Xiaomi smart bulbs are great and very reliable in my experience, have been using them for 2 years or so with no issues. And much cheaper than Philips, they also directly connect to WiFi, so no need for an additional box.
how smart has your home gone?
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Xiaomi smart bulbs are great and very reliable in my experience, have been using them for 2 years or so with no issues. And much cheaper than Philips, they also directly connect to WiFi, so no need for an additional box.
The pricing is on the high side without a doubt, i don't think anyone disagrees with that. But i don't know anyone who's purchased Hue bulbs at RRP, they always buy them when they're on sale as you get some very good deals.
I do have a mixture of Hue and Tradfri, i've got no issues with the Tradfri bulbs - they're a bit temperamental to add to the Hue bridge, but that's a one time thing and for the price of them (especially the GU10s) they work well. They don't have much of a colour range, and the bulbs that do are quite expensive - on par with Hue at which point you may as well just buy Hue.
Yep i think traditional dimmer switches are now very much a thing of the past, i had to rip a dozen of them out of this house when we moved in as they don't play nicely with smart bulbs.
I'd guess smart dimmers are expensive because it's a niche market. Most people would take the easy route of using a dump switch and a smart bulb as it's easy to replace (unless you're Bassmansam) as opposed to having to replace the light switch.
You can get smart light switches that'll make dumb bulbs 'smart', although it'd be restricted to on/off, so again it all comes down to what you want in your home.
I see that as more of a negative.
- You generally lose a lot of functionality if the internet goes down
- I believe zero functionality if you suddenly have no wifi
- Reliant on a 3rd party vendor to supply cloud services (if you want to control your lights outside of your home for example)
- Much harder to integrate everything under a single app, that's why Zigbee is the more preferred method.
Using the Hue bridge
- Loss of internet would only mean losing out of home control, you can still use everything as normal at home
- Loss of Wifi would mean you'd be unable to use the Hue app to control anything, however any lights that are on timers/schedules would continue to work
- No reliance on 3rd party cloud
- Uses Zigbee so you can integrate it with, or use it by anything that talks Zigbee.
One of these.
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/tradfr...e-warm-glow-globe-brown-clear-glass-70455676/
One of these.
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/tradfri-wireless-dimmer-white-00468432/
They can link directly together, no need for a hub, no need for an app, no need for wifi. Done.
Soldato
It is close to being what I want Ill admit. Its just the bulb is a lot smaller than the Philips one which is a proper globe. It will look a bit tiny in the lamp I have bought so id need to return the lamp and buy another.
Ok then..
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Watson-Dim...+large+bulb&qid=1603288028&s=lighting&sr=1-21
165mm bulb. It's zigbee so should link directly to the same ikea tradfri steering device.
Although, it's colour temperature is changeable, so go with this steering device instead. https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/tradfri-remote-control-30443124/
Although... thinking about it, the philips bulbs are zigbee as well. So go with the philips one and the ikea steering device. Should work straight away after pairing them.
Soldato
I appreciate you looking, thanks. That's going too expensive again.
I'll get the simple ikea bulb and dimmer and return the lamp I bought if it doesn't look right.
I just think a table lamp these days should come with a very low power in line dimmer. £20 for lamp, £10 for bulb. Done. But instead its £20 for lamp, £25 for bulb, £15 for dimmer. That's crazy prices.
Im not interested in having my table lamp connected to my wifi network.
I find home lighting very difficult. Its hard to get lighting which is where you want it in the day but very soft at night, and you can't have loads of bulbs hanging off the ceiling like they do in restaurants.
I'll get the simple ikea bulb and dimmer and return the lamp I bought if it doesn't look right.
I just think a table lamp these days should come with a very low power in line dimmer. £20 for lamp, £10 for bulb. Done. But instead its £20 for lamp, £25 for bulb, £15 for dimmer. That's crazy prices.
Im not interested in having my table lamp connected to my wifi network.
I find home lighting very difficult. Its hard to get lighting which is where you want it in the day but very soft at night, and you can't have loads of bulbs hanging off the ceiling like they do in restaurants.
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Basically you don't need anything smarthome, you're going to get suggestions you don't want in here.
A dimmable light that isn't wifi, isn't bluetooth and isn't voice controlled isn't smart, it's a lamp with a dimmer switch.
With respect, I don't even know why you'd post in here, what were you hoping to find?
Soldato
Because what i was saying was you cant seem to get a lamp with a dimmer switch any more, at least not compatible with a filament style LED.
Soldato
I guess the Ikea bulb is the closest. I just went after work though, showing plenty of stock online, got there to find none. Lady said probably been stolen.
The bulb on display really was very small though.
I think I'm going to have to go for the Philips one. Does it definitely work with the small £6 Ikea dimmer button? And is the Philips bulb likely to be much cheaper than £24 if I wait?
it's small , and, consistently, luminally challenged, - 250lumens isn't much unless theres a gang of them
does anyone have the philips filament here ?
looks like they may have dimming problems, so not the 5% I'd suggested, rather 30% ,before it looks like one of those flickering candle bulbs, for halloween
Which bulb is £24? I'm honestly not sure about the button tbh, isn't there a hue dimmer?
And is the hue bulb you're looking at probably needs a hue hub?
