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

irelandrover

My advice is just buy the colour bulbs. You'll end up buying them in the end anyway.

AndyBoBandy

irelandrover wrote: »

My advice is just buy the colour bulbs. You'll end up buying them in the end anyway.

true that. I've eventually replaced about 80% of my non colour bulbs with colour ones.

Of my 42 or so active bulbs, about 11 are white ambiance and 5 are white only, and 2 of those are outside.

Keep an eye out for deals on amazon, Black Friday etc. thats the time to pounce

TitianGerm

irelandrover wrote: »

My advice is just buy the colour bulbs. You'll end up buying them in the end anyway.

I've more colour bulbs than others but I think I'll be sticking to the white ambience bulbs from now on because I'm finding I very rarely use the colour options.

Oafley Jones

Replaced two rubbish wemo bulbs with 6 various hues yesterday. Really impressed, the only thing is that it doesn't want to play with Home(kit) at all. Worked with siri once after the initial setup and then pooped the bed. Half thinking I'll get a few echoes anyway.

AndyBoBandy

Oafley Jones wrote: »

Replaced two rubbish wemo bulbs with 6 various hues yesterday. Really impressed, the only thing is that it doesn't want to play with Home(kit) at all. Worked with siri once after the initial setup and then pooped the bed. Half thinking I'll get a few echo anyway.

I don't use it with HomeKit, but use Siri a fair bit, and it works fine.
every time you edit any rooms/lights, you need to re sync the change you've just made with home kit, I only realised this recently and it helps a lot with sync issues with Siri

also, if the app ever starts acting up, just delete it and re download it from the app store, all your scenes/settings/routines will be safe as they are stored on the hue bridge.

Shlippery

Got that bargain bloom today - and pulled the trigger on the iConnect app as it came highly recommended - very impressed with the app. Really well put together and slick.

With regards to the bloom, I'm staring at it in the box on the desk at work. Only bought it on impulse at the price alert of £28 back in August. Any recommendations on placement?

I'm thinking behind the TV, but would it have to be at an angle (to the left / right of tv?) to cover most of the wall?

AndyBoBandy

I have the bloom in the master bedroom suspended from the TV bracket (via an intricate web of cable ties), pointing upwards to the ceiling.

Bloom photo's

The 2nd one is in the front room sitting on the TV stand, pointing away and upwards to the wall.

I don't really have anywhere for the 2 on the way from Amazon, but I'll most likely keep them as portable units for special occasions like Halloween, Christmas and the odd summer day the weather permits a late evening BBQ

BoardsMember

Anyone have an issue with the Hue Go whereby it doesn't run except when on the mains? I don't have mine a long time, and as far as I know it is used on the mains all the time, unless it was not plugged in properly for a while, but when I unplug it, it does not work.

Optimus Prime

maybe its not holding a charge? did you try rebooting the hub first, that's where I always start if there are issues.

BoardsMember

Optimus Prime wrote: »

maybe its not holding a charge? did you try rebooting the hub first, that's where I always start if there are issues.

I'll try that, but doubt its a hub issue in that it physically wont switch on, whereas it would if the hub was down.

flogen

Oafley Jones wrote: »

Replaced two rubbish wemo bulbs with 6 various hues yesterday. Really impressed, the only thing is that it doesn't want to play with Home(kit) at all. Worked with siri once after the initial setup and then pooped the bed. Half thinking I'll get a few echoes anyway.

When I set mine up I went straight through the Home app - then when I did set them up on the Hue app they became non-responsive through Home/Siri.

In the end I reset HomeKit/Siri through the Hue app and then re-added them through Home. So far that seems to have done the trick. Maybe your problem is something similar?

TitianGerm

And my Blooms arrived... Nice build quality but they don't have scenes

AndyBoBandy

emmetkenny wrote: »

And my Blooms arrived... Nice build quality but they don't have scenes

They don't do the Ambiance scenes (Relax, Read, Concentrate & Energise), but when in a room with colour/ambiance bulbs, they will do a half decent job of imitating the ambiance scene you select for that room.

TitianGerm

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

They don't do the Ambiance scenes (Relax, Read, Concentrate & Energise), but when in a room with colour/ambiance bulbs, they will do a half decent job of imitating the ambiance scene you select for that room.

Yea I've managed to get the relaxed scene set (or very close to it) on the Bloom.

AndyBoBandy

emmetkenny wrote: »

Yea I've managed to get the relaxed scene set (or very close to it) on the Bloom.

I have a bloom behind the TV in the master bedroom as well as one behind the living room TV.

I've 2 arriving tomorrow or Friday, and haven't a clue where to put them, so perhaps they'll just stay as floaters, available to go anywhere they are needed!

alancostello

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

I have a bloom behind the TV in the master bedroom as well as one behind the living room TV.

