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Philips Hue |OT| And Siri said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
- Thread starter GAMEPROFF
- Start date
How strangely relevant. I've been researching my smart light options with Ikea and I have several E12 lamps but I didn't know Lifx even made that size. But at 3 lights per lamp this is going to be expensive. If Ikea has cheap (and good) colored lights and are Alexa compatible I might do that instead, the problem being I'd need a hub and I can't really wait because my new apartment has almost no built in light fixtures.
Zeyphersan
Banned
Smart lights (and smart home stuff in general) is totally an addiction once you get started. I moved into a smaller apartment recently but I have a California king bed, so I was looking for a way to light my room when I didnt really have room for a floor lamp. My solution was completely extra, but also great: I halo lit the whole room with Hue Strips
Ill post pictures later, its legit
Ill post pictures later, its legit
peteykirch
Member
We got Hue bulbs in every room.
Color ones in the bedroom, living room, and dining room.
Plain white ones in every other room.
Color ones in the bedroom, living room, and dining room.
Plain white ones in every other room.
charliebear
Neo Member
So although you used to need the new bridge to have zones, with Alexa at least and the old bridge you can have named areas of the house. Game changer for me and my hue household
Damn son. That setup is nice. Love the starlight ceiling as well.
Just needs a good beamer.
Thanks, that sounds reasonable.
I was expecting much more since each bulb has to maintain some sort of steady connection to your Wi-Fi. Glad I was wrong though.
You can turn lights on / off, change color, and set brightness natively with the Assistant. You assign bulbs to rooms, just like in any other app. If you give your bulbs useful names, Assistant can also use them for voice controls. For instance, I have two Hue Bloom lights that I use as ambient / bias lighting for my television. I named them Hue Bloom TV A & B. Assistant can handle commands like "Turn on my TV lights" or "Set my Bloom lights to blue".
If you want to do scenes or animations, I think you still need to use IFTTT.
Follow the instructions on the LIFX site. The ones on Philips site did not work for me. I think they assume you have the Google Home hardware, but the LIFX instructions work fine (for both LIFX and Hue) using just my Pixel phone.
https://support.lifx.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001623346-Google-Home-and-Google-Assistant
WoolyNinja
Member
Zeyphersan
Banned
yeah that is what I meant by it being the odd exception where hue is brighter than LIFX but it really doesnt matter how you slice it, the hue is overpriced. Brightness isn't a factor in most candelabra installations anyway. If you wanted bright, why use that form factor? They're mostly (but not entirely) in multi-bulb installations. Granted in _my_ case I do care, which is why I didn't cancel the Hues.
I used to have 1 candelabra in my bedroom growing up and that was the only light. In that case te hue would have been a huge difference, but i don't think that is a situation most people find themselves in.
DJ Incompetent
Member
30something hue bulbs for years.
- Get color bulbs if you have small kids or live alone. Normies are not bedazzled by the color show, so everyone else get white bulbs.
- The standard bulb color types, Get gen 3. Anything under can't do greens or blues. "Friends of Hue" stuff does color better than official bulbs.
- If people live with you, grab some Hue Tap switches.
- Get the official app working, but you don't need it. Learn IFTTT science, Echo/Home talking robots, smartwatches, 3rd party apps, other hardware switch tech, hackery, etc.
- 3rd party apps as in Hue Disco and OnSwitch
- Your first IFTTT training should be to have several applets make lights all-off a few times during certain daylight, and all-off a few times overnight you're certain to be asleep.
--Now you can design your color lights as custom notification features without wasting much electricity.
--Example, I rigged IFTTT to ESPN to program each light to one of the three team theme colors whenever a game of that team has started.
- Get color bulbs if you have small kids or live alone. Normies are not bedazzled by the color show, so everyone else get white bulbs.
- The standard bulb color types, Get gen 3. Anything under can't do greens or blues. "Friends of Hue" stuff does color better than official bulbs.
- If people live with you, grab some Hue Tap switches.
- Get the official app working, but you don't need it. Learn IFTTT science, Echo/Home talking robots, smartwatches, 3rd party apps, other hardware switch tech, hackery, etc.
- 3rd party apps as in Hue Disco and OnSwitch
- Your first IFTTT training should be to have several applets make lights all-off a few times during certain daylight, and all-off a few times overnight you're certain to be asleep.
--Now you can design your color lights as custom notification features without wasting much electricity.
--Example, I rigged IFTTT to ESPN to program each light to one of the three team theme colors whenever a game of that team has started.
I would try using mounting putty first. That is generally the easiest way to stick something flush to a surface, provided it is light enough.
