Are you doing anything with Hue?

CapitalOne

CapitalOne

CapitalOne

Soldato
Joined
23 Nov 2014
Posts
7,953
Location
The Cronx
Hi all

I've had Hue lights running for a year now, and thought I would share some tips and see what else people were doing. I can't see another recent thread to discuss Hue.

A few months ago I discovered Osram Lightify bulbs were compatible (this was temporarilly disabled then enabled again in a firmware update 2 weeks ago). If your timing is right, these are a third of the cost of Phillips' bulbs. I bought the rainforest out of it's last 5 E27 bulbs at £15 each at the weekend. Although the colour transitions on these bulbs are not as smooth as Hue, it's not a big deal to me. To add these bulbs, do not switch them on until you start an automatic search in your Hue app - whilst searching switch them on and they connect in a few seconds as "Extended Colour Bulb".

I now have 2 strips, 2 blooms and 2 tabletops in the kitchen (20ft x 10ft) and 1 Lighify in a lamp in the connected utility room (10ft x 7ft). These provide enough light to work by but I really need to do the GU10s in the celing - unfortunately there are 12 of these to fill!

Hallway (next door) has 3 Lightify - 2 in lamps, on in the main celing light. Hallway is L shape cut out of a 12ft x 12ft square. This room is lit perfectly.

Sitting room (20ft x 15ft) has 4 Lightify, 2 in lamps and 2 in the main celing lights. Again lit perfectly well.

Study (15ft x 7ft just has a single strip for a backlight to the 50" TV and looks great.

Still to do - Kitchen Gu10's, Dining room GU10's (so that's £850 in hue speak!). 2 habited bedrooms will need 5 Lightify.

I love them, adjustable colour and brightness, timing, geofencing and of course Disco effects. I also use IFTTT to play around although can't find anything really useful. Flashes on email, all go blue when it's going to rain are all novel but that's about it.

I'm also playing with the JSON api side of things, mainly to build my own remote, as few of the many I have tried (iConnectHue is the current one) really make things easy enough for the rest of the family - which is key as they light the house

So, that gets the ball rolling, what is anyone else doing?
 
I'm tempted by the hue bulbs and such but not sure I really need to be spending out on such things.

I'd love to see photos of what you've done and can do with them.
 
Figured I'd bump this as I'm looking into the Hue system at the moment.

I'd like to start off with the Hue Bloom which can be had for around £50. But you need a bridge, which is another £50 for the version 2. However I've seen the earlier (round) version can be had for £20. Are they compatible? I seems the version 2 bridge now includes HomeKit, which I don't need.

Secondly, does anyone know if these LED bulbs give off as much light as a 'normal' LED bulb? The Bloom I've mentioned above is 8w but 120lumen, which seems rather low?
 
was looking at doing this but just for the lounge I would need 6 GU10 looking at £200 for one room don't know if I can bring myself to do it.

as I would want the whole house doing. May as well do it properly if you are going to do it!
 
Whole flat is Hue bulbs except kitchen just about to get the lightify gu10's for about 25 quid each and then will probably add the hue led strip kit for under counter. I pair all mine up to my samsung smart things with motion sensors so works when I enter and leave a room its brilliant.
 
CapitalOne said:
Hi all

I've had Hue lights running for a year now, and thought I would share some tips and see what else people were doing. I can't see another recent thread to discuss Hue.

A few months ago I discovered Osram Lightify bulbs were compatible (this was temporarilly disabled then enabled again in a firmware update 2 weeks ago). If your timing is right, these are a third of the cost of Phillips' bulbs. I bought the rainforest out of it's last 5 E27 bulbs at £15 each at the weekend. Although the colour transitions on these bulbs are not as smooth as Hue, it's not a big deal to me. To add these bulbs, do not switch them on until you start an automatic search in your Hue app - whilst searching switch them on and they connect in a few seconds as "Extended Colour Bulb".

I now have 2 strips, 2 blooms and 2 tabletops in the kitchen (20ft x 10ft) and 1 Lighify in a lamp in the connected utility room (10ft x 7ft). These provide enough light to work by but I really need to do the GU10s in the celing - unfortunately there are 12 of these to fill!

Hallway (next door) has 3 Lightify - 2 in lamps, on in the main celing light. Hallway is L shape cut out of a 12ft x 12ft square. This room is lit perfectly.

