Philips Hue FAQ

Stewball

Stewball wrote: »

Thinking about giving these a try in one of the bedrooms. Technology isn't my strong point so I've a few Qs.
If I purchase these
bulb
dimmer

Will I be able to dim the light in the room at night using the switch?
Will it also be possible to dim the lights using voice control?

I'm not looking for anything too fancy.

Update.
I ended up buying this TP-Link bulb for €18.

I can control the brightness via an app on my phone, so it does what I wanted.
It also works with Alexa & Google Assistant.

scamalert

Stewball wrote: »

Update.
I ended up buying this TP-Link bulb for €18.

I can control the brightness via an app on my phone, so it does what I wanted.
It also works with Alexa & Google Assistant.

well if thats all you needed so good bargain for one light. as most here would have 4-20 lights and sensors etc, so goes beyond single issue like having one light that needs to turn on off and dim.As until you start doing rooms halls kitchens extra lighting round house, plenty of alternatives, but once you need one massive smart home setup then philips shines in that area.

ButtUcks

I have just installed a Hue Outdoor Motion Sensor
& a Hue Turaco White Led Smart Outdoor Wall Light which is nice

They both are setup on the Hue App and Bridge, & motion turns on the light, but that's where the nice stuff ends, I haven't a bogs-notion about Hue routines & or IFTTT - can anyone help me with the following scenario ;

Once there’s daylight, light bulb brightness should be set to zero
From sunset onwards, any motion detected turns the light bulb brightness to full.
The light remains on for 3 minutes afterwards, then light bulb brightness should be set to zero
????

illdoit2morrow

ButtUcks wrote: »

I have just installed a Hue Outdoor Motion Sensor
& a Hue Turaco White Led Smart Outdoor Wall Light which is nice

They both are setup on the Hue App and Bridge, & motion turns on the light, but that's where the nice stuff ends, I haven't a bogs-notion about Hue routines & or IFTTT - can anyone help me with the following scenario ;

Once there’s daylight, light bulb brightness should be set to zero
From sunset onwards, any motion detected turns the light bulb brightness to full.
The light remains on for 3 minutes afterwards, then light bulb brightness should be set to zero
????

There is a hue lab called '3 times a charm' where you can set a bulb to come on at different temperatures depending on 3 time slots you set-up in the lab. I have this lab going in the hallway linked up to motion sensors.
It won't quite fit your requirement as it doesn't 'sense' daylight or sunset, you'd have to set the timers yourself.

ButtUcks

illdoit2morrow wrote: »

There is a hue lab called '3 times a charm' where you can set a bulb to come on at different temperatures depending on 3 time slots you set-up in the lab. I have this lab going in the hallway linked up to motion sensors.
It won't quite fit your requirement as it doesn't 'sense' daylight or sunset, you'd have to set the timers yourself.

Hey illdoit2morrow, I'll look into that, thanks for the pointer.

Bored Accountant

ButtUcks wrote: »

They both are setup on the Hue App and Bridge, & motion turns on the light, but that's where the nice stuff ends, I haven't a bogs-notion about Hue routines & or IFTTT - can anyone help me with the following scenario ;

Once there’s daylight, light bulb brightness should be set to zero
From sunset onwards, any motion detected turns the light bulb brightness to full.
The light remains on for 3 minutes afterwards, then light bulb brightness should be set to zero
????

Just go into the Hue App - Settings - Accessory Setup.
Locate the outdoor sensor and all the settings you want are right there. Configure 'day time' to do nothing, and then night routine to turn on the light.
At the bottom is advanced settings to change the light brigness and movement sensitivity.
Screenshot_20200127-232909.jpg

cletus

I've a number of tradfri bulbs set up on the Hue bridge (the older circular one), with little difficulty. I bought three more at the weekend, and went about setting them up.

Running into a couple of issues. After a couple of attempts, the hue app will recognise the bulb, but won't allow me to control it.

The Alexa app the fails to discover it. Has support for tradfri bulbs on the hue bridge changed? At this stage, I've more tradfri bulbs than Hue, should I just get the IKEA bridge instead of upgrading the hue bridge?