Got some of these. Havent mounted them yet, cause I am still not 100% sure if and how I should use them...
Razorback
Member
I got it working! Many thanks.
Not sure I agree since IKEA has popularized E12 for many of their lamps and lights. It's not just for candelabra styles these days.
Not 100% sold on Hue practically, but I already bought in as they were the only HomeKit light system at the time lol sigh.
They did get their color bulbs on track with last years update, but man... $50 per bulb is steep. At this point Ive been sticking with white ambience which is definitely the lowest Id go with. I use the color temp changes throughout much of the house depending on time and day. I do have color bulbs in the front room and porch.. easy way to add some ambience during various holidays.
All in all I like Hue and bulb-based automation over just switches. Ultimately the switch answers the question how do I control the lights. Except we can now control the lights directly by various means.. so why keep relying on switches. The wife and daughter dont really like using Siri on their phones... but humor me (mostly with the Home app). Hoping that HomePod in December will make it more common to just use Siri. We actually have half a dozen scenes or so setup which they DO like (and use those mostly to control the lights). So maybe I just need to give them fun names hey Siri turn on the crime scene
They did get their color bulbs on track with last years update, but man... $50 per bulb is steep. At this point Ive been sticking with white ambience which is definitely the lowest Id go with. I use the color temp changes throughout much of the house depending on time and day. I do have color bulbs in the front room and porch.. easy way to add some ambience during various holidays.
All in all I like Hue and bulb-based automation over just switches. Ultimately the switch answers the question how do I control the lights. Except we can now control the lights directly by various means.. so why keep relying on switches. The wife and daughter dont really like using Siri on their phones... but humor me (mostly with the Home app). Hoping that HomePod in December will make it more common to just use Siri. We actually have half a dozen scenes or so setup which they DO like (and use those mostly to control the lights). So maybe I just need to give them fun names hey Siri turn on the crime scene
I have some of those keeping bundles of cables in place elsewhere in my apartment. I would still suggest that you try using mounting putty first for a lightstrip.
Good news is that the LIFX mini color actually comes under $50 for a single bulb and drops to 40 each when you get four: https://www.lifx.com/products/lifx-mini
Main difference from the regular LIFX is 800 vs 1100 lumens. The Hue is 800 lumens too — but only at 4000K I believe. I wonder how the LIFX changes in output with different color temperatures.
http://www.muada.com/2016/07-14-hue-white-ambiance-dims-all-the-way-to-1.html
Otherwise I also recommend to just get white ambiance bulbs and save the color ones for when you really want something specific.
Luschient
Member
One of the things that would get me to jump into smart bulbs would be the ability to rig the lights to do a "celebration" when a particular team scores during a game.
Something along these lines, although I'm sure setting that up is far far beyond my capabilities.
I think I have seen this Skill at IFTTT
m_shortpants
Member
Smart lights are an addiction. I've got Hue lights all over my condo. That wasn't enough, so then i got Z Wave dimmers for recessed lights wherever they are. Now I have motion sensors everywhere and I don't touch any switches or anything.
Wow, I haven't thought about that. Is there a tutorial for that? I have a Pi 3 already at home and would be nice to use it.
one of the advantages with Hue is because it uses 900Mhz zigbee, it offers less congestion on your network. This is definitely something that should be mentioned for people wondering why anyone would use a system that requires a hub. Yes hub-less lighting systems come in slightly cheaper than wifi lights.. but adding 20-30+ always-on wifi devices to your network can often times be crippling.
The main reason I started buying Hue bulbs is to simulate presence in my home when I'm traveling. It has been really nice for that. I have a couple IFTTT scripts set up to turn my exterior lights on at sunset and off at sunrise. I also built a routine in the Hue app to somewhat randomize on/off times for various interior lights around the house. Instructions here.
See this Google Support article.
See this Google Support article.
karmaforgotme
Member
I have been buying both color and white Hue bulbs every payday since summer started. It is nothing but addicting.
Question I know there are ways to get hue lights to go along with the beat of the music. What is the best app for this? Also any other must have apps for Hue lights? I've seen Lightbow and IFTTT so far. Thanks.
Also great news about the new Echo (I already pre-ordered) having a build in hub. My current hub is almost full.
Question I know there are ways to get hue lights to go along with the beat of the music. What is the best app for this? Also any other must have apps for Hue lights? I've seen Lightbow and IFTTT so far. Thanks.
Also great news about the new Echo (I already pre-ordered) having a build in hub. My current hub is almost full.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=188958
got this guide. I need a speaker and usb microphone though.
