IKEA new smart bulb kit

Shlippery

bk wrote: »

Yep, I do find the white ambiance very useful for the living room and bedrooms, but no need for it in the hallway where I'm planning these to go.

Though I will say, white ambiance has turned out very useful in the bathroom, where my OH finds it very handy for putting on makeup, etc.

I may have got carried away..they worked with Hue initially - but once I paired them to the IKEA wireless dimmer, hue lost control

bk

Shlippery wrote: »

I may have got carried away..they worked with Hue initially - but once I paired them to the IKEA wireless dimmer, hue lost control

Unfortunately that makes sense. It is actually the same with Hue.

Some Hue packs come with both a light and switch/remote directly paired in the box. If you then pair the light with the Hue hub, it loses the pairing with the remote. If you then try and directly pair the light with the remote again, it loses the pairing with the hub.

Basically the light can be paired with only one device at a time. Either the hub or the remote but not both directly. Instead you have to pair the Hue remote with the hub and then it can indirectly control the light via the hub.

I suspect that you can pair the newer Ikea bulbs with the Hue hub, but not the Ikea switches. And by pairing the switch directly to the remote, you may have lost the ability to pair it with the Hue hub, at least without using the Ikea hub to reset it.

I suspect if I buy just these Ikea bulbs and nothing else, it might work with Hue and continue to do so.

Sorry that doesn't really help you.

Shlippery

bk wrote: »

Unfortunately that makes sense. It is actually the same with Hue.

Some Hue packs come with both a light and switch/remote directly paired in the box. If you then pair the light with the Hue hub, it loses the pairing with the remote. If you then try and directly pair the light with the remote again, it loses the pairing with the hub.

Basically the light can be paired with only one device at a time. Either the hub or the remote but not both directly. Instead you have to pair the Hue remote with the hub and then it can indirectly control the light via the hub.

I suspect that you can pair the newer Ikea bulbs with the Hue hub, but not the Ikea switches. And by pairing the switch directly to the remote, you may have lost the ability to pair it with the Hue hub, at least without using the Ikea hub to reset it.

I suspect if I buy just these Ikea bulbs and nothing else, it might work with Hue and continue to do so.

Sorry that doesn't really help you.

Yea, I bought the bulbs and switch solo - so when I put them in first, Hue detected, then I paired the dimmer and kinda ruined it. Ah I don't mind though. Cheap enough test. I'll more than likely try get Hue GU10's if there's any sales at the end of the month..!

J.pilkington

Could an option be to pair the ikea bulbs to a Philips dimmer using the hue hub?

You would need to do some workings to see if it’s worth it. It will involve having to buy a Philips dimmer which is more expensive than an ikea dimmer. You also run the risk of Philips locking down their hub to only their bulbs (likely?)

lawred2

bk wrote: »

Unfortunately that makes sense. It is actually the same with Hue.

Some Hue packs come with both a light and switch/remote directly paired in the box. If you then pair the light with the Hue hub, it loses the pairing with the remote. If you then try and directly pair the light with the remote again, it loses the pairing with the hub.

Basically the light can be paired with only one device at a time. Either the hub or the remote but not both directly. Instead you have to pair the Hue remote with the hub and then it can indirectly control the light via the hub.

I suspect that you can pair the newer Ikea bulbs with the Hue hub, but not the Ikea switches. And by pairing the switch directly to the remote, you may have lost the ability to pair it with the Hue hub, at least without using the Ikea hub to reset it.

I suspect if I buy just these Ikea bulbs and nothing else, it might work with Hue and continue to do so.

Sorry that doesn't really help you.

?

you mean if you buy a philips dimmer - you can't also use the hub?

I was planning on buying a dimmer but if that's the case I won't bother. I'd still want to control the lights with the app.

Is it the same for the sensor?

bk

With the Ikea bulbs? I'd assume (but haven't tried) that the Hue dimmer and motion sensors will work fine with them as long as the bulbs and dimmers/motion sensors are paired with the Hue hub.

As in:
- pair Ikea bulb with Hue hub
- pair Hue dimmer switch/motion sensor with Hue hub
- now via the Hue app, you can set the dimmer/motion sensor to control via the hub the Ikea bulbs.