Sitting room (20ft x 15ft) has 4 Lightify, 2 in lamps and 2 in the main celing lights. Again lit perfectly well.

Study (15ft x 7ft just has a single strip for a backlight to the 50" TV and looks great.

Still to do - Kitchen Gu10's, Dining room GU10's (so that's £850 in hue speak!). 2 habited bedrooms will need 5 Lightify.

I love them, adjustable colour and brightness, timing, geofencing and of course Disco effects. I also use IFTTT to play around although can't find anything really useful. Flashes on email, all go blue when it's going to rain are all novel but that's about it.

I'm also playing with the JSON api side of things, mainly to build my own remote, as few of the many I have tried (iConnectHue is the current one) really make things easy enough for the rest of the family - which is key as they light the house

So, that gets the ball rolling, what is anyone else doing?
Click to expand...

I have the original Hue hub, what happens with the Osram bulbs when Philips didn't support them - did they come on but no RGB control?
 
Dave85 said:
Whole flat is Hue bulbs except kitchen just about to get the lightify gu10's for about 25 quid each and then will probably add the hue led strip kit for under counter. I pair all mine up to my samsung smart things with motion sensors so works when I enter and leave a room its brilliant.
Click to expand...



Ooh I've got Smartthings when they had £50 off and not really done anything with it yet
 
Dave85 said:
Whole flat is Hue bulbs except kitchen just about to get the lightify gu10's for about 25 quid each and then will probably add the hue led strip kit for under counter. I pair all mine up to my samsung smart things with motion sensors so works when I enter and leave a room its brilliant.
Click to expand...

That sounds pretty good with the motion sensors.

I've got a few strips, one around the TV and then above the counters in the kitchen. I've got the Hue Bloom too but only have that and the TV strip to come on on a timer every evening.
 
I ordered two starter packs last night. I dont need 2 but theyre the same price as 3 bulbs but you get a spare hub???

It's going to get addictive and expensive. I'll be ordering a number of Hue White only bulbs for areas that don't "Need" colour.

Connected up to Smartthings.. just got to re pair a motion sensor before I order some more. (may get wired ones for ease of maintenance as I'm mid re-wire anyhow)
 
I thought I may as well ask in here rather than start a new thread. I'm planning to do a first room with Hue and then add more. Living room with TV. I have seen some good deals on earlier starter kits with the first bridge, some bulbs and a bloom.

I do not use any Apple products and to be honest I am such a MS Fanboy that Steve Jobbs would have to come back from the dead and install apple kit in my house for that to happen. Is there anything other than Apple integration that makes the new bridge better?

Does the old bridge work with their dimmers and the switches that can set four different scenes?

Happy to bight the bullet and buy the current starter kit if it is better.

edit: just found some comments that with bridge 1 it is laggier
 
Last edited:
I have some e14 bulbs which I would like to include. Does anyone know if Hue are going to add these to their offering? Seems lightify are no longer compatible with Hue and they are the only e14 I can find.

The wall lights would look terrible with adapters make the bulbs proud.
 
Skidder said:
I have some e14 bulbs which I would like to include. Does anyone know if Hue are going to add these to their offering? Seems lightify are no longer compatible with Hue and they are the only e14 I can find.

The wall lights would look terrible with adapters make the bulbs proud.
Click to expand...

Interested in this also, I've got a couple running with adapters but that's not always suitable as you've said.
 
I've just placed an order for a GU10 starter set and a couple of table or floor lamps for 2 of them to go in and I have another GU10 spot for the third.

I am going to hold off on the E14 and may be add those next month. Digging around it does seem that the lightify will currently work. Don't really like the idea of phillips spitting the dummy again to be honest.

edit: damn my lack of restraint, just bought the E14s, dimmer and scene switcher!
 
Last edited:
My GU10s and switches have arrived. All setup and working well using Huetro as I am on windows phone. The dimmer doesn't seem to be supported for setup in heutro yet, so I used my kids android tablet to get that working. Once setup it is seen in huerto and works really well. Lightify bulbs should have arrived but hopefully will be here tomorrow.

Any apps people know for xbox one, win 10 or win phone which sink lights to music, games or videos (I know about chariot)?

edit: bulbs had arrived and wife had put them away

I updated their firmware from the osram gateway and they work fine now with my hue setup. In huetro I only have dimming but in the android app I have full colour temp control

My wife thinks it is all a pointless and tasteless waste of time, which means I'm enjoying them even more.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom