Zigbee smart dimmable bulb recommendation (for use with Home Assistant)

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Hi there.

I am currently having a go at running Home Assistant off my Raspberry Pi 3.

Having almost given up after realising how complicated it all seemed, I finally have everything set up and have bought a ZZH CC2652R stick, and set up ZigbeeMQTT.

I now need to start buying some devices to actually work with it.

My first idea is a smartbulb for the lamp outside my front door.

I want it to come on as soon as HA senses that the sun as set, on a low dim light (and will stay on all night).

However, I want the bulb to turn on to maximum brightness when it senses that my phone is on its way home.

Can anyone recommend anything bulb that might fit the job, please?

This is the list of compatible devices, which is pretty comprehensive (and includes many brands I have never heard of):

https://zigbee.blakadder.com/zigbee2mqtt.html

Need something that will be cheap to run (given that it will be on all night, every night), and won't burn the place down.

Thanks
 
Soldato
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Hi there.

I am currently having a go at running Home Assistant off my Raspberry Pi 3.

Having almost given up after realising how complicated it all seemed, I finally have everything set up and have bought a ZZH CC2652R stick, and set up ZigbeeMQTT.

I now need to start buying some devices to actually work with it.

My first idea is a smartbulb for the lamp outside my front door.

I want it to come on as soon as HA senses that the sun as set, on a low dim light (and will stay on all night).

However, I want the bulb to turn on to maximum brightness when it senses that my phone is on its way home.

Can anyone recommend anything bulb that might fit the job, please?

This is the list of compatible devices, which is pretty comprehensive (and includes many brands I have never heard of):

https://zigbee.blakadder.com/zigbee2mqtt.html

Need something that will be cheap to run (given that it will be on all night, every night), and won't burn the place down.

Thanks

Hue will pretty much be the recommended option for lighting. You can integrate it directly with the bridge, or you can use your own zigbee gateway.

Automations within HA are then pretty much endless.
 
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Hue will pretty much be the recommended option for lighting. You can integrate it directly with the bridge, or you can use your own zigbee gateway.

Automations within HA are then pretty much endless.

This. I use Hue with Home Assistant, they're brilliant.

As said you can use them with the hub or a Zigbee stick. I use the hub. I have a Conbee II Zigbee stick using it with Zigbee2mqtt. Zigbee devices I have are all Aqara, they're good value from Aliexpress and I have been pleased with them, I'm running various motion sensors, temperature sensors, door contact sensors, smart buttons etc :)
 
Soldato
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for Hue wait until black friday - only time of the year you can buy their bulbs at the correct price - that's where people buy them and flog them off during the year, check hotuk for expected prices.

nonetheless I though they are all fairly high wattage/lumens so for an outside bulb, not sure where Id look - well probably a dumb bulb and smart switch.
 
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Thanks for your input, everyone - much appreciated.

I will definitely keep any eye out for Aara products - they seem to be getting some great reviews as really good value sensors.

Hue are crazily expensive and probably would only be an option on sale.

Are there any cheaper brands to consider (especially just for an outside light)?

Apparently, Ikea bulbs are Zigbee, so would they be an option?

I was looking at Tado bulbs (hadn't realised, until just now that they are TPLink) but they seem to be wifi, only.
 
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Thanks for your input, everyone - much appreciated.

I will definitely keep any eye out for Aara products - they seem to be getting some great reviews as really good value sensors.

Hue are crazily expensive and probably would only be an option on sale.

Are there any cheaper brands to consider (especially just for an outside light)?

Apparently, Ikea bulbs are Zigbee, so would they be an option?

I was looking at Tado bulbs (hadn't realised, until just now that they are TPLink) but they seem to be wifi, only.

Yep I can vouch for Tradfri too.

I've mainly got gu10s for tradfri and a couple of e27s. The gu10s are quite a bargain if you're only after dimmable lighting.
 
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Thank you - I shall check those out as well. Bizarre that most of the smart bulbs, that I have come across, are the E27 fitting. (Irritatingly, my outdoor fitting is B22).
 
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I recently purchased a Hue starter kit with the 800 lumens colour bulbs.
I've got a mix of TP-Link Kasa and Wiz bulbs in the living room at present but wanted to try and move to one system instead of using two apps.

The Kasa app is brilliant as are the widgets it has, whereas the Wiz app isn't so great and the widgets are terrible. Wiz produce more fittings and shapes than TP-Link though.

Anyway, the Hue bulbs were back in their box within half an hour of opening and were promptly sent back.
The app is lovely but as for 800 lumens... I think not.
They were awful and not a patch compared to the Kasa bulbs.

I appreciate that Hue now have 1100 lumens bulbs but they are £££.
 
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( E: yes per earlier post )

consider Ikea too if you have one nearby, or ready to pay their postage, its closer than china anyway
as video shows they have less flickering than hue.

philips are rather taking the p*** with their Hue pricing, apart from black friday vicinity, the qualities not all that
Philips Hue White Filament Review
IKEA TRÅDFRI Wireless Dimmer Starter Kit First Look Review TRADFRI vs Philips HUE [EUROPE 220V]
the lighting market seems to be a minefield, yes, the philips stuff has a warranty, versus chinese

tradfiri seems better value , I liked following app that allows dimming to behave like a incandescent bulb.
How-To: Pairing IKEA Tradfri Smart Lights with a SmartThings Hub
 
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Soldato
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Hue bulbs are well worth it. I also use Innr bulbs which I connect to my Hue Hub before integrating them with Home Assistant.

Just a note about the Hue bulbs - they ARE expensive but they’re very good and last forever. I’ve still got some of the original generation in my house that I bought so long ago I can’t remember when.
 
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I have started playing with Linkind GU10 zigbee bulbs and Aqara motion sensor with HA connected to a conbee2 and they work. But too may options :)

I also have about 20 Linkind GU10 linked to hue hub working with hue switches.
 
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Ikea tunable whites are it seems £15 nonetheless versus best case £20 for hue

Have you tried the Opple yet?
Opple have a few e27 on ali, no gu10's, but lots of commercial encapsulated bulbs ?

https://www.opple.eu/en/product/ind...mer-mw/leddownlightrc-p-mw-r150-115w-ble-3000
Anyone know of a manufacturer/supplier preferably in Europe that produces "Higher Lumen bulbs"
Standard colour bulbs are around 800Lm or less. Ive seen a few pushing 1000 and one or 2 1200+ but rare as heck and rarely zigbee.
you need encapsulated bulbs like these with good heat sinks to get a reliable >1000lumen bulb
 
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Opple have a few e27 on ali, no gu10's, but lots of commercial encapsulated bulbs ?

https://www.opple.eu/en/product/ind...mer-mw/leddownlightrc-p-mw-r150-115w-ble-3000

Opple coincidentally is the name of Aqara's multi button switch when @andy_mk3 had mentioned running Aqara and smart buttons.

I was curious if anyone else had tried them, they're zigbee3, and come in 2, 4, or 6 button variants. Note that each button can be single-click, double-click- triple-click, press-and-hold, so for a 6 button switch you can have dozens of different automations all from one switch.
 
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One thing to consider with IKEA bulbs is that the colour ones seem to have a limited range of colours (or at least the E27 one I have does) deep pinks/oranges/dark blues are ok, but a nice deep green on my Hue play bars comes out as a nasty snot/lime green on the IKEA bulb, with no way to reproduce the Hue colour.
 
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