Dazzy

I have about 20 Hue Lights in different rooms. In each room the lights are set at different brightness and colours.

Is there a way/App that I can save the current configuration so that I can get it back to that state with one press of an App/Remote?

I have tried a few Apps but can't find what I'm looking for.

AndyBoBandy

Dazzy wrote: »

I have about 20 Hue Lights in different rooms. In each room the lights are set at different brightness and colours.

Is there a way/App that I can save the current configuration so that I can get it back to that state with one press of an App/Remote?

I have tried a few Apps but can't find what I'm looking for.

Use the native Philips Hue app!!

When you have the lights set at the colour/brightness you desire, create a new scene, and it will ask if you want to use the current light settings, select yes, and name the scene as you wish.

Then that scene will always be there in the app in the scenes for that particular room. Also when you are programming a Hue remote, you can get it to turn on a particular scene (actually you can preset it up to 5 scenes with each press of the on button)

example;
1st press - on bright
2nd press - on nightlight
3rd press - your romantic scene
4th press - your 'watching football' scene
5th press - relax scene

Dazzy

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Use the native Philips Hue app!!

When you have the lights set at the colour/brightness you desire, create a new scene, and it will ask if you want to use the current light settings, select yes, and name the scene as you wish.

Then that scene will always be there in the app in the scenes for that particular room. Also when you are programming a Hue remote, you can get it to turn on a particular scene (actually you can preset it up to 5 scenes with each press of the on button)

example;
1st press - on bright
2nd press - on nightlight
3rd press - your romantic scene
4th press - your 'watching football' scene
5th press - relax scene

Thanks. I'm trying to set this up so that all rooms will come on with pre configured brightness and colour for each room. So I suppose it's one scene for all lights in all rooms. I'd like to be able to save my current settings to that scene rather that have to do each light manually.

AndyBoBandy

Dazzy wrote: »

Thanks. I'm trying to set this up so that all rooms will come on with pre configured brightness and colour for each room. So I suppose it's one scene for all lights in all rooms. I'd like to be able to save my current settings to that scene rather that have to do each light manually.

yes, this can easily be done in the Hue app

remember to set up the rooms first, and add all bulbs in that room to the 'room' in the app, then when you adjust each bulb within the room to how you like, save it as a new scene for the room., then when you set a timer/routine to come on each day, it can come on to whatever scene you want it to come on to...

Dazzy

I'm trying to find a way of doing this with one press in the App or the remove. Routines won't work as it will be at different times during the day that I will want to do this.

Ideally I want to add the scene for each room into a master scene and be able to turn on the master scene with one press in an App or Remote.

FastFullBack

Dazzy wrote: »

I'm trying to find a way of doing this with one press in the App or the remove. Routines won't work as it will be at different times during the day that I will want to do this.

Ideally I want to add the scene for each room into a master scene and be able to turn on the master scene with one press in an App or Remote.

Create a zone in the official app, add in all lights. Create a scene, with your desired settings for that zone.
If you've got an android phone you can then add a widget to your phone to activate that scene with 1 button

ozmo

Not sure exactly place to post - but I've being playing about with a Philips Hue 'emulator' - runs on an ESP266 (or Esp-32). You program it in Arduino IDE and one chip registers itself as as multiple devices -

Alexa discovers the devices and thinks its a Hue - but can then control RGB, and switches etc connected to the Arduino (ESP). "Alexa - Set Christmas tree to half brightness" etc.

Ive tried several ways to get an arduino connected to Alexa - but this Hue emulator is the best I've found requiring no external services, no issues discovering devices and a very cheap way to add kinds of devices Alexa

https://github.com/Aircoookie/Espalexa

Bored Accountant

Battery is gone in one of my dimmer switches. They are size 2450. Where can I get a new battery? Haven't spotted any or normal battery stands in Dunnes, deals etc, and they won't ship battery's from UK to Irish address.

AndyBoBandy

Bored Accountant wrote: »

Battery is gone in one of my dimmer switches. They are size 2450. Where can I get a new battery? Haven't spotted any or normal battery stands in Dunnes, deals etc, and they won't ship battery's from UK to Irish address.