I've 2 arriving tomorrow or Friday, and haven't a clue where to put them, so perhaps they'll just stay as floaters, available to go anywhere they are needed!

How many Hue devices do you have now Andy? You just be hitting the limit for the number of devices per hub?

TitianGerm

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

I have a bloom behind the TV in the master bedroom as well as one behind the living room TV.

I've 2 arriving tomorrow or Friday, and haven't a clue where to put them, so perhaps they'll just stay as floaters, available to go anywhere they are needed!

I've one on top of the bookcase in the Sitting Room and one behind the bedroom TV.

Now to wait on Black Friday :pac:

AndyBoBandy

alancostello wrote: »

How many Hue devices do you have now Andy? You just be hitting the limit for the number of devices per hub?

45 active bulbs, 47 when the Blooms arrive.
6 remotes
2 sensors

Unofficial max number of bulbs is apparently 64, officially they say 50 just to cover themselves,

alancostello

emmetkenny wrote: »

I've one on top of the bookcase in the Sitting Room and one behind the bedroom TV.

Now to wait on Black Friday :pac:

Is there anything you need? Didn’t you say every socket already had a bulb and you have spare metres of light strips? 😜

TitianGerm

alancostello wrote: »

Is there anything you need? Didn’t you say every socket already had a bulb and you have spare metres of light strips? 😜

Nope not me. I'm only 1/3 if the way through my set up :pac:

alancostello

emmetkenny wrote: »

Nope not me. I'm only 1/3 if the way through my set up :pac:

Ha! Sorry, hit reply on the wrong message, that was meant for Andy!

alancostello

Actually, has anyone on here tried out the LIFX bulbs? They’re compatible with HomeKit now and they have a new LIFX mini that looks quite nice.

AndyBoBandy

alancostello wrote: »

Is there anything you need? Didn’t you say every socket already had a bulb and you have spare metres of light strips? 😜

I’m done, the only new Hue lights I can add anywhere are strips, blooms and Iris etc... stand alone lights.

I fear for Black friday though as I’ll probably get a load more stuff I have nowhere to put!!

Mr.Crinklewood

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

I’m done, the only new Hue lights I can add anywhere are strips, blooms and Iris etc... stand alone lights.

I fear for Black friday though as I’ll probably get a load more stuff I have nowhere to put!!

Where the sun doesn't shine?

:-)

AndyBoBandy

My original gen 1 bridge is down in my mothers house, and she has about 4/5 of my old white only bulbs, so perhaps any more excess stock can go down there and get added to her system.

She always had me messing around with old analogue timers for certain lights, so by putting hue in there made my life a lot easier!!

Optimus Prime

alancostello wrote: »

Actually, has anyone on here tried out the LIFX bulbs? They’re compatible with HomeKit now and they have a new LIFX mini that looks quite nice.

I have two lifx bulbs i got on a great deal from amazon a while back. they where so cheap i ended up just putting them outside the house, in the light over the side door and over the front door. They where very hit and miss with regards connecting to them when they where just in the LIFx app. But the recent IOS update allowed them to be added to the home app and they are 100% now, i can connect everytime.

I got my 3 blooms last week, i put one behind the tv and 2 behind some cabs and pins i have. they work great, had to use some cable ties but you cant see them anyways.

AndyBoBandy

Optimus Prime wrote: »

I got my 3 blooms last week, i put one behind the tv and 2 behind some cabs and pins i have.

Wow wow wow!!!


You have a fcuking arcade??? In your house??

Optimus Prime

haha well in my kitchen, bought a few of them over the years and fixed them up, built the black\blue one myself from scratch, its running Mame so all arcade games are on it. only bought the pins in the last few years, before that I had a Mortal Kombat 2, Tetris and Time Crisis but sold them on. My Mortal Kombat 2 and Tetris cabs are in Token Barcade in town now! Ive elgato eve plugs on all the cabs and pins too so I can turn them on from Apple Home. Works great because ive themes setup like "Arcade" and when I click that they all come on and the kitchen lights go down to 1% and the Blooms and Strips over the kitchen units come on to various colours.

bk

Optimus Prime wrote: »

My Mortal Kombat 2 and Tetris cabs are in Token Barcade in town now!

Haha, I was only thinking that you had Token right there in your kitchen!

AndyBoBandy

Picked up some really nice Christmas decoration shades in Ikea yesterday, €5 for the shade & €5 for the 4m of chord with an E14 fitting on it.

Looks really nice with the various colours in the bulbs.

Perfect for my 2 colour E14’s to hang in the upstairs front windows, and more than enough chord length to reach the nearest socket.