Philips Hue FAQ

THE ALM

Just note that the Hue lightstrips are now 50% off

AndyBoBandy

THE ALM wrote: »

Just note that the Hue lightstrips are now 50% off

I've a spare light strip + and 4x 1m extensions sitting in a drawer here in my office, unused, yet am incredibly tempted by the £45 deal for the light strip + & 1m extension. that's a good deal.

scamalert

link seems to show light bar, deals only ? strips seem same price ? was it a short deal.

THE ALM

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

I've a spare light strip + and 4x 1m extensions sitting in a drawer here in my office, unused, yet am incredibly tempted by the £45 deal for the light strip + & 1m extension. that's a good deal.

same here, but I'm sure I could find somewhere for it....

THE ALM

ah feck it, they are gone

Sheep Shagger

THE ALM wrote: »

ah feck it, they are gone

The 2 bar plus extension for £99 are still there.

AndyBoBandy

THE ALM wrote: »

ah feck it, they are gone

light strip and extension is back now for £45

darragh o meara

I'm new to the Hue eco system having used the Kasa bulbs for the past few months.

Just a quick question, whats the best GU10 bulb to go with? I've had a look online and there are other Hue compatible bulbs listed, is there any other brands people would recommend or should I just stay with the Philips brand? Also the bulb will be outside in a well sheltered porch, do these bulbs cope with being outside?

Also looking for a Hub if anyone has a spare one they're willing to part with

68 lost souls

darragh o meara wrote: »

I'm new to the Hue eco system having used the Kasa bulbs for the past few months.

Just a quick question, whats the best GU10 bulb to go with? I've had a look online and there are other Hue compatible bulbs listed, is there any other brands people would recommend or should I just stay with the Philips brand? Also the bulb will be outside in a well sheltered porch, do these bulbs cope with being outside?

Also looking for a Hub if anyone has a spare one they're willing to part with

Had an Ikea GU10 die on me last week in a well sheltered outside location, less than a year old. Will be replacing with a Philips branded bulb.

Muahahaha

scamalert wrote: »

well it more applies to general setup if you have alexa hue has all the quirks worked out mostly to work perfectly with other IoT devices, and likes of philips have huge range and compatibility.


thou if your after led strip alone, lookup digital led strips the ones that can light up leds individually- youll find on likes of amazon 10m for around price of single philips one, as looking on amazon some seem even come with apps now and intefrated alexa functions as well, really down where you want to apply it, and what functions to have, as hue strip seems expensive option just for rgb and theres some alternatives that are way cheaper if its just for general mood lighting.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Govee-Brighter-Changing-Waterproof-Controlled/dp/B07QDL56TM/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=lifx%2Blight%2Bstrip&qid=1574620129&s=lighting&sr=1-1-spons&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFOVzFNNTdFUDhaVkgmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTEwMjI0OTExT0QxMEpSSU5HQ0M4JmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAzODM1MzUxTVVNSDlaSU9EWU5aJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ&th=1 smth like this 10m has individual app to control lights remote, granted would work with wifi plug for automation if needed, but in terms of price for 1-2m vs 10m its a bit no brainer to pick expensive option unless your looking to automate a lot more things and bundle them together.

Yeah I suppose what I am after is to go with Hue for the six regular bulbs in the room but then I also want a lot of strip lighting for 2 x 2.5m long open kitchen shelves and then about another 5m to be run along coving. And I'd like the strip lighing to be controllable via Alexa. The Philips strip lighting costs a fair whack when buying those quantities so trying to source something cheaper, Ive seen Amazon sell a brand called Tekkin which seems to get good reviews.

scamalert

Muahahaha wrote: »

Yeah I suppose what I am after is to go with Hue for the six regular bulbs in the room but then I also want a lot of strip lighting for 2 x 2.5m long open kitchen shelves and then about another 5m to be run along coving. And I'd like the strip lighing to be controllable via Alexa. The Philips strip lighting costs a fair whack when buying those quantities so trying to source something cheaper, Ive seen Amazon sell a brand called Tekkin which seems to get good reviews.

well if you can solder and figure out wiring then get kasa plugs and voila can control with alexa thou lights still would need to be controlled separately, but then again its all down to how much you want to invest into whole setup.

reddit has amazing photos posted daily and yeah its looks cool, but in reality unless one is partying etc, find that most times im just using regular white, as those neons wear off quick to look or have on constantly.

AndyBoBandy

Muahahaha wrote: »

The Philips strip lighting costs a fair whack when buying those quantities so trying to source something cheaper, Ive seen Amazon sell a brand called Tekkin which seems to get good reviews.

Although it is very expensive, don't forget you only need 1 light strip Plus (base unit) for each separate area you want to control, and then just add the 1m light strip extensions (£20 each) to get the desired length you need (up to a max of 10m). You can even buy cheap 3rd party cable extendors or splitters to put a break in the length of actual Lightstrip for going around non lit units etc...