Hard to say without knowing the model but I suspect this isn't worth it for a single bulb..
I've got a few smart bulbs, a few smart bulbs and smart blinds all controlled via alexa, nothing major. I particuarly light the blinds pretty much everyone who has been round comments on them if they happen to open/close automatically while they're visiting.
Soldato
The globe filament one: https://www.philips-hue.com/en-gb/p/hue-white-filament-1-pack-g93-e27-filament/8718699688882
The Philips Hue dimmer is £14: https://www.philips-hue.com/en-gb/p/hue-dimmer-switch/8718696743157
But the simpler 2 button Ikea dimmer at only £6 would be better, its just a lamp. On, off, dim. That's all i need. I'd stick the dimmer to the wall next to the lamp.
Ok no, you need the hue hub to make the IKEA dimmer work with it. So it's all quite hacky.
The bulb itself can work just via Bluetooth but then you're back to your needing a phone problem.
Basically you're not going to find a "smart" based solution that doesn't involve either using your phone, your voice (ie investing in a smart speaker) or getting into an ecosystem that only makes financial sense at scale (ie have a hue hub, but I have 19 lights I think so the hub is a bit irrelevant).
So compromise on one of those or give up.
The bulb itself can work just via Bluetooth but then you're back to your needing a phone problem.
Basically you're not going to find a "smart" based solution that doesn't involve either using your phone, your voice (ie investing in a smart speaker) or getting into an ecosystem that only makes financial sense at scale (ie have a hue hub, but I have 19 lights I think so the hub is a bit irrelevant).
So compromise on one of those or give up.
Soldato
Yeah it just feels like im stuck.
'All' I really want is a nice looking bare filament bulb in my lounge, and I need it to be dimmable because I don't have much room in my lounge so just the one lamp and the main light is all I have. In the day and early evening, big light and lamp are on. At night when I settle down on the sofa, big light is off and I want the lamp on very low.
But no table lamps seem to come with inline dimmers suitable for really low dimming of an LED bulb. For the filament bulbs to look decorative, they need to be dimmed really low.
The Philips bulb has the right look to it, but for bulb and dimmer that is £38 which is a lot of money just for a dimmable bulb for a table lamp.
The Ikea bulb isn't really bright enough on its max, and its very small in size so won't look very decorative. But that is £16 including their little dimmer switch so more reasonably priced.
I don't really need a google home type device. What would I use it for apart from dimming the lamp. Bit pointless. I don't need any more smart bulbs anywhere else in the house, and because its a rented place I don't want to go mad. If I was to get my own place then maybe I'd think about systematically making things smart throughout.
I know I just have to buy it or don't, but its just annoying that no one makes a simple lamp with an appropriate in line dimmer these days. A lamp with dimmer, pretty god-damn simple really. Its not rocket science.
'All' I really want is a nice looking bare filament bulb in my lounge, and I need it to be dimmable because I don't have much room in my lounge so just the one lamp and the main light is all I have. In the day and early evening, big light and lamp are on. At night when I settle down on the sofa, big light is off and I want the lamp on very low.
But no table lamps seem to come with inline dimmers suitable for really low dimming of an LED bulb. For the filament bulbs to look decorative, they need to be dimmed really low.
The Philips bulb has the right look to it, but for bulb and dimmer that is £38 which is a lot of money just for a dimmable bulb for a table lamp.
The Ikea bulb isn't really bright enough on its max, and its very small in size so won't look very decorative. But that is £16 including their little dimmer switch so more reasonably priced.
I don't really need a google home type device. What would I use it for apart from dimming the lamp. Bit pointless. I don't need any more smart bulbs anywhere else in the house, and because its a rented place I don't want to go mad. If I was to get my own place then maybe I'd think about systematically making things smart throughout.
I know I just have to buy it or don't, but its just annoying that no one makes a simple lamp with an appropriate in line dimmer these days. A lamp with dimmer, pretty god-damn simple really. Its not rocket science.
I wouldn't say it's "hacky". The bulbs speak zigbee, and the ikea remote speaks zigbee. The bridge allows the two devices to talk zigbee to each other.
I guess the market is no longer there for dimmable lamps, so manufacturers no longer bother to make them.
Fwiw you could pick up a cheap xiaomi zigbee switch for £5-6. A bridge on ebay for £20, then it's just a case of seeing if that bulb ever goes on offer (they sell it on Amazon and the lowest camelcamelcamel has tracked it to is £21.99). So you're looking about £50 all in, which to be fair half the cost is just the bulb.
Edit: if you're any good with electronics you could just wire in your own dimmer.
Soldato
Cant get them, crazy as it sounds. Cannot buy separate inline dimmers that go down low enough for a single bulb.
I'll be honest I haven't followed this too much but isn't the bridge you refer to either the ikea or the hue one?
That's my point (in part) about it being hacky, I guess you either need to add the ikea dimmer to the hue hub as a hue dimmer or the hue bulb to the ikea hub as an ikea bulb.
Do they just show up on a search? And either way it adds cost.
Incidentally @danlightbulb you ought to check the obvious site for "Innr" bulbs. I have those for the most part not hue, they're basically copies of hue bulbs which the hue hubs sees as hue bulbs/have all the same functionality just cheaper.