Philips Hue FAQ

OldBean

The recent update seems to have messed things up for a lot of people. Hoping for a fast fix, my house is back to randomly turning all lights on and off again.

AndyBoBandy

OldBean wrote: »

The recent update seems to have messed things up for a lot of people. Hoping for a fast fix, my house is back to randomly turning all lights on and off again.

I don't have any issues since updating the app!! and my entire house is Hue, with about 50% of it on regular routines!

bk

Same here, no issues.

Except for all the lights flashing on and off different colours last night due to the spooky ghost

Doing "Hey Google, make it spooky" last night was amazing, all the kids in the area loved it. Creepy noise playing through all the speakers and Hue lights changing colours constantly to the music.

I don't often use the colour settings of my bulbs, but the odd time I do it like this for Halloween, parties, etc. makes it completely worth it.

Now I'll have to reconsider what lights I'll get in the hall, instead of cheap Ikea white only to full Hue colours, sigh!

OldBean

Google's Let's Get Spooky was great!

I love being able to set warmer colours in the evening or pure whites if I'm working. I've a nice soft orange for the Hue Go's in the living room that's perfect for winter evenings.

Weird about the lights - Mine have been funny since Monday. Might have to do some poking around.

bk

Don't get me wrong, I've a bunch of Hue "lamps" bedside and behind the TV, that I use colours on every night. But in terms of the main ceiling lights, I rarely use the colour features, though I do use white ambiance quiet a bit on them. I could get away without these being the coloured lights, but it is cool for parties like this.

punisher5112

Hi all, was looking to use a sky WiFi adapter for HD box to link the hub instead as have a newer HD box with WiFi internationally.

What's best way about linking up?

Also I've moved house and the app is looking to update but as the broadband is different it won't allow me change it as it wants update done 1st and all options on app are locked till that is done.

Not looking forward to black Friday as don't want to spend a fortune on the stuff....

The Black Oil

This is what I have for the front lamp routine that's been acting up.

Front lamp eve slot.
Starts at 4:45pm.
Mon-Weds.
Fade - instant.
Random times - disabled
1 room, living room, dimmed
Off at 9:55

Didn't work on Tues. Had a look at it that night, thought it would work on Weds and tonight. Nope.

flogen

Is there a way to 'group' bulbs onto one switch/button?

My sitting room ceiling light has multiple bulbs and was wondering how I would operate it with Hue lights - would rather not have to turn the bulbs on/off one at a time but instead be able to hit one button like I do with the Hue bulb that's in my lamp etc.

(At the same time it would be nice to be able to operate them independently if I wanted... though if I had to pick one or the other I'd go with having them linked)

bk

flogen wrote: »

Is there a way to 'group' bulbs onto one switch/button?

My sitting room ceiling light has multiple bulbs and was wondering how I would operate it with Hue lights - would rather not have to turn the bulbs on/off one at a time but instead be able to hit one button like I do with the Hue bulb that's in my lamp etc.

(At the same time it would be nice to be able to operate them independently if I wanted... though if I had to pick one or the other I'd go with having them linked)

Yes, easily done (assuming you have a hub) you can group them into a group or room.

For instance I've four GU10's in the living room, all controlled by a single Hue dimmer switch. On/off/dimming controls all four.

I can also control them as a group with GHome, Alexa and the Hue apps. "Hey Google, turn on living room lights"

I also can control them individually by the app/ghome/alexa. "Hey google, turn on living room light 1"

And I can also create sub-groups. For instance, I've a group "living room front lights" with two of the lights and "living room back lights" with the other two.

AndyBoBandy

flogen wrote: »

Is there a way to 'group' bulbs onto one switch/button?

My sitting room ceiling light has multiple bulbs and was wondering how I would operate it with Hue lights - would rather not have to turn the bulbs on/off one at a time but instead be able to hit one button like I do with the Hue bulb that's in my lamp etc.