What Shillpery I guess tried to do is:
- Paired the Ikea lights with the Hue hub, now working
- Tried to pair the Ikea switch directly with the Ikea bulbs, this caused the pairing with the Hue hub to break and now can't be reconnected to the Hue hub at least without first resetting the bulbs with the Ikea hub.

Basically you can't use for now, the Ikea switches or motion sensors with the Hue hub or directly connected to the Ikea bulb (if you want to use it with Hue).

You should however be able to use Hue switches and sensors if you successfully pair the Ikea bulbs with the Hue hub.

A bit confusing I know, hope this makes sense now.

Again no guarantees I haven't tried it yet.

bk

I'll try to clarify a bit further. Again no guarantees

- Some, (probably newer ones) but not all bulbs will pair with a Hue Hub, without the need for the Ikea hub
- Older bulbs, won't pair, but if you have the ikea hub, you can update their firmware and they should then pair with the Hue hub.
- The Ikea switches and motion sensors won't pair with a Hue Hub
- If you do manage to pair an Ikea bulb, with a Hue hub, then you can't use the Ikea switches and sensors directly paired with the bulbs or paired with the Hue Hub. If you try and pair them, you may lose the pairing between the Ikea bulb and the Hue hub and not get it back without using an Ikea Hub to reset it. This is the mistake Shlippery made.
- I'm guessing that Hue switches and sensors should work fine at controlling Ikea bulbs that you manage to pair with the Hue Hub. The Hue switches and sensors should just see them as another Hue bulb via the Hue Hub.

Bacchus

lawred2 wrote: »

?

you mean if you buy a philips dimmer - you can't also use the hub?

I was planning on buying a dimmer but if that's the case I won't bother. I'd still want to control the lights with the app.

Is it the same for the sensor?

I reckon this is the case. As I mentioned earlier, the process for connecting up the IKEA bulbs and dimmer is different to Hue, which leads me to think it wouldn't work with Hue. The process is that you connect the dimmer to the hub and then hold the dimmer next to each bulb while pressing a button on the dimmer for about 10 seconds which then adds that bulb to the group the dimmer controls. I don't see how the Hue hub would be compatible with that process.

SemperFidelis

The Ikea TRÅDFRI skill for Alexa is now live in countries where Amazon is selling Echo devices. After enabling it, owners will be able to ask Alexa to dim their Ikea bulbs, or turn them on and off.

niallb

bk wrote: »

... If you do manage to pair an Ikea bulb, with a Hue hub, then you can't use the Ikea switches and sensors directly paired with the bulbs or paired with the Hue Hub. If you try and pair them, you may lose the pairing between the Ikea bulb and the Hue hub and not get it back without using an Ikea Hub to reset it....

You don't need the Ikea hub (They call it the gateway) to reset them.
Just turn the IKEA bulb off and on 6 times in quick succession and it will be available to pair again to either the Hue hub or the IKEA hub.

afatbollix

I just turned off my lights by an Alexa. They have just turned from being dumb to Smart

afatbollix

Anyone been able to set moods with Alexa?

Zascar

http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/products/lighting/smart-lighting/tr%C3%A5dfri-led-bulb-gu10-400-lumen-wireless-dimmable-warm-white-art-80365270/

I see they have the smaller bulbs you often see built into the roof. I have those type but not this exact one unfortaunately. Mine have two small pins - like this - I think they are called MR Type. Is it possible to get these wireless does anyone know?

bk

Zascar wrote: »

http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/products/lighting/smart-lighting/tr%C3%A5dfri-led-bulb-gu10-400-lumen-wireless-dimmable-warm-white-art-80365270/

I see they have the smaller bulbs you often see built into the roof. I have those type but not this exact one unfortaunately. Mine have two small pins - like this - I think they are called MR Type. Is it possible to get these wireless does anyone know?

MR16's and no you can't get these as Smart bulbs.

Also MR16's are complete junk. I use to have them!

What you can do is rip out the MR16 holder and stupid transformer that is behind them and replace them with nice modern GU10 fittings. So you can then get easy to use smart GU10 bulbs. That is what I did and it was great.

