Author Topic: Philips Hue and Lighting Family  (Read 17831 times)

Offline paul211b

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Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« on: March 23, 2016, 08:28:46 am »
Anyone use the Philips Hue line of house lights?

Fancied a look at these originally started with wanting a light strip on the back of the TV.   
You can sync with Kodi (light colour changes to the scene in the movie), change the colours from a palate of 16m, there are many themes and scenes. All controlled via phone apps. 
This can all be controlled by voice using Siri.  If your iPad/iPhone is plugged into the mains no need to even touch the device.

You can't just buy the light strip and the bulbs you need to buy the Philips Bridge.  New version 2.0 (square) for Siri integration.
This connects via Ethernet cable to your internet router then you can purchase the additional bulbs/lights.  Be careful as its addictive and expensive!!  The colour bulbs are £50 each, the have a white version that's half the price.

Started by ordering the E27 fitting started kit, this comes with 3 bulbs, the bridge, power cable and an Ethernet cable.
http://www.johnlewis.com/philips-hue-white-and-colour-ambiance-wireless-lighting-led-starter-kit-multi/p2227793

Along with this I ordered the lighting strip plus.  This is 2m long.  Can be cut and also extended if needed
http://www.johnlewis.com/philips-hue-personal-wireless-lighting-lightstrip-plus-200cm-led-lightstrips-kit/p2227792

There are other lights you can buy for the set such as Hue Go (portable light 3 hours battery life), Hue Iris, Hue Bloom.   
Then there are physical dimmers and switches (called tap) that you can get if you don't want to use an app.

I am now planning on getting a few more bulbs and some more lightstrips for above and below the units etc.
Also a Hue go on order for taking into the garden in the summer.

Few pictures of what you can do.





All can be controlled using voice, you can name different lights separately or zones.  Works quite well.
Being able to walk into the room and say "Hey Siri turn lights on" is great.

Does anyone else use this?  Know any other commands for Siri?  The manual only lists a few.   You can ask Siri to dim the bulbs 20% etc but this is also not in the manual.

Offline BER

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2016, 09:19:48 am »
Watching films, does it add anything to the experience, or are they just a distraction?

Offline paul211b

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2016, 09:27:50 am »
Watching films, does it add anything to the experience, or are they just a distraction?

Yeah I think it adds to the experience,   make the TV seems brigher and pops out more if that makes sense.   Watched mad max and had a nice sandy colour which was good.

Need to experiment more with the use of Kodi, as it changes the light automatically during a film,  so if at the sea it turns blue, if at the beach turns yellow etc.  Like the Philips ambilight TV's,  however there is a slight delay which is distracting. 

« Last Edit: March 23, 2016, 09:33:48 am by paul211b »

Offline paul211b

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2016, 09:34:32 am »
Mad Max

Offline paul211b

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #4 on: March 23, 2016, 11:22:37 am »
Just found this app that uses your device's camera to match the colours on the screen,  looks pretty good for £2.99

https://youtu.be/baRsWOmTflE


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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2016, 01:47:16 pm »
really interested in this home automation stuff

in the process of buying a new house that i want to do some work to it and think it would be silly not to add in some automation,

from the little i've researched there's a ton of options available but i can't find one that hits all the notes just yet, liking the look of the Hue range though

Offline Elmo!

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #6 on: March 23, 2016, 02:14:08 pm »
really interested in this home automation stuff

in the process of buying a new house that i want to do some work to it and think it would be silly not to add in some automation,

from the little i've researched there's a ton of options available but i can't find one that hits all the notes just yet, liking the look of the Hue range though

The Nest Thermostat and Smoke Alarms will work alongside the Hue range to do things like automatically turn lights on and off when you're on holiday to make it look like there are people at home.  Would love to put all 3 in but costs a fair bit!

Offline filthy1980

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #7 on: March 23, 2016, 03:06:22 pm »
yeah this stuff isn't cheap and guessing you can end up chucking a lot of money at it, but if these systems can pay for themseleves over the course of their life then it might be justifiable, besides you can't put a price on fun, turning the lights on and off from my mobile seems pretty cool to me

can the LED strips be hardwired as opposed to being on a plug in adapter?

