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

AndyBoBandy

Stoner wrote: »

It's a terrible pity Philips don't add a universal inline switch

What’s the in-line switch? Like a traditional wired on/off switch?

Stoner

AndyBoBandy wrote:

What’s the in-line switch? Like a traditional wired on/off switch?

Yes like something to wire to a light of your choice

flogen

Any reason why these two starter kits are so cheap? I'm presuming they're from a previous generation - if that's the case is there much of a difference compared to the latest version?

Also, basic question but can the colour bulbs also produce white light?

OU812

The colour can produce white light.

The first kit is a first or second generation, colours aren't as vivid, but yellows & greens are much stronger than the third generation.

Second kit is a third generation (square hub).

Both are really good prices.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if6HCOXimmM

flogen

OU812 wrote: »

The colour can produce white light.

The first kit is a first or second generation, colours aren't as vivid, but yellows & greens are much stronger than the third generation.

Second kit is a third generation (square hub).

Both are really good prices.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if6HCOXimmM

Great, thanks for that.

Final stupid question - are those particular bulbs best suited to a particular purpose (ie lamps instead of ceiling lights) or are they good multi-purpose ones?

OU812

I have them in both, some get more use than others. If I had my way I'd change everything over to them

flogen

Great, thanks. Was just thinking the bulb shape was a bit odd and might only work best in certain settings (I know there are some Hue bulbs that look more like regular floor lamp / ceiling light bulbs too)

Stoner

OU812 wrote:

The first kit is a first or second generation, colours aren't as vivid, but yellows & greens are much stronger than the third generation.

Isn't there no home kit support in the first gen hubs. So Android only

AndyBoBandy

flogen wrote: »

Any reason why these two starter kits are so cheap? I'm presuming they're from a previous generation - if that's the case is there much of a difference compared to the latest version?

Also, basic question but can the colour bulbs also produce white light?

That colour starter set is unbelievable value at €42

Forget about the 1st gen bridge you get (which is still more than capable of doing all things Hue (with the exception of Apple Home Kit/Siri))
Your getting 3 colour HUE bulbs for €42 (the white only hue bulbs are £14.99 each)

I started out with this kit 4 years ago and the bulbs are still in daily use. They do all colours quite well (except green is not great) and they do all the White Ambiance (warm/cold whites) colours (there are 4 main white ambiance recipes Read/Relax/Energise/Concentrate)

I’ve about 6 of these bulbs, and about 5 of the newer ‘richer colour’ ones, and there’s very little difference between the 2 (green is better on the newer bulbs, but yellow is better on the older bulbs), I don’t even know what rooms they are in at this stage!

Older bulbs will also work with Home Kit & Siri, you’d just need to get a Gen 2 bridge, and they are quite cheap in the starter packs as well. If you want to buy colour bulbs (B22/E27/GU10) in multiples of 3, it’s cheaper to buy them in a starter kit (and you effectively get a free Gen 2 bridge for each 3 bulbs you buy), there might have even been a few folk on here with spare ones in the past.

I’ve only about 3/4 non colour hue bulbs left in the house now, and would seriously consider that deal to get the last few colour bulbs in!

AndyBoBandy

flogen wrote: »

are those particular bulbs best suited to a particular purpose (ie lamps instead of ceiling lights) or are they good multi-purpose ones?

All my B22/E27 hue bulbs are in lamps and pendant lights, so really they can go anywhere a regular bulb can go! That’s the beauty of them, they are like for like bulb replacements.

flogen

Stoner wrote: »

Isn't there no home kit support in the first gen hubs. So Android only

Ah, that'd be an issue for me. Might err on the side of caution and get the 3rd gen ones.

AndyBoBandy

flogen wrote: »

Ah, that'd be an issue for me. Might err on the side of caution and get the 3rd gen ones.

It’s only the hub though, older gen bulbs will still work with HomeKit, you’d just need to upgrade the bridge.

flogen

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

That colour starter set is unbelievable value at €42

Forget about the 1st gen bridge you get (which is still more than capable of doing all things Hue (with the exception of Apple Home Kit/Siri))
Your getting 3 colour HUE bulbs for €42 (the white only hue bulbs are £14.99 each)

I started out with this kit 4 years ago and the bulbs are still in daily use. They do all colours quite well (except green is not great) and they do all the White Ambiance (warm/cold whites) colours (there are 4 main white ambiance recipes Read/Relax/Energise/Concentrate)

I’ve about 6 of these bulbs, and about 5 of the newer ‘richer colour’ ones, and there’s very little difference between the 2 (green is better on the newer bulbs, but yellow is better on the older bulbs), I don’t even know what rooms they are in at this stage!

Older bulbs will also work with Home Kit & Siri, you’d just need to get a Gen 2 bridge, and they are quite cheap in the starter packs as well. If you want to buy colour bulbs (B22/E27/GU10) in multiples of 3, it’s cheaper to buy them in a starter kit (and you effectively get a free Gen 2 bridge for each 3 bulbs you buy), there might have even been a few folk on here with spare ones in the past.