The price yesterday of a light strip plus & a 1m extension (£45), effectively means you're getting the Lightstrip Plus for only £25 (minus the £20 for the extension).


I've bought 3 lightstrip plus's over the years, and the cheapest was abut £50 a couple of years ago on a black friday deal...

For what you describe above, you could get away with a light strip plus with 4x 1m extensions for over your kitchen units (using an extender as kinked above), and another light strip plus with 3x 1m extensions for the coving, or if the kitchen units and coving were adjacent to each other, you could do it all with 1 lightstrip plus and 9x 1m extensions.

scamalert

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Although it is very expensive, don't forget you only need 1 light strip Plus (base unit) for each separate area you want to control, and then just add the 1m light strip extensions (£20 each) to get the desired length you need (up to a max of 10m). You can even buy cheap 3rd party cable extendors or splitters to put a break in the length of actual Lightstrip for going around non lit units etc...

The price yesterday of a light strip plus & a 1m extension (£45), effectively means you're getting the Lightstrip Plus for only £25 (minus the £20 for the extension).


I've bought 3 lightstrip plus's over the years, and the cheapest was abut £50 a couple of years ago on a black friday deal...

For what you describe above, you could get away with a light strip plus with 4x 1m extensions for over your kitchen units (using an extender as kinked above), and another light strip plus with 3x 1m extensions for the coving, or if the kitchen units and coving were adjacent to each other, you could do it all with 1 lightstrip plus and 9x 1m extensions.

silly question but setup that way do strips light up individually like one blue- other orange and so on, or do all light up same color. as every bit seems available on most cheapest strips extensions etc- minus actual integration, but as said stuff like kasa plug basically cares of that, ive hue lights almost in every room and more so no beef just generally interested, as use kasa plug with my pc lamp even thou hue go is beside it but find it i rarely ever use it,since brigthness angle etc seems more designed for decor on the hue go, and actual table lamp is way easier on eyes.and gives better spread.

AndyBoBandy

scamalert wrote: »

silly question but setup that way do strips light up individually like one blue- other orange and so on, or do all light up same color. as every bit seems available on most cheapest strips extensions etc- minus actual integration, but as said stuff like kasa plug basically cares of that, ive hue lights almost in every room and more so no beef just generally interested, as use kasa plug with my pc lamp even thou hue go is beside it but find it i rarely ever use it,since brigthness angle etc seems more designed for decor on the hue go, and actual table lamp is way easier on eyes.and gives better spread.

the light strip plus (and however many extensions are connected to one will all be the same colour (think of it as 1 long colour bulb that can only be 1 colour at any given time). If you wanted lightstrips to be different colours to each other then you'd need more than 1 base unit (light strip plus).

alanhiggyno1

I have a light strip that I made ****e of by cutting it the wrong way last year. Is there anything that I can do with it to repair it. Its the first part that's only working as I cut the rest off by accident 😂

scamalert

alanhiggyno1 wrote: »

I have a light strip that I made ****e of by cutting it the wrong way last year. Is there anything that I can do with it to repair it. Its the first part that's only working as I cut the rest off by accident ��

really depends as seems copper - or whatever they called tracks seem tiny so soldering would be quite hard, on the other hand someone with one might be able to give better opinion.

Muahahaha

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Although it is very expensive, don't forget you only need 1 light strip Plus (base unit) for each separate area you want to control, and then just add the 1m light strip extensions (£20 each) to get the desired length you need (up to a max of 10m).

Yeah Im just trying to get my head around spending the guts of 300 euro on Hue light strips for the length I want, along with another approx 150 for the regular Hue bulbs. Im questioing my own sanity when theres other parts of the house that need more immediate attention .

I see a lot of hotels/pubs now using strip lighting across large distances and presume they are not using the Philips systems due to costs so was wondering about cheaper options. I also have to get specialised coving to make the strips hidden and to shine the light down on the walls so thats another fair cost too as there seems to be very limited (and therefore expensive) options out there.

I get that everyone raves on about the Hue system and realise it is the no.1 for a reason but probably just a bit beyond my budget right now to be dropping about 800 quid between the bulbs, strips and coving.

alanhiggyno1

anyone made their own hue strip using cheaper alternatives like these https://char.gd/blog/2018/building-better-cheaper-philips-hue-led-strips

illdoit2morrow

alanhiggyno1 wrote: »

anyone made their own hue strip using cheaper alternatives like these https://char.gd/blog/2018/building-better-cheaper-philips-hue-led-strips

I got this which works well, albeit not as neat as the Philips offering as it has the zigbee controller and a power supply.

Note that the power supply is not bundled with the item for sale in the link. I had to purchase this aswell.

alanhiggyno1

illdoit2morrow wrote: »

I got this which works well, albeit not as neat as the Philips offering as it has the zigbee controller and a power supply.