Offline paul211b

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #8 on: March 23, 2016, 03:14:44 pm »
yeah this stuff isn't cheap and guessing you can end up chucking a lot of money at it, but if these systems can pay for themseleves over the course of their life then it might be justifiable, besides you can't put a price on fun, turning the lights on and off from my mobile seems pretty cool to me

can the LED strips be hardwired as opposed to being on a plug in adapter?

I don't think so, you might be able to do it by adding a transformer.  People seem to think 240v will be too much.

Here is a good site.
https://www.avforums.com/threads/philips-hue-owners-thread.1785387/


Offline paul211b

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #9 on: March 23, 2016, 03:17:52 pm »
turning the lights on and off from my mobile seems pretty cool to me

Even more fun asking Siri to turn them on.   Found out you can name each individual bulb, so they can be turned on seperatly,  you can also group the lights into zones and name them.  So "Hey Siri turn on kitchen lights, dim to 50%"

Going to setup some match scene lights, maybe green around the TV for the grass, and red from the other lamps to represent the kit.

Anyone know how to active Siri without pressing the home button and without being plugged into the mains?   
Can seem to only make this work when the device is charging.

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #10 on: March 23, 2016, 03:28:27 pm »
Ah you mentioned Siri and Apple........i'm all android, lucky there is an andriod voice command app for Hue on the play store so  ;D

Offline paul211b

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #11 on: March 24, 2016, 07:48:42 am »
Bought some E14 to E27 convertors for my ceiling lights.  The converter fits but the bulb does not work.   Any ideas?   

Offline Terry_Tibbs

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #12 on: March 24, 2016, 07:26:31 pm »
I've got a couple of the Philips Hue coloured bulbs in the bedroom and some white only bulbs in the lounge. I got the bridge and 2 white E27 bulbs for £49.99 from Amazon

Piss easy to set up and having just been away on holiday the option to switch the lights on and off and alter the brightness offers an element of peace of mind. One downside for me is that the coloured bulbs don't remember the colour tone you've chosen if for some reason you have to unplug the lamp.   
Bought some E14 to E27 convertors for my ceiling lights.  The converter fits but the bulb does not work.   Any ideas?   
I got a pack of 5 E14 to E27 adapters from this Amazon link and all the Hue bulbs work fine in them, perhaps you've got some duds?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lighting-JACKYLED%C2%AE-5-Pack-Adapter-Convertor-Wattage/dp/B00IMW3GS6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #13 on: March 24, 2016, 07:34:21 pm »
Got these. Love them.

Bought an Amazon Echo and some wifi plugs - walk in to the house and say "Downstairs on" - all the lights and lamps come on. Have a Phillips Ambilight TV too, am a sucker for it, especially the intro for Games of Thrones!

Echo linked to Spotify is great too.


To be fair, it's the business.

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Offline paul211b

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #14 on: March 25, 2016, 11:53:07 am »
Bought a new e14 to e27 convetor and it works so the other 5 I bought were duds.

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #15 on: March 25, 2016, 03:30:59 pm »
They are totally ace. The kids love playing with them, disco app is great fun too, although the whole set up drives my non-techy wife up the wall.

Offline filthy1980

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #16 on: March 30, 2016, 12:43:06 pm »
what's the energy uses like on these lights, more / less / same as standard energy saving bulbs (wondering whether it's worth getting some solar panels installed)

Offline paul211b

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #17 on: March 31, 2016, 07:55:10 am »
what's the energy uses like on these lights, more / less / same as standard energy saving bulbs (wondering whether it's worth getting some solar panels installed)

From what I heard (and allowed me to convince the Mrs) they use less and pay for them self over their lifetime.

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #18 on: March 31, 2016, 11:11:58 am »
From what I heard (and allowed me to convince the Mrs) they use less and pay for them self over their lifetime.

music to mine ears

might stick some around the toiler bowl  :D

Offline filthy1980

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #19 on: August 11, 2016, 01:49:50 pm »
Got these. Love them.

