because they appear to be not available again for another month or two.

And I had to travel to the post office to collect, and go back again to return.

Furious!

So, after struggling to find a "contact us" link on Amazon, I sent an email message explaining the problem and how I was furious that not only did I get the wrong item, but now I need to wait another two months because of their mistake.

They replied within the hour refunding my money and telling me to keep the two dimmer switches.

Can't complain about that!

BobbyT28

MaceFace wrote: »

So, after struggling to find a "contact us" link on Amazon, I sent an email message explaining the problem and how I was furious that not only did I get the wrong item, but now I need to wait another two months because of their mistake.

They replied within the hour refunding my money and telling me to keep the two dimmer switches.

Can't complain about that!

Best customer service I've ever dealt with.

AndyBoBandy

BobbyT28 wrote: »

Just picked up lightsrip plus in woddies. Was gonna get the extender too but the OH was with me!! Looking forward to getting my starter kit tomorrow.

Which Woodies did you get the light strip? And do they have the 1m extensions as well?

BobbyT28

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Which Woodies did you get the light strip? And do they have the 1m extensions as well?

Woddies on the Lucan bypass there near LIffey Valley.

Yep they had plenty of 1m extensions. Had one in my hand but put it back. Will get it at a later date.

https://www.google.ie/maps/dir/''/woodies+lucan/@53.3585098,-6.4946059,12z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m8!4m7!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x486772ef8b08c57f:0x2d75ba3918175a9!2m2!1d-6.4245664!2d53.3585303

BobbyT28

AndyBoBandy

While still upset because I didn't get my Hue fix in England during the week (I wanted 4 colour GU10's), I was determined to get something, so ended up going to Woodies & getting another light strip plus 2 more 1m extensions,
I've the new strip on its own behind my dining room dresser, and I added a 1m extension to the original strip thats on the top of my kitchen units, to just put a little extra light up there.
(I now have a spare 1m extension!, so I guess I'll be buying another strip for somewhere!!)

I also bought a Bloom light (just because they had them, and I'm like a kid in a sweet shop sometimes) and have it in behind my TV in my bedroom (where there are also 2 of the original colour E27 bulbs.

The obsession is real, I now have a total of 20 individual lights, and I'm itching to pull the trigger on 10 of the new colour GU10's (4 then 6)

Optimus Prime

Plugged in my HUb and 6 bulbs in the kitchen over the weekend and setup. Have E14 Fixtures so had to use the adapters, which seem to be ok. but my god the length of the bulbs with the adapters. They really need to release E14 type candle shaped ones. my wife isn't too happy about the look of the bulbs in the fixture because of this.

But otherwise they are great! Got the Hue Disco app and the kids had a great time dancing around haha.

The Halloween app I seen mentioned a couple of times, I can only get it to work with 1 bulb at a time, eg when I hit the thunder button only 1 bulb flashes, the next time I hit it another bulb flashes on its own. Even though I have selected all 6 bulbs I have. Should all six flash together?

In the other apps like Christmas etc, they all flash. just not in the Halloween one.

Thanks

AndyBoBandy

In the Halloween app, it plays through a different bulb each time!, so if you have six selected, it will go through each one at a time, so when I'm using it, I only have two bulbs selected, one in the front room, and one in the hallway, that way I know one of the two bulbs will flash and give the effect I want. I'll just have all the other bulbs doing something else with a different app!!

Optimus Prime

ah cool thanks, its was annoying me trying to figure out how to get them all to work at the same time. turns out they don't haha.. two light strips are next and going to get some of those elgato eve plugs.

AndyBoBandy

What are the plugs for?

Optimus Prime

They are compatible with apple home. so you put one in the socket in a wall. plug in your skybox and tv and you can turn them on remotely. So you can add them to a scene, like TV Time, set the lights to dim to 20% and sky and the tv to come one.

I dunno im just using that as an example, the reason I want them though is that Ive a few arcade machines and a pinball in my kitchen I bought and fixed over the years, so I want to be able to turn on the one I want to play remotely because its a pain having to kneel down and switch the socket on the wall on each time and each socket has two cabs plugged into each, so I cant only turn on one at a time.. So I can name one "Pinball" in apple home and when I switch that the pinball powers on etc

Caillte

Just looking at amazon there. The GU10 is £49.99 a bit pricey if you ask me.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Personal-Wireless-Lighting-Single/dp/B00IHZJ51A/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1476104161&sr=8-8&keywords=philips+hue+bulb

Caillte

Optimus Prime wrote: »

They are compatible with apple home. so you put one in the socket in a wall. plug in your skybox and tv and you can turn them on remotely. So you can add them to a scene, like TV Time, set the lights to dim to 20% and sky and the tv to come one.

I dunno im just using that as an example, the reason I want them though is that Ive a few arcade machines and a pinball in my kitchen I bought and fixed over the years, so I want to be able to turn on the one I want to play remotely because its a pain having to kneel down and switch the socket on the wall on each time and each socket has two cabs plugged into each, so I cant only turn on one at a time.. So I can name one "Pinball" in apple home and when I switch that the pinball powers on etc

I use wemo insight switch for this type of thing.