You’ll get them in Tesco, or Argos etc...

Cr 2032 will do you

MickH503

Bored Accountant wrote: »

Battery is gone in one of my dimmer switches. They are size 2450. Where can I get a new battery? Haven't spotted any or normal battery stands in Dunnes, deals etc, and they won't ship battery's from UK to Irish address.

I got some in Halfords recently.

ozmo

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

You’ll get them in Tesco, or Argos etc...

Cr 2032 will do you

If 2032 will do - dealz sell them on a card of 8 for €1.50

donegal.

both batteries are the same voltage. 3v
the main differences is their size and capacity. Their model number is their size (so 24mm x 5mm and 20mm x3.2mm) but other posters have used them so shouldn't be a problem.
I think the 2450 has about 3 times the capacity of the 2032 so should last about 3 times as long. I'd imagine philips use much better quality than dealz so the difference is probably much longer.

ozmo

donegal. wrote: »

I think the 2450 has about 3 times the capacity of the 2032 so should last about 3 times as long. I'd imagine philips use much better quality than dealz so the difference is probably much longer.

Kodak brand..so ok - I've not had replace them in any other stuff Ive used them in.
https://www.dealz.ie/leisure-and-entertainment/batteries/kodak-xtralife-lithium-button-cell-8pk

Their same brand aa batteries are extremely good(alkali ones not zinc) - better than Duracell (big clive)

Irish Gunner

Moving into new house and plenty of spotlights. Have regular Philips hue bulbs but wondering any compatible spotlights that works with Hue and Alexa. The Philips hue spotlights quite expensive

I could purchase them bit by bit per room just looking for any cheaper compatible bulbs

THE ALM

Irish Gunner wrote: »

Moving into new house and plenty of spotlights. Have regular Philips hue bulbs but wondering any compatible spotlights that works with Hue and Alexa. The Philips hue spotlights quite expensive

I could purchase them bit by bit per room just looking for any cheaper compatible bulbs

The Ikea Tradfri is probably the most cost effective solution although from reading they can be a bit fiddly to get paired.

Irish Gunner

THE ALM wrote: »

The Ikea Tradfri is probably the most cost effective solution although from reading they can be a bit fiddly to get paired.

What about Innr Smart LED Spot White GU10 seen these on Amazon also Alexa enabled

irelandrover

Hopefully someone here can help. I bought two outdoor calla lights at the weekend planning to plug them into the 3 lily lily lights i already have. It should be a simple task of plug them in and they work, but they wont turn on. I have changed the order of the 5 lights in the sequence. I have plugged the two calla lights into the base unit directly. They still will not switch on. If it was just one i would think it was broken but i don't believe 2 new calla lights are defective out of the box. Has anyone other ideas on what i can try?

punisher5112

irelandrover wrote: »

Hopefully someone here can help. I bought two outdoor calla lights at the weekend planning to plug them into the 3 lily lily lights i already have. It should be a simple task of plug them in and they work, but they wont turn on. I have changed the order of the 5 lights in the sequence. I have plugged the two calla lights into the base unit directly. They still will not switch on. If it was just one i would think it was broken but i don't believe 2 new calla lights are defective out of the box. Has anyone other ideas on what i can try?

Is the socket working if you plug anything else in?
Fuse blown?
Cable issues?

irelandrover

punisher5112 wrote: »

Is the socket working if you plug anything else in?
Fuse blown?
Cable issues?

The three Lily lights turn on. So the first three lights in the sequence are the lily lights, and they work. Then the calla lights are lights 4 and 5 and they dont. So i know that the base unit works.

punisher5112

irelandrover wrote: »

The three Lily lights turn on. So the first three lights in the sequence are the lily lights, and they work. Then the calla lights are lights 4 and 5 and they dont. So i know that the base unit works.

Are the specs the same? As in voltage and amps..

irelandrover

punisher5112 wrote: »

Are the specs the same? As in voltage and amps..

As far as i know yes.

punisher5112

irelandrover wrote: »

As far as i know yes.

Throw up a pic of specs or links for them.

AndyBoBandy

looking at the bundle in amazon, it appears the Calla can be used as add ons to the Lily spot range,