The problem with MR16's is that they aren't really used anywhere else in Europe and they have gone very much out of fashion. Everyone uses GU10's as standard now instead. MR16's use a lot of energy, don't last long and the transformers behind them fail too and are expensive to replace.

Replacing the fittings with GU10's is a one time job and well worth it IMO.

This makes it very hard to get replacement MR16 bulbs and very hard to get them as LEDS, never mind smart bulbs.

niallb

Zascar wrote: »

- I think they are called MR Type. Is it possible to get these wireless does anyone know?

Replacing them with GU10 fittings is the best long term answer, but you could make them wireless by leaving them as is and swapping the switch for a smart switch.

Brian201888

Are these bulbs compatible with Hive?

PixelTrawler

Switched over almost all the lights to these bar the two bathrooms. So a bit of a review to follow..

Have colour bulbs in the 4 bedrooms. Motion sensors in the hallway upstairs and down.

Living room is 5 gu10s and a dimmer which is the weakpoint of the system. Went with the 7 euro gu10s there. The dimmers are not ready for prime time. Broke my heart pairing the bulbs and im not that happy with the control they give. Sometimes it leaves one or two bulbs on so you need to twist again.
The bedrooms and kitchen have the remote control which does seem good.

Kitchen is a mix of the 15 euro gu10s and a 1000lm bulb. Light is excellent and I like being able to change the warmth.

Range could be better on the motion sensors but its fine.

I like the system apart from the dimmers.

I did find pairing the various devices to the gateway a bit finnicky also.

The app is good and we like having the lights come on very low and red in the morning. Its also neat the way all the bulbs and devices got auto updated.

I dont have Amazon Alexa and I havent tried apple homekit yet.

Considering Ikea is not a core tech company it seems well thought out... apart from the dreadful dimmers.

Oh one of the 7 euro gu10s just flashed rapidly when I plugged it in, I thought it was defective. Powered it off and on a few times. Paired it and it didnt do the usual pulsing but after that it just stopped flashing and behaved normally. It didnt receive an update as it had the newest firmware but connecting to the gateway must have reset it.

niallb

PixelTrawler wrote: »

... apart from the dreadful dimmers.
...

Which dimmer do you have?
I got one of the small hockey puck ones and I hate it,
but the bigger one with power, 2 dimmer and 2 colour cycle buttons works great for me.

Mellor

niallb wrote: »

Which dimmer do you have?
I got one of the small hockey puck ones and I hate it,
but the bigger one with power, 2 dimmer and 2 colour cycle buttons works great for me.

The "dimmer" is the hockey puck. That other one is the "remote". He mentioned that one working well in the bedrooms and Kitchen. I think I'll go for gateway+app+remote once they're availible

Shlippery

the magnetic hockey puck is a piece of **** and I hate it.

I've never built up such rage for an inanimate object in all my life.


I'm going to smash that piece of magnetic plastic rubbish into pieces and get a motion sensor for the kitchen and leave it at that.. and try re-pair the GU10's to my hue bridge!


(Although the ikea e27 / motion sensor are still OK in my books)

niallb

If one of the bedrooms isn't used regularly, pair the dimmer to that and bring the remote down to the living room.
You might even find the dimmer is happier controlling only one bulb, and it might not eat batteries so much.
I've mounted my remote on the wall below the light switch and it almost never gets turned off by accident anymore.

PixelTrawler

Nah all the rooms are in use with the remotes. Ive remotes in the 4 bedrooms and kitchen. Handy for colour cycle and dimming. Seem pretty solid. But ive two of those crappy 10 euro dimmers - in the living room and dining room. They really arent fit to be on the market. I consider myself pretty good with tech.... but that thing near broke me.

The one in the dining room seems okish with the single bulb. But the living room is a disaster with the 5 bulbs. Jesus just thinking back to pairing the damn thing brings tears...I might bite the bullet get a remote for the living room.

Took several twists today to get all 5 on. Theres definite lag there if they are not on for a while.

I could see people just returning the stuff if they get those dimmers and just saying they dont work. Especially if they have multiple bulbs.

PixelTrawler

Shlippery wrote: »

the magnetic hockey puck is a piece of **** and I hate it.

I've never built up such rage for an inanimate object in all my life.