I’ve only about 3/4 non colour hue bulbs left in the house now, and would seriously consider that deal to get the last few colour bulbs in!

So you're saying I should buy both kits?

AndyBoBandy

flogen wrote: »

So you're saying I should buy both kits?

Absolutely get the colour kit for €42. If you ever want to add more bulbs to your system (you will, trust me.) these will be the cheapest you’ll get anywhere! (Cheaper then the white only & white ambiance bulbs), so even if you don’t use them for their colour feature, and just want warm/cold white bulbs you’ll not see any Hue bulbs cheaper.

Edit: I’m desperately thinking of reasons why I shouldn’t go and visit a Maplin this morning!!
(I just need to wait for the postman who’s delivering 6 more Hue bulbs to me today!!)

flogen

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Absolutely get the colour kit for €42. If you ever want to add more bulbs to your system (you will, trust me.) these will be the cheapest you’ll get anywhere! (Cheaper then the white only & white ambiance bulbs), so even if you don’t use them for their colour feature, and just want warm/cold white bulbs you’ll not see any Hue bulbs cheaper.

Edit: I’m desperately thinking of reasons why I shouldn’t go and visit a Maplin this morning!!
(I just need to wait for the postman who’s delivering 6 more Hue bulbs to me today!!)

Thanks for that. The only thing that's stopping me is the fact that I have a lot of B22 light fittings in the house so not sure if I'd even have somewhere to put that many E27s; though I could always just switch out the fittings!

Shlippery

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Absolutely get the colour kit for €42. If you ever want to add more bulbs to your system (you will, trust me.) these will be the cheapest you’ll get anywhere! (Cheaper then the white only & white ambiance bulbs), so even if you don’t use them for their colour feature, and just want warm/cold white bulbs you’ll not see any Hue bulbs cheaper.

Edit: I’m desperately thinking of reasons why I shouldn’t go and visit a Maplin this morning!!
(I just need to wait for the postman who’s delivering 6 more Hue bulbs to me today!!)

I have absolutely no idea where you fit all the bulbs you have :eek:

AndyBoBandy

Shlippery wrote: »

I have absolutely no idea where you fit all the bulbs you have :eek:

4 bedroom house (5 as attic is converted) & I just about manage!!

Kitchen: 10 colour GU10's - 2 Light Strips (1 with 3x 1m extensions) - sensor & remote
Hallway: 2 colour E27's
Sitting Room: 3 Colour B22's (2 in lamps, 1 in centre light) - Bloom (behind TV) - remote
Landing: 4 GU10 white ambiance - remote
Kids room: 1 colour E27 (centre light)
Herself's office: 1 colour E27 (centre light)
my office: 1 colour B22 (centre light) - sensor
master bedroom: 2 colour E27's (bedside lamps) - 1 White Ambiance B22 (centre light) - 1 Bloom behind TV - 2 remotes
Bathroom: 1 White only E27 (ceiling light)
Ensuite: 1 White only E27 (ceiling light)
Attic (guest room): 3 White only, 3 in lamps (also adding 6 GU10 White Ambiance today when the postman arrives) - remote
Back Garden/side laneway: 1 E27 Lux (original white only)
Porch/Front Door lamp: 1 White only B22

spare stock includes a light strip + with 4x 1m extensions, a white only E27, a White Ambiance B22, 2 E14 colour bulbs (arriving today) & a sensor. Theres also 2 Blooms on the way from Amazon sometime in November.

My old gen 1 bridge went down to my mothers house, and I've given her about 5/6 white only/Lux bulbs to date, so perhaps a few more will find their way down.

The only places I have left without Hue bulbs are the 12v lights in my kitchen units (as well as the cooker hood), about 8 in total, but I don't think i'd be able to get GU10 fittings in there unless I did some big alteration work, so perhaps in the future if we get a new kitchen, but thats a long way off as the previous owners of the house only put a new (high quality) kitchen in about a year before they sold it to us, just over 3 years ago, and we love it, so for now it'll have to do with the 10 GU10's and 2 light strips :D:D

AndyBoBandy

flogen wrote: »

The only thing that's stopping me is the fact that I have a lot of B22 light fittings in the house so not sure if I'd even have somewhere to put that many E27s; though I could always just switch out the fittings!

or just buy adaptors from B22 - E27 for about €1.0 on eBay.



I had to use them at the beginning when Hue was E27 only, but have since purchased (or was gifted) lots of lamps that were E27, so now I have a pretty even split.

I've noticed E27 type fittings are a lot more common these days in lamps & fittings.

punisher5112

Just looked can't seem to get kit at €42

AndyBoBandy

punisher5112 wrote: »

Just looked can't seem to get kit at €42

yeah, had a look myself and it's not there

best deal is a starter kit with gen 2 bridge for €82, but it's not in stock!!