Note that the power supply is not bundled with the item for sale in the link. I had to purchase this aswell.

cheers mate by any chance have u a pic of which way the wires go into the zigbee

illdoit2morrow

alanhiggyno1 wrote: »

cheers mate by any chance have u a pic of which way the wires go into the zigbee

IMG_20191127_194906.jpg

I think it is correct, colours work with this setup.

alanhiggyno1

illdoit2morrow wrote: »

IMG_20191127_194906.jpg

I think it is correct, colours work with this setup.

cheers just what i needed thanks.also is it 24v power supply i need?

illdoit2morrow

alanhiggyno1 wrote: »

cheers just what i needed thanks.also is it 24v power supply i need?

Yes, you'll need the 24v. If you find the gledopto forum on reddit, there is a thread on there outlining which type you'll need. If you want to join a few strips together etc.

ike

I’ve setup a new Philips Smart Plug – connected via the Philips hub – no issues there. I wanted it to control a non smart lamp. I’ve added the plug to the Room ‘Sitting Room’, which has a custom routine to come on at Sunset and Go to Sleep routine to turn off later in the night. The smart plug works fine for the ON routine, but for the OFF routine.

The ON routine is fade in for 5 mins a half hour before sunset – works fine for the bulb and plug

The OFF routine for the Room is basically start fading out a 1am over 60mins - works for the bulb but not the plug.

I’ve been using the Philips Hue setup for almost a year now with little to no issues. This is the first time I’ve used their Smart Plug.

Any Ideas?

AndyBoBandy

I haven't used the Hue Smart plugs, but are you using 2 separate routines? or the same routine with a 'all off' option at the end of it?

I'd hazard a guess it won't work for the plug as you have it set to fade/Go To Sleep (which is a fade routine), and you can't really fade out an electrical socket, so perhaps try a test routine where it's just all off with no fade and see if that works.

If using 2 separate routines for on and again for off, try setting an off option in the 1st 'on' routine at the time when the other routine has already faded out the Hue bulbs, so for instance;


On routine at sunset for the smart plug & bulbs (Routine 1)
Separate off routine for the bulbs to fade out at 1am for 1 hour (Routine 2)

So go back to Routine 1 and select all off at 2am. The bulbs will have faded out by then to off, so it will only really be turning off the plug.

Either that or try a manual (Other Routine) fade out routine thats not a Go To Sleep Routine.

ike

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

I haven't used the Hue Smart plugs, but are you using 2 separate routines? or the same routine with a 'all off' option at the end of it?

I'd hazard a guess it won't work for the plug as you have it set to fade/Go To Sleep (which is a fade routine), and you can't really fade out an electrical socket, so perhaps try a test routine where it's just all off with no fade and see if that works.

If using 2 separate routines for on and again for off, try setting an off option in the 1st 'on' routine at the time when the other routine has already faded out the Hue bulbs, so for instance;


On routine at sunset for the smart plug & bulbs (Routine 1)
Separate off routine for the bulbs to fade out at 1am for 1 hour (Routine 2)

So go back to Routine 1 and select all off at 2am. The bulbs will have faded out by then to off, so it will only really be turning off the plug.

Either that or try a manual (Other Routine) fade out routine thats not a Go To Sleep Routine.

Thanks...

Yes I had an feeling it might be to do with the fade out - I was assuming at the end of the fade there is an actual OFF and that might have kicked in, but the fade might be confusing it...

Ok so based on your suggestions I've set a new routine to turn off the room a 2:02 instantly, so hopefully that should pick up the plug..

I'll let you know how it goes..

ablelocks

one of my hue gu10s (the bigger size ones) isn't working properly - before I get onto support, is there anything i can try here? It stays at a dimmed setting, and doesn't change colour

AndyBoBandy

ablelocks wrote: »

one of my hue gu10s (the bigger size ones) isn't working properly - before I get onto support, is there anything i can try here? It stays at a dimmed setting, and doesn't change colour

swap it around to some other GU10 fittings, perhaps closer to the hub and try it.

failing that, delete it, and try to re-add it (take note of the serial number as you might need to search by SN)

AstraMonti

I have two bridges now for quite a while, but now since I added some more lights on the second one i wanted to add some labs into them. But it seems that meethue.com only supports 1 bridge per account. Has anyone worked around this in some way? I have a separate app that handles all the lights in the same screen, but the labs are a different case.

ike

ike wrote: »

Thanks...

Yes I had an feeling it might be to do with the fade out - I was assuming at the end of the fade there is an actual OFF and that might have kicked in, but the fade might be confusing it...

Ok so based on your suggestions I've set a new routine to turn off the room a 2:02 instantly, so hopefully that should pick up the plug..

I'll let you know how it goes..

FYI...this worked perfect