I'm going to smash that piece of magnetic plastic rubbish into pieces and get a motion sensor for the kitchen and leave it at that.. and try re-pair the GU10's to my hue bridge!


(Although the ikea e27 / motion sensor are still OK in my books)

The motion sensors seem solid except if your kitchen is long. I find the detection range isnt that big. Maybe 3 metres max. My hallway is about 6m long. I have the sensor 1.5m inside the front door so it detects us walking out of the living room and down the stairs. But walking down from kitchen the lights dont come on til you get down to the start of the stairs. So in a big kitchen, you could be out of range easily and the light will time out.

Shlippery

PixelTrawler wrote: »

The motion sensors seem solid except if your kitchen is long. I find the detection range isnt that big. Maybe 3 metres max. My hallway is about 6m long. I have the sensor 1.5m inside the front door so it detects us walking out of the living room and down the stairs. But walking down from kitchen the lights dont come on til you get down to the start of the stairs. So in a big kitchen, you could be out of range easily and the light will time out.

Yea, kitchen is tiny, but going to go with the phillips motion sensor for there, as I prefer the little button magnet, can stick it to a small spot on the ceiling over the entrance, which is a bit more discreet than the ikea motion sensor "mount".

PixelTrawler

Shlippery wrote: »

Yea, kitchen is tiny, but going to go with the phillips motion sensor for there, as I prefer the little button magnet, can stick it to a small spot on the ceiling over the entrance, which is a bit more discreet than the ikea motion sensor "mount".

I noticed this evening, its not the range but lag and slow wake up. It picked me up fine a few times from 4 m away or more, other times i get within 1m before it activates the light.

bren2001

Looking at getting setup with smart lights over the next few days. Plan is as follows:

6 Hue colour for the sitting room.
6 white IKEA for the kitchen (the 7e ones, I dont need dimming)
Hue motion sensor for the IKEA bulbs
Hue hub

Any issue with the above approach?

jmBuildExt

bren2001 wrote: »

Looking at getting setup with smart lights over the next few days. Plan is as follows:

6 Hue colour for the sitting room.
6 white IKEA for the kitchen (the 7e ones, I dont need dimming)
Hue motion sensor for the IKEA bulbs
Hue hub

Any issue with the above approach?

Why use the hue hub/sensors? Why not just the ikea hub - is it so you can use the hue colour gu10s?
You can get coloured ikea lights (E27 only though i think)
Also the 7 euro gu10s are dimmable - I think the difference between the 15euro ones is the light spectrum. Can someone confirm?
Also, On the IKEA Gu10s - Anyone tell me are there any issues with the size when fitted into existing fitting. Do they protrude? Can you get the original clip onto them.
I believe the colour philips hue gu10s have problems in this regard.

bren2001

jmBuildExt wrote: »

Why use the hue hub/sensors? Why not just the ikea hub - is it so you can use the hue colour gu10s?
You can get coloured ikea lights (E27 only though i think)
Also the 7 euro gu10s are dimmable - I think the difference between the 15euro ones is the light spectrum. Can someone confirm?
Also, On the IKEA Gu10s - Anyone tell me are there any issues with the size when fitted into existing fitting. Do they protrude? Can you get the original clip onto them.
I believe the colour philips hue gu10s have problems in this regard.

3 reasons I want to use Hue:

1. I've read mixed reports on the IKEA sensors, app etc. Hue seems to have far better support.

2. I wrote an academic paper earlier this year on Phillips smart lighting. Phillips were very helpful so I kinda just want something from Phillips.

3. I need GU10 for colour.

But it seems silly to spend the extra on Hue when the Ikea bulbs in the kitchen will work fine.

bk

To be honest, the Ikea is an interesting option, but Hue is far more mature and has a massive range of products now. Not just bulbs, but all sorts of smart lighting fittings.

Plus, with the exception of those €7 bulbs, the rest of the Ikea range isn't really much cheaper then the Hue gear when reduced during sales.

Mixing a few €7 ikea bulbs where the best isn't needed sounds like a good compromise.

jmBuildExt

Cool - was just wondering.
I've just played around with a couple of E27s on lamps. Doing my research for fitout of new house.

bk or anyone know are the gu10s any bigger in size to regular gu10s?

Cheers.