Bought an Amazon Echo and some wifi plugs - walk in to the house and say "Downstairs on" - all the lights and lamps come on. Have a Phillips Ambilight TV too, am a sucker for it, especially the intro for Games of Thrones!

Echo linked to Spotify is great too.


To be fair, it's the business.

finally bought some bulbs and bridge in the Prime sale a few back and set them up over the weekend,


very cool and practical too

when i moved into the new house i'm planning on getting an Echo too [assuming they'll be on sale in the UK],

for the voice commands, is there any lag at all?

i get about 1 second between pressing the Hue buttons on the app on my phone and the actual lights responding, just wondering shall i expect a couple of more seconds whilst the echo interprets what i say and relays the signal to the bridge


Offline paul211b

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #20 on: August 15, 2016, 12:20:51 pm »
I have not tried the Echo but I would assume there will be a second or two delay.   I had an ipad with Siri running and this was pretty quick.

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #21 on: August 15, 2016, 12:33:45 pm »
Good name for a band
If you're lying, I'll chop your head off.

Offline PaulF

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #22 on: September 1, 2016, 04:22:13 pm »
I got one of the starter sets last year with a big ball like lamp. I then used "If this then that"(IFTT)  to program it to flash red every time Balotelli scored for us.  I think it may be broken.

"All the lads have been talking about is walking out in front of the Kop, with 40,000 singing 'You'll Never Walk Alone'," Collins told BBC Radio Solent. "All the money in the world couldn't buy that feeling," he added.

Offline JamesG L4

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #23 on: September 3, 2016, 12:01:53 pm »
finally bought some bulbs and bridge in the Prime sale a few back and set them up over the weekend,


very cool and practical too

when i moved into the new house i'm planning on getting an Echo too [assuming they'll be on sale in the UK],

for the voice commands, is there any lag at all?

i get about 1 second between pressing the Hue buttons on the app on my phone and the actual lights responding, just wondering shall i expect a couple of more seconds whilst the echo interprets what i say and relays the signal to the bridge



Quote from: Voltaire on Today at 11:59:15 AM
Not much lag at all. It works well, only problem is I want more Echos around the house!!

You can say, "Alexa, dim the lights 50%.", so it's actually beneficial rather than just geeky. My favourite is linking the Wemo plugs too, so saying "Turn everything off," before bed means no rummaging around to find plug sockets.

You can buy an Echo off eBay. It's been a great buy, links well with a Spotify premium account even in the UK.

Read on Reddit the Echo should be released here in December.
---It's just a ride and we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money, a choice, right now, between fear and love-- william melvin hicks

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #24 on: September 5, 2016, 12:20:30 pm »
I programmed mine last night to come on at 6.15 this morning instead of an alarm clock.
Stupid thing turned on pretty much every 90 mins throughout the night.  I think it's the app I used.
The API looks well documented so I might try it again for myself. Will be really happy if I can use it as one of those bodyclock things, although I believe, the lowest brightness setting is about 30% of full, which is a bit bright.
"All the lads have been talking about is walking out in front of the Kop, with 40,000 singing 'You'll Never Walk Alone'," Collins told BBC Radio Solent. "All the money in the world couldn't buy that feeling," he added.

Offline filthy1980

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #25 on: September 5, 2016, 04:08:43 pm »
Quote from: Voltaire on Today at 11:59:15 AM
Not much lag at all. It works well, only problem is I want more Echos around the house!!

You can say, "Alexa, dim the lights 50%.", so it's actually beneficial rather than just geeky. My favourite is linking the Wemo plugs too, so saying "Turn everything off," before bed means no rummaging around to find plug sockets.

You can buy an Echo off eBay. It's been a great buy, links well with a Spotify premium account even in the UK.

Read on Reddit the Echo should be released here in December.

awesome

that'll be good timing  ;D

Offline paul211b

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #26 on: October 12, 2016, 11:53:59 am »
Have my lights now running with my Amazon Echo.   Works pretty well.   Can put the lights into groups.  I have "upstairs" "downstairs" Then add the individual lights to this group.
TV, Lamp, Iris, Living 1,2,3 , landing, bedroom, Hall.  Quite impressed with it and will only get better.  Hue working on an update to you can select scenes etc.