(At the same time it would be nice to be able to operate them independently if I wanted... though if I had to pick one or the other I'd go with having them linked)

In the Hue app you can group lights into a room,

So your ceiling light would be 1 ‘room’ with as many or few bulbs as you wanted, you could then have another ‘room’ with all the other living room lights in it.

flogen

bk wrote: »

Yes, easily done (assuming you have a hub) you can group them into a group or room.

For instance I've four GU10's in the living room, all controlled by a single Hue dimmer switch. On/off/dimming controls all four.

I can also control them as a group with GHome, Alexa and the Hue apps. "Hey Google, turn on living room lights"

I also can control them individually by the app/ghome/alexa. "Hey google, turn on living room light 1"

And I can also create sub-groups. For instance, I've a group "living room front lights" with two of the lights and "living room back lights" with the other two.

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

In the Hue app you can group lights into a room,

So your ceiling light would be 1 ‘room’ with as many or few bulbs as you wanted, you could then have another ‘room’ with all the other living room lights in it.

Do groups and rooms operate independently - or are you essentially setting up rooms as a way of grouping bulbs together?

For example in my living room I currently have a floor lamp with a Hue bulb, but plan on adding bulbs to the ceiling light soon... in theory they should all be in the same room, but if I want to group the ceiling bulbs onto one button in the app (but keep the floor lamp separate) would I need to add them to a second living room? Or can I create a group within a room?

bk

Groups and rooms are basically different concepts in different apps.

The new Hue app uses rooms, as does GHome and I think Siri/HomeKit. The iConnectHue app and Alexa use the concept of Groups.

punisher5112

punisher5112 wrote: »

Hi all, was looking to use a sky WiFi adapter for HD box to link the hub instead as have a newer HD box with WiFi internationally.

What's best way about linking up?

Also I've moved house and the app is looking to update but as the broadband is different it won't allow me change it as it wants update done 1st and all options on app are locked till that is done.

Not looking forward to black Friday as don't want to spend a fortune on the stuff....

Anyone????

flogen

bk wrote: »

Groups and rooms are basically different concepts in different apps.

The new Hue app uses rooms, as does GHome and I think Siri/HomeKit. The iConnectHue app and Alexa use the concept of Groups.

Ah thanks - using HomeKit mainly so I guess creating extra rooms is my only option.

Seems like a bit of an oversight that you can't create sub-groups within a room... I suppose I could create a 'scene' in HomeKit but far from ideal (that wouldn't allow me to dim them all in one go, for example)

AndyBoBandy

flogen wrote: »

Ah thanks - using HomeKit mainly so I guess creating extra rooms is my only option.

Seems like a bit of an oversight that you can't create sub-groups within a room... I suppose I could create a 'scene' in HomeKit but far from ideal (that wouldn't allow me to dim them all in one go, for example)

You can use the new Hue app for the room set up, which is slightly limited (I have centre lights in rooms that also have lamps, and I’d rarely use the centre lights in these rooms).
I have to set up 2 ‘rooms’ for my living room, 1 for living room (2 lamps and a bloom), and another, living room centre for the centre light.

However with the older Hue app, you can group lights together any way you like, and it provides a lot more freedom to set up groups the way you want.

Optimus Prime

flogen wrote: »

Do groups and rooms operate independently - or are you essentially setting up rooms as a way of grouping bulbs together?

For example in my living room I currently have a floor lamp with a Hue bulb, but plan on adding bulbs to the ceiling light soon... in theory they should all be in the same room, but if I want to group the ceiling bulbs onto one button in the app (but keep the floor lamp separate) would I need to add them to a second living room? Or can I create a group within a room?

Hi! In home you can group bulbs etc together into one button, if I’m reading this right. Eg I have 3 hue bulbs in one fixture. In HomeKit they just come up as one now. Once they are added to home as three individual bulbs long press one and select group with other accessories. You can then group with the other two bulbs and call them sitting room light or whatever. They will be one button in home to turn the 3 bulbs on. A long hold on this button will still let you control the individual bulbs though. And your other hue lights in the same room like iris/ bloom etc will remain seperate.

bk

I agree that the room concept is a lot more limited then the groups concept. I suspect the thinknig is that rooms is an easier concept to understand for non techie folk.

