IKEA TRÅDFRI Lighting and Google Home

Efour

Efour

Efour

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Joined
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Norrbotten, Sweden.
Hello,

Has anyone tried this out?

I recently got a google home mini and it is fairly good but I'm looking to actually do some worthwhile stuff with it.

I see that these Ikea smart bulbs now support google voice commands so I'm thinking about replacing all the bulbs and setting it up.

I have a few questions, hopefully, someone can easily help.

  1. What other than the bulbs do I need to set up the lightning "network"? The gateway?
  2. Does it integrate well with Google home?
  3. I assume I can still use each light independently with its hardwired room switch?
  4. I assume I can use each light individually with its supplied wireless switch?

Thanks tips and advice appreciated.
 
I started out with Tradfri stuff and now have a mixture of it and Philips Hue.

  1. Just the hub. You can now pair Tradfri bulbs with the Philips Hue hub and they work fine with all the Hue apps and with differnet mixtures of Hue/Ikea bulbs. It also means you can use the Hue dimmer switches etc which offer more customisation than the Ikea ones. You can even get things like these dimmer switch mounts that fit over your existing wall switch.

    If you don't yet have a gateway the Hue one is likely your best option, the apps are far better. I think you may have an issue with Apple Homekit, because Apple are awkward about "third-party" bulbs, but if you have Google everything's fine.

  2. I've not tested it with Google Home, but it does work. I have used it via Google Assistant which is basically the phone version. When using the Tradfri hub (or the Hue), I can just say "hey Google, turn on bedroom light 3", or "hey Google, set all lights to 50%" or "hey Google, set lights to candlelight".

    here's quick guide on setting up Google home with it.

  3. Yep, but there's no reason to turn them off (you'll likely be doing it by mistake for the first few weeks ;)). When the light of soft-off, e.g., not on, but still powered, it will use barely any energy.

  4. Yep. Using the app with the gateway you can set-up a group and add the dimmer/several lights to it to allow you to control several lights at once from the same dimmer.


Hue Essentials has recently added support for the Tradfri Gateway. It's far, far, better than the Ikea app for turning lights on/off etc.
 
The hue hub does yes, you effectively create "rooms", and then assign the lights you want to these rooms. That allows you to control them together, or you can still do them separately if you wish.

Also hue supports IFTTT, so gives you a bit more functionality.

Efour said:
I assume I can still use each light independently with its hardwired room switch?
Click to expand...

Also, i'm not sure about this one. the hardwired switch needs to stay on to allow power to the bulb socket. IIRC you can switch this off, and then back on which does switch the light on, but you'd then want to switch them off within the app - otherwise you'll lose control functionality of the bulb, i.e. if you set up schedules, or the arrive at home feature.

If you feel like you do want manual control at the switch still, buy one of the dimmable switches, and you can buy the switch faceplate mounts to hold the dimmable switch.
 
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Hue stuff is ludicrously priced here in Sweden. Like x3 as much as the basic ikea stuff.

Im sure the Ikea will get better features eventually (hope so atleast)

As long as i can make groups and give lights on/off commands ill be reasonably happy.
 
Kimi said:
Do the IKEA ones work with the hue app?
Click to expand...

If you're using the Hue bridge yes. It's worked with all the Hue apps I've tried.

If you have old Ikea bulbs which don't have a recent firmware you may need to update them first - if you have the Ikea bridge chances are it's automatically updated them though.
 
Kimi said:
Ah cool. Im using the hue bridge. Will have to give since of these a go
Click to expand...

The Ikea bulbs are good for GU10s if you need them. £12 for 400 lumen white ambience vs ~£25 for 250 lumen Hue white ambience :)
 
Pho said:
I started out with Tradfri stuff and now have a mixture of it and Philips Hue.

  1. Just the hub. You can now pair Tradfri bulbs with the Philips Hue hub and they work fine with all the Hue apps and with differnet mixtures of Hue/Ikea bulbs. It also means you can use the Hue dimmer switches etc which offer more customisation than the Ikea ones. You can even get things like these dimmer switch mounts that fit over your existing wall switch.

    If you don't yet have a gateway the Hue one is likely your best option, the apps are far better. I think you may have an issue with Apple Homekit, because Apple are awkward about "third-party" bulbs, but if you have Google everything's fine.

  2. I've not tested it with Google Home, but it does work. I have used it via Google Assistant which is basically the phone version. When using the Tradfri hub (or the Hue), I can just say "hey Google, turn on bedroom light 3", or "hey Google, set all lights to 50%" or "hey Google, set lights to candlelight".

    here's quick guide on setting up Google home with it.

  3. Yep, but there's no reason to turn them off (you'll likely be doing it by mistake for the first few weeks ;)). When the light of soft-off, e.g., not on, but still powered, it will use barely any energy.

  4. Yep. Using the app with the gateway you can set-up a group and add the dimmer/several lights to it to allow you to control several lights at once from the same dimmer.


Hue Essentials has recently added support for the Tradfri Gateway. It's far, far, better than the Ikea app for turning lights on/off etc.
Click to expand...


Any chance you could put together a list of exactly what one would need to get started on a setup combining hue and tradfi to give groups etc and be able to update bulbs and the like. there's so many things I've read about it that I'm a tad unsure exactly what I'd need with regards to hubs, remotes etc etc
 
valve90210 said:
Any chance you could put together a list of exactly what one would need to get started on a setup combining hue and tradfi to give groups etc and be able to update bulbs and the like. there's so many things I've read about it that I'm a tad unsure exactly what I'd need with regards to hubs, remotes etc etc
Click to expand...

Sure.

If you happen to have older Tradfri bulbs that aren't using 1.2 firmware or above
(I think they've been in the stores since at least the start of the year though):
  • You need a Tradfri gateway
  • You need a steering device. The dimmer remote is the cheapest.
  • Download the Tradfri app on your phone and use the dimmer to pair them (the app guides you through how to do this).

    This uses the other type of dimmer, but the one above works the same:

  • Once paired you can go into the bulb settings on the app and then do a firmware update check.
  • Once done, continue with the below

If you have recent Tradfri bulbs or have updated the firmware:
  • This explains how to pair Tradfri bulbs to the Hue bridge. You do unfortunately have to pair them using touchlink where you put the bulbs next to the bridge. You only need do this once then you can manage them remotely via the app.

    I didn't have a spare GU10 holder, I do not recommend you pair them the way I paired mine :eek:

    Kf2TAEks.jpg

  • You should be able to use the Hue app to pair them, but I had an easier time using lamp finder. Using this they pretty much paired first time. The app often took a few attempts.

  • Once done, continue with the below

Once you have them paired to your Hue bridge you can use either the official Hue app, or apps like Hue Essentials (which is better) to rename the bulbs and assign them rooms/groups, Bulbs can only be assigned to one room but can be put in multiple rooms.

The Hue apps give you a better range of temperature options too. The Tradfri app just has three, with the Hue ones you can just slide a slider to select what you want.
 
valve90210 said:
Cool, thanks for that. What exact hue kit would I need too?
Click to expand...

Just the Hue bridge. You can pair bulbs to the Hue bridge without needing a steering device like the Tradfri bridge does. Just make sure you get a second generation bridge. You can pick them up off eBay for quite cheap as people tend to buy the starter parks when they're on offer (bridge + a couple of bulbs) then sell the bridge on - it works out cheaper than buying the bulbs on their own.

Left is gen 1, right is gen 2:

LY2FWhn.jpg
 
Finally got my act together and picked up a Hue Bridge from ebay, next step will be to get myself some bulbs and maybe remotes (so other people can use the lights...lol)
 
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