AndyBoBandy

I installed the 6 Hue GU10’s in the attic yesterday, so that’s the entire house done. Every single bulb I could change, has been changed to HUE.

I’m done.

The GU10’s in the attic wouldn’t connect to the bridge (as I knew they most likely wouldn’t), so luckily I have an E27 to GU10 adaptor, And was able to pair them all in a lamp down beside the bridge. Once they were all installed, they were a little bit hit and miss at first connection wise, but after a while they all started working bang on, on the button with the remote and the app. Another good showing for the ‘all the bulbs talk to each other as well as the bridge’ connection of Hue.

I also fired up one of the E14 colour ‘candle’ bulbs, and I have to say it’s a lot brighter than I expected it to be!! Very impressive.

I might have to get a multi bulb centre light!! 5 of those E14’s would go well, really well! Bring the disco from the kitchen to the front room!


She’ll be delighted. Delighted.

Tommyboy40

I thought I had a lot until I read Andy's post!
Every room has at least 1, most rooms have 2. My home office has Lightstrip integrated into the table and also into overhead shelving. I still use the list gen app as I found the new one a bit simple and seemed to be unable to switch on all the lights simultaneously. the nest integration seems to be a bit patchy, sometimes responding to Protect alerts and sometimes not. I love the voice control and the ability to have the house bright for cleaning but soft for normal use.

AndyBoBandy

Are you all all set for Huelloween next week?

I'll have the usual set up of the Huelloween app running on 2/3 lights downstairs (2 in front room, 1 in hallway) feeding audio to the bluetooth speaker out the window of the room just above the hall door door, that room will have 2 colour lights pulsing through one of the free halloween routines on the OnSwitch app.
Main bedroom I have some of those ghost screens up that look good with light behind them, so I made use of my spare light strip there, and if needs be, I have 4 more extensions I can add if needed. there are also 4 more bulbs in the room that'll be doing various other bits of flashin and changing
front porch light will be pulsing like a heartbeat from the OnSwitch app as well.

irelandrover

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Are you all all set for Huelloween next week?

I'll have the usual set up of the Huelloween app running on 2/3 lights downstairs (2 in front room, 1 in hallway) feeding audio to the bluetooth speaker out the window of the room just above the hall door door, that room will have 2 colour lights pulsing through one of the free halloween routines on the OnSwitch app.
Main bedroom I have some of those ghost screens up that look good with light behind them, so I made use of my spare light strip there, and if needs be, I have 4 more extensions I can add if needed. there are also 4 more bulbs in the room that'll be doing various other bits of flashin and changing
front porch light will be pulsing like a heartbeat from the OnSwitch app as well.

Im going to put a Hue Go out in the front garden in a plastic bag so that its waterproof. A lightstrip on the front window and then one of the front upstairs bedrooms connected as well. Spooky music can be playing from the SOnos in an upstairs room.

Im more excited about Halloween this year than i have been in a long long time. And its all because of teh Hue.

AndyBoBandy

irelandrover wrote: »

Im more excited about Halloween this year than i have been in a long long time. And its all because of teh Hue.

Yeah, same here, and I try to better it every year, and the kids in the area love it.

I've had a few little ones run away in absolute terror in past years!!


I must try to do a little video as well.

irelandrover

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Yeah, same here, and I try to better it every year, and the kids in the area love it.

I've had a few little ones run away in absolute terror in past years!!


I must try to do a little video as well.

Yeah, some of the little kids wouldn't come to our house last year. There are scarier looking houses in the area in my opinion but the music and lights together seems to really scare the little ones.

AndyBoBandy

irelandrover wrote: »

Yeah, some of the little kids wouldn't come to our house last year. There are scarier looking houses in the area in my opinion but the music and lights together seems to really scare the little ones.

theres an excellent (free) halloween sample in OnSwitch, a wolf attacking/being shot, check it out

flogen

Took the plunge and picked up a starter kit today (sadly not the Maplins ones as they were sold out - so just the standard one with two white bulbs).

Happy to have it up and running but have a bad feeling I'm now going to spend the next few months convincing myself that I need to replace each and every bulb in the house...

AndyBoBandy

flogen wrote: »

Took the plunge and picked up a starter kit today (sadly not the Maplins ones as they were sold out - so just the standard one with two white bulbs).

Happy to have it up and running but have a bad feeling I'm now going to spend the next few months convincing myself that I need to replace each and every bulb in the house...

I say

flogen

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

flogen wrote: »

Took the plunge and picked up a starter kit today (sadly not the Maplins ones as they were sold out - so just the standard one with two white bulbs).

Happy to have it up and running but have a bad feeling I'm now going to spend the next few months convincing myself that I need to replace each and every bulb in the house...

I say

Ha!

Well, maybe one or two more to take the edge off...