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

Stoner

irelandrover wrote:

I'll also be honest and say it was also a way of getting the sensor into the house and getitng my wife used to it.

Good stuff and tbh the basic led Philips hue lamp is reasonably priced

The issue you had before with the energy saving lamp was that it was most likely a CFL . You could get a Philips basic LED lamp and it would sort out the warm up issue without hue.


I've a utility room with a sensor . I recently did some work on it and made it smaller I kept the sensor it's a gift as usually your hands are occupied with washing, great place for an on off sensor with a gu10 LED. No need for hue here though, it's on off control only.

AndyBoBandy

The remaining 6 GU10's arrive this afternoon, so I now have 10 in the kitchen!!

Optimus Prime

Do they fit into the ceiling fittings ok? ive heard they are bigger than normal GU10s and I need 6 for mine!

AndyBoBandy

They are a little taller than standard GU10 bulbs, however my fittings are a holder for the bulb, and the actual GU10 female is only on a wire, so the bigger bulbs have no issues going in.

The attached image is what I have on my landing (not a hue bulb) but it shows what I'm talking about, with the lamp holder and frame being separate

Optimus Prime

yes they are like the ones in my attic alright, but the ones in my kitchen are "cups" if you know what I mean, no wire like that.

AndyBoBandy

I know exactly what you mean,

I have 6 of those cup types in my attic,

My suggestion would be to buy one hue GU 10 bulb and try it.

It most likely won't fit, as per all the reviews on Amazon, so I'd also plan on buying the other spot fittings like in your attic.

It's a bit of a pain, but if you want hue lights in your kitchen, it might be the only option!!

Optimus Prime

grand, at least ive I buy 3 and they don't fit they will do me for the attic until I replace the fixtures in the kitchen.

OU812

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

The remaining 6 GU10's arrive this afternoon, so I now have 10 in the kitchen!!

Upload a photo when you have them in place

Graham

OU812 wrote: »

Upload a photo when you have them in place

When the new home automation forum starts there should definitely be a HuePorn thread.

AndyBoBandy

Graham wrote: »

When the new home automation forum starts there should definitely be a HuePorn thread.

In that case, I'll change my username to Ron Jeremy

AndyBoBandy

I've also 2 light strips in the kitchen, one over the units, and one behind the dresser on the wall opposite the units

OU812

Is all that light coming from the light strips of ae the spots Hue also? Difficult to tell from the photos

AndyBoBandy

OU812 wrote: »

Is all that light coming from the light strips of ae the spots Hue also? Difficult to tell from the photos

Everything is hue,

OU812

Folks, having some building work done and trying to decide between E27 or GU10. There's going to be 8 downlighters supplied as part of the spec and I'm wondering if it's worth swapping them for E27 downlighters instead, my reasoning being that the bulbs will be the same all over the house (by the time I'm finished)

Any thoughts?

Stoner

OU812 wrote:

Folks, having some building work done and trying to decide between E27 or GU10. There's going to be 8 downlighters supplied as part of the spec and I'm wondering if it's worth swapping them for E27 downlighters instead, my reasoning being that the bulbs will be the same all over the house (by the time I'm finished)

I think GU10 is a more useful holder.

It's an unusual choice? The E27 would usually be a centre light. And GU10 recessed spot.

Would you not use both

ted1

If I was building I'd avoid using GU10s altogether, there done fantastic looking led out there. My favourite at the moment are the ones that are recessed and look like a tennis ball cut in half with the LED hidden around the rim

OU812

Stoner wrote: »

I think GU10 is a more useful holder.

It's an unusual choice? The E27 would usually be a centre light. And GU10 recessed spot.

Would you not use both

The reason for not using both h is to keep the same bulb type. There's no price difference and I'm going to have to buy them one by one so the wife doesn't suspect.

The gu10 is a non standard length so I'm going to have to buy special holders anyway.