VGChampion
Member
Love the starlights!
Veritigo_X
Member
That's to put the Google Assistant on a Pi, but that might be useful if you don't have anything that has Assistant yet. Forsete was talking about Home Assistant, which I use with my Hue lights as well (+ other home automation stuff). It acts as a smart hub to connect various smart devices and you can configure it to work with your normal Assistant devices (Google Home, phone, etc).
HomeKit support added for Hue tap, dimmer, and motion sensor:
- Apple HomeKit compatibility for Hue accessories
Philips Hue is extending its Apple HomeKit compatibility for Hue accessories: Hue tap, Hue dimmer switch and Hue motion sensor. Meaning with a press of a button, or movement of your body, you can activate your favorite Apple Home app scenes. To set up automations, you need an Apple TV (4th generation) with tvOS 10 or an iPad with iOS 10 or later.
- Apple HomeKit compatibility for Hue accessories
Philips Hue is extending its Apple HomeKit compatibility for Hue accessories: Hue tap, Hue dimmer switch and Hue motion sensor. Meaning with a press of a button, or movement of your body, you can activate your favorite Apple Home app scenes. To set up automations, you need an Apple TV (4th generation) with tvOS 10 or an iPad with iOS 10 or later.
jts
...hate me...
Oh fuck that's awesome. I have 3 motion sensors and 5 dimmers.
None of the apps I have tried has done a decent job of making your lights react to music in a convincing way. Rather than going along with the beat, they tend to produce fairly random effects that have nothing to do with the specific music you are playing. You can program light shows in advance that sync up to music using apps like Light DJ, but that is labor intensive.
First IKEA color spectrum bulb is out: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20353289/
$35 with a dimming kit. 600 lumens. If they sold the bulb without the dimmer it'd be even cheaper.
$35 with a dimming kit. 600 lumens. If they sold the bulb without the dimmer it'd be even cheaper.
Zeyphersan
Banned
Wow, I bought a Logitech Tap because I hated how the Phillips switch didnt work with HomeKit. This is great!
Bonus, I have my Hue sync'd with Plex in my projector room to dim lights when playback starts, and turn lights on with a random color upon pause/stop! https://github.com/ledge74/HelloHue.bundle
Oh, cool. Didn't realize we had a Hue thread.
Oooooh, I did not know about this. Signing up for the beta API now (edit: actually nevermind, just for companies atm).
I made some software similar to Screenbloom alittle bit back, using a bunch of dumb tricks to make it as low latency as possible (the time between a new frame and sending the changes to the lights is about 4ms), but any more than two lights is still rubbish unfortunately.
Been wanting to show it off actually. Never bothered releasing the software because I didn't want to make a GUI, heh.
That API could be a game changer for my living room.
PS Don't know if anyone had an amBX, but I made that glOW software back in the day
Oooooh, I did not know about this. Signing up for the beta API now (edit: actually nevermind, just for companies atm).
I made some software similar to Screenbloom alittle bit back, using a bunch of dumb tricks to make it as low latency as possible (the time between a new frame and sending the changes to the lights is about 4ms), but any more than two lights is still rubbish unfortunately.
Been wanting to show it off actually. Never bothered releasing the software because I didn't want to make a GUI, heh.
That API could be a game changer for my living room.
PS Don't know if anyone had an amBX, but I made that glOW software back in the day
because I was frustrated that Philips wouldn't add a white balance.
Wow, that looks amazing, well done!
I really hope Philips adds some kind of HDMI Dongle that I can plug between my devices to to emulate the same... But somehow I lose my hope to get it working with my Blu-Ray Player
Hehe, thanks.Wow, that looks amazing, well done!
I really hope Philips adds some kind of HDMI Dongle that I can plug between my devices to to emulate the same... But somehow I lose my hope to get it working with my Blu-Ray Player
Yeah, protected content is annoying for this kinda stuff. Quite alot of Windows 10 media apps block attempts to screen capture them... gotta use Chrome if I want Netflix with the lights.
I've been considering making an app for Android TV for Hue screen mirroring (to turn Sony TVs into Ambilights), but it's kind of a big job and I've no idea if everything's just gonna be protected. Also, the CPUs in those TVs are not good.
Steam should be fine. If we're talking Screenbloom with games, it could be that their screen capture method doesn't play nice with graphics APIs (especially with games in fullscreen exclusive, borderless windowed might work).
VGChampion
Member
Is 600 good? Around the same level as Hue bulbs? I tried looking it up but saw different levels depending on some number that goes in the thousands?