Optimus Prime

Caillte wrote: »

I use wemo insight switch for this type of thing.

Ill check that out before I buy one of the elgato ones. thanks

Edit: had a quick look, doesn't work with the apple homekit apparently.

Caillte

Optimus Prime wrote: »

Ill check that out before I buy one of the elgato ones. thanks

Edit: had a quick look, doesn't work with the apple homekit apparently.

Works with IFTTT though.

Stoner

Optimus Prime wrote:

Edit: had a quick look, doesn't work with the apple homekit apparently.

Have you looked at the IFTTT app and recipes?

Stoner

Caillte wrote:

Works with IFTTT though.

Sorry in just missed that.

Btw I'm using lightwaverf sockets etc very happy with them . Have my rads on them too. It's all tied together by IFTTT

Optimus Prime

No I haven't, never heard of it until that post there earlier, ill check it out. thanks

AndyBoBandy

Caillte wrote: »

Just looking at amazon there. The GU10 is £49.99 a bit pricey if you ask me.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Personal-Wireless-Lighting-Single/dp/B00IHZJ51A/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1476104161&sr=8-8&keywords=philips+hue+bulb

They are, and putting 10 in my kitchen will not be cheap!

However the ones you linked are the previous version of the light, the new ones do better greens & yellows apparently (something which up to now, Hue wasn't great at!), looks like they are only available in a starter set at the minute, but for the price of £150, means the bridge is for free really!!

Stoner

Optimus Prime wrote:

No I haven't, never heard of it until that post there earlier, ill check it out. thanks

It's a doddle. You'll be up and running I'm no time, it's a great addition to these devices, use a Google calendar etc

Caillte

Stoner wrote: »

It's a doddle. You'll be up and running I'm no time, it's a great addition to these devices, use a Google calendar etc

NEver knew about lightwave either. A total new world of interconnections. The TRVs caught my eye mind you. Very expensive and yet another bridge to connect to the router.

AndyBoBandy

I just got the Hue Disco app.

By far looks to be one of the best 3rd party Hue apps available. (with 2 strips in my kitchen it looks fantastic, can't wait to try it with 2 strips and 10 GU10's)

Stoner

Caillte wrote:

NEver knew about lightwave either. A total new world of interconnections. The TRVs caught my eye mind you. Very expensive and yet another bridge to connect to the router.

They are the least expensive TVRs I've seen. I got 3 for 95 pounds. I have them on the three biggest rads in the house. You'd need good quality rechargeable batteries though and they run a noisy recalibration once a day.

It is another bridge. Well it is and it isn't a bridge. It just connects to the internet. You use the Mac address to link it to the app. This is just a case of plugin in the cat 5 cable. This takes 2 minutes and you do it once.

Everything is taken care of and resolved outside your house as far as we'd be concerned. You'd see the hub on your nw map but that's it.

If your internet connection goes down the system stops , you have a local connection to the hub but you don't have a local network for the devices that you can access. Thats all on the web interface.

The TVRs are the most finicky part of the set up. They took mine back and reset the firmware for them. I had to get one if the valves on the rad changed it only worked for me when I could connect the tvr straight to the steel thread

Note the energy monitor was 20 , the boiler switch was 60 the remote stat/ timer was 60 the hub was 65

Three sockets adaptors was 25 pounds and a twin chrome sck with each sck controlled was 25 pounds.

A pir for the lights was 25 pounds

A single channel relay was 20 and 40 for the three channel although costs have risen since.

They have 3 output relays etc that you can hook up to control three different outputs on one device. So three security lights etc. so you buy by any security light you want and power it thought a port on the relay.

There is a mag switch for about 15 pounds that will turn off a tvr if open, so if you have rad by a back door or window it will close the rad if it's open.

Ideally all that would be linked to your intruder alarm.

I had a nice X10 link up on a Siemens alarm before but it became limited


I'm considering getting a nest now as lightwaverf directly links to it.
The Philips hue will all work with it too through IFTTT, I just don't want to I down that pi solution again with something bridging everything in the house you are always at them.

These units have a very quick and easy internet set up that you don't have to keep returning to.

I've never had to pair anything bar a tvr more than once

Stoner

We've tried twice to get a forum for these systems set up here but the appetite for it was not big enough
I think it might be worth another go

What do you think 2011.

It has at last started to the off.

paulbok

Stoner wrote: »

We've tried twice to get a forum for these systems set up here but the appetite for it was not big enough
I think it might be worth another go

What do you think 2011.

It has at last started to the off.

I think so. There is a busy Amazon Echo thread in gadgets that would tie in with this thread, esp with Hue systems.
Couple of Nest threads over the last year as well.

It'd be nice to have a forum for all home automation systems, plenty of setup advice so far here and being able to see what goes well together before embarking on expensive outlays would be invaluable.

matrim

Just started to set up last night. It's a bit annoying that the bridge requires a LAN connection as I had hoped to place it out of the way on a shelf on the landing for maximum coverage instead of beside the UPC box.

Can you run multiple dimmer switches in the same room? e.g. to have two for the hallway, one upstairs and one downstairs?