Lidl smart bulbs with IKEA Tradfri gateway

colm_mcm

I have an Ikea Tradfri gateway with a number of switches and bulbs (all IKEA)

https://www.ikea.com/ie/en/p/tradfri-gateway-white-20337807/

I see Lidl are doing smart bulbs at the moment, and I'm wondering if I can use them on my system and if the remote controls will work too.

A lot of the Ikea stuff is out of stock and on the other side of the country, so the Lidl ones would suit, if they work.

https://www.lidl.ie/c/home-smart-home-smart-deals/c431/w1

The bulbs I have change from warm white to cold white and in-between. I don't know if this function would be available either?

Any help appreciated. They both use Zigbee, so they're probably compatible on some level.

colm_mcm

After a bit of Googling, it appears to be more trouble than it’s worth!

NewClareman

I suspect that the Lidl kit would work just fine with the IKEA gateway. I don't know if this is helpful but I've gone the other way, using a hue bridge with additional devices from IKEA. I've just added a couple of Lidl Smart Plugs, and they connected to the Hue Gateway, without issue.

L1011

Have them in two houses. One house is basically every bulb, a few sockets, motion sensors etc and the other is a whole three lights.

They were shockingly unreliable when they came out which has caused much of the online reportage. Its basically all fixed now - though if you have a bulb/driver/whatever that is dropping off, you may need repeater(s) which are quite cheap.

The bridge is, currently, hideously locked down and only accepts IKEA kit.

colm_mcm

I backed the wrong horse so!

NewClareman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118509009#Comment_118509009

Not necessarily. You could still move to a Hue hub, or worst case use both. My take on it is that the Hue bulbs are fantastic but way overpriced. I have a lot of them, but most are white ambiance. I simply couldn't justify the cost of the colour ones, other than in the main living areas. The IKEA, or Lidl, colour bulbs are a far more reasonable alternative. If starting out again, I'd try those first. However the hue hub is excellent and gives a lot of control options. It is regularly discounted on Amazon, often with a bulb or two thrown in.

The ikea bulbs work great with the Hue hub, from online reports maybe even better than with their own gateway. The reason I say both hubs may be required is that I'm not certain that the IKEA/Lidl switches will work with the hue hub. To set up IKEA switches with the hue hub requires an additional app (all4hue) for pairing. I must get around to trying out the ones I bought a few months ago.

NewClareman

I came across a Lidl colour bulb, and decided to try it on a table lamp. Works fine with the Hue Hub and was picked up straight away. Only difference I could find was that it doesn't dim as low as the hue bulbs, but lower than the IKEA ones.

colm_mcm

That’s good to know, I might get some smart light strips down the road, I ended up getting a few more ikea bulbs and switches, and integrated it with Alexa too. Surprised that Alexa will change the white colour as well as the brightness. (The remotes do it too but it’s handy/fun to do it with voice control)