Personally I think the ideal would be to allow both rooms and groups, with groups being more a poor user feature. It is clear that these sort of things are still being figured out.

AndyBoBandy

bk wrote: »

I agree that the room concept is a lot more limited then the groups concept. I suspect the thinknig is that rooms is an easier concept to understand for non techie folk.

Personally I think the ideal would be to allow both rooms and groups, with groups being more a poor user feature. It is clear that these sort of things are still being figured out.

This.

It took me about 6 months + to eventually switch over to the new app as I was very against the room set up vs the group set up.

I’d like to see a function to allow sub rooms or rooms within rooms that can easily be excluded from routines & timers, or better still, as you suggest, rooms as well as groups.

flogen

Optimus Prime wrote: »

Hi! In home you can group bulbs etc together into one button, if I’m reading this right. Eg I have 3 hue bulbs in one fixture. In HomeKit they just come up as one now. Once they are added to home as three individual bulbs long press one and select group with other accessories. You can then group with the other two bulbs and call them sitting room light or whatever. They will be one button in home to turn the 3 bulbs on. A long hold on this button will still let you control the individual bulbs though. And your other hue lights in the same room like iris/ bloom etc will remain seperate.

That's exactly what I was looking for - somehow managed to miss the option to group accessories when I was messing around in the app.

Thanks!

The Black Oil

Is there much of a difference between a Bloom and Go? Have one Go.

I was thinking of the app earlier and how it'd be nice to have some stats. I use Pocketcasts for podcasts and it's nice to see stats for fun.

mossie

Using Alexa to turn Hue lights off and on but it keeps telling me I have two lights with the same name even though I don't. Anyone have this and how did you solve it?

AndyBoBandy

mossie wrote: »

Using Alexa to turn Hue lights off and on but it keeps telling me I have two lights with the same name even though I don't. Anyone have this and how did you solve it?

Try renaming the bulbs?

Or do you have a room named the same as a bulb?

mossie

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Try renaming the bulbs?

Or do you have a room named the same as a bulb?

I did rename the bulbs but it still seemed to see them by the old name. I got around it by making a group of the "two" bulbs.

lawred2

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

This.

It took me about 6 months + to eventually switch over to the new app as I was very against the room set up vs the group set up.

I’d like to see a function to allow sub rooms or rooms within rooms that can easily be excluded from routines & timers, or better still, as you suggest, rooms as well as groups.

Use the Hue Pro app and do whatever you want. The Philips apps are crap.

donegal.

argos bulbs for £10

Uriel.

Folks I recently set up some hue lights for my parents. They wanted their hall light coming on at sunset so I set them up on IFTTT and used the same recipe I use for this purpose. However their light only comes on at half bright whereas mine comes on full whack.

I can't remember if there was something else needed? Both use the receipe by bsaren

Cheers

bk

Uriel. wrote: »

Folks I recently set up some hue lights for my parents. They wanted their hall light coming on at sunset so I set them up on IFTTT and used the same recipe I use for this purpose. However their light only comes on at half bright whereas mine comes on full whack.

I can't remember if there was something else needed? Both use the receipe by bsaren

Cheers

I'm not sure about IFTTT, but the Hue app has a sunset timer under the Hue Labs scetion. I use it and it works well.

Uriel.

bk wrote: »

I'm not sure about IFTTT, but the Hue app has a sunset timer under the Hue Labs scetion. I use it and it works well.

I have no idea how Ive missed that. Cheers.

illdoit2morrow

I've been using this app for the last few days.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.prodpeak.huehello&hl=en

Seems pretty good if you are at home and have colour bulbs. It doesn't do the out of home connection stuff mind you.

lawred2

illdoit2morrow wrote: »

I've been using this app for the last few days.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.prodpeak.huehello&hl=en

Seems pretty good if you are at home and have colour bulbs. It doesn't do the out of home connection stuff mind you.

what are the in-app purchases? How restricted is the free version?