AndyBoBandy

my holders worked fine for the hue GU10's,

all my other lights, centre lights & lamps are a mixture of B22 & E27 for any hue bulbs that don't match the holder, I just use an adaptor, though I don't really need any adaptors anymore as I've tailored my hue lights to suit the lights/rooms they go into.

paulbok

There are a load of new Hue lights up on Amazon for a while now, for pre-order for Nov 15th.

On the link, "the customers who viewed this"..., there are ceiling lights, pendants, spot bars, single spots, table lamp, really ramping up the choices aside from just bulbs and lamps.

Don't need this temptation coming up to Christmas

AndyBoBandy

I don't think I could find anywhere else to put any more hue lights!!

The only lights I have left without hue are the bathroom lights, and the little spots under and in my kitchen units!

Any more additions will be most likely light strips in places with previously no lighting! But at the same time I don't want to overdo it, as it could just get ridiculous!!

Ive already started replacing some basic hue white bulbs with white ambiance bulbs!!

Stoner

AndyBoBandy wrote:

I don't think I could find anywhere else to put any more hue lights!!

TBH at this stage the neighbours must be calling you chevy chase!

AndyBoBandy

They loved my Huelloween set up, 2 upstairs bedrooms red, porch light flickering and Huelloween running on a light bulb in the hall and front room, with the music/sound effect coming from a red room upstairs!!

I saw a few little kids were afraid to even come up the driveway!!

Apart from all that though, I just use them all as normal lights, just all on timers in the mornings & evenings.

AndyBoBandy

Same pictures from last night except with the 10 spots only, and the light strips off.

Not much difference really

OU812

Just got home to my shipment which arrived two days early. Got the basic hub & 2 whites and an additional coloured bulb.

Took a couple of minutes to set up & initially the app didn't recognise the colour but I added it manually via the serial number & it's all good now. Fitted the colour one to the wife's bedside lamp to bug her tonight.

irelandrover

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Same pictures from last night except with the 10 spots only, and the light strips off.

Not much difference really

If you could stop trying to make teh rest of us jealous that would be great

ted1

Out if interest how much would the cost of a new build decrease if there was no need to wire fir or for light sockets ?

If a builder kitted out a house with hue would it add much to the price?

The hardware could be charged out at 13.5%

AndyBoBandy

You'd still need all your light fittings though, that's the idea of hue, you don't need any more or less, it simply goes into your existing set up,

The only aspect you could probably bypass would be the switches on the wall, but doing this could hamper you down the line, what if eventually you decided to go back to standard bulbs (new owner etc).

Advbrd

paulbok wrote: »

There are a load of new Hue lights up on Amazon for a while now, for pre-order for Nov 15th.

On the link, "the customers who viewed this"..., there are ceiling lights, pendants, spot bars, single spots, table lamp, really ramping up the choices aside from just bulbs and lamps.

Don't need this temptation coming up to Christmas

Bastdard$. Just when I had dismissed this as unsuitable for my house, they bring out a new tempting range.

paulbok

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

You'd still need all your light fittings though, that's the idea of hue, you don't need any more or less, it simply goes into your existing set up,

The only aspect you could probably bypass would be the switches on the wall, but doing this could hamper you down the line, what if eventually you decided to go back to standard bulbs (new owner etc).

Absolutely put in your switches, aside for the most important reason AndyBo outlined above, you also need a back up to control your lights if your Hue hub fails.
Or if new smart switches become available * (I believe there will be in the next year or so), that offer something, perhaps a cross between the Lightwaverf & Hue tap switches where you can control on/off, dimming and scenes on the wall.



* perhaps we can have a thread on the home automation forum for new tech and rumours?

Stoner

ted1 wrote:

If a builder kitted out a house with hue would it add much to the price?

As it stands the hue is aimed directly at the domestic market so it's not a commercial product. They have their resellers sorted out.

It would be crazy to leave out light switches and limit people to just one type of lamp, apart from anything else it's not competitive.

For new builds the wiring should change alright .
The switch wires should be looped to the fittings from the switches and permanent lives looped at the fittings offering people a range of home automation options. By giving them uninterrupted 220v at the fittings