When the Harmony hub is integrated then this could be excellent.

Offline .adam

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #27 on: October 12, 2016, 12:00:54 pm »
Anyone got a link to where you can get cheap compatible bulbs? Fucked if I'm paying £20 odd a bulb.

Offline paul211b

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #28 on: October 12, 2016, 12:03:08 pm »
Anyone got a link to where you can get cheap compatible bulbs? Fucked if I'm paying £20 odd a bulb.

colour changing ones are £50 each. 

Offline .adam

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #29 on: October 12, 2016, 12:03:57 pm »
colour changing ones are £50 each. 

Double fucked if I'm paying that! Seen a few link to US products that go for about $10 a bulb. We got anything like that here?

Offline paul211b

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #30 on: October 12, 2016, 12:07:08 pm »
Double fucked if I'm paying that! Seen a few link to US products that go for about $10 a bulb. We got anything like that here?

Found this
http://www.howtogeek.com/216811/how-to-add-third-party-smart-bulbs-to-your-philips-hue-system/

I know there was an update that stopped these working briefly but due to customer backlash they reverted it.   Don't think all the features would work though

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #31 on: October 12, 2016, 12:18:41 pm »
Double fucked if I'm paying that! Seen a few link to US products that go for about $10 a bulb. We got anything like that here?

if you want plain white, the Philips living whites connect to the hub. Make sure they have smartlink, this was the older version before hue. To connect them I used an ios app iHue.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BFTFJ60/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You can find them on ebay too, I got them for around £6 each. But I could only find bayonet fittings.
EDIT: You can the 15 watt ones for around £5. It's equivalent to 60 watts in a standard bulb, if that is bright enough for you. I think I got 20w ones but always have them partially dimmed anyway.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PHILIPS-LIVINGWHITES-SMARTLINK-ENERGY-SAVING-BULBS-15-WATT-20-WATT-/121270075667?var=&refid=store&ssPageName=STORE:HTMLBUILDER:SIMPLEITEM

For colour, Osram lightify does work, but they are not as good as a hue bulb. I had some glitches and it wasn't as fast to change colour etc.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00JDJC2LO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I went with the Osram first as I didn't want to pay the full price, but I ended up getting the Hue colour eventually. I think you are better off waiting for either Black Friday or Amazon Prime day. On both of these days the colour hue have been about half price.
Keep your eye out for lighting/bulb deals on B&Q too. they had half price on all lighting and it covered all hue stuff. I got most of my kit through this deal. If they do 3 for 2 on bulbs it usually covers hue too.
« Last Edit: October 12, 2016, 12:30:38 pm by Craig S »


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Offline paul211b

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #34 on: October 13, 2016, 02:01:04 pm »
Is that one you linked compatible with the mobile app for changing the colours and setting a timer? Thanks!

Yes I think so I have one running off the app and from the Amazon Echo.  If i remember I had to add the device manually but works like the others.

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #35 on: October 13, 2016, 02:45:03 pm »
Yes I think so I have one running off the app and from the Amazon Echo.  If i remember I had to add the device manually but works like the others.

Cool, thanks. I'm tempted...

Offline paul211b

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #36 on: October 13, 2016, 03:15:09 pm »
Cool, thanks. I'm tempted...

They are pretty bright and light the room.  Bought a Bloom a while ago was about £60 its tiny and only adds a splash of colour to a single wall.   That went back.

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #37 on: October 13, 2016, 04:07:58 pm »
I was having a look at the Hue starter kit only last week...its 220 euros in argos at the moment. Does the one you posted above work with that too? Or would it be better to just buy say two of the one you linked above? I was looking at just putting in some mood lighting in my sons room and our front room. They aren't big rooms so maybe the one you posted would be the way to go...

Offline paul211b

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #38 on: October 13, 2016, 05:25:20 pm »
I have the hue kits and the iris above works with the hue bridge

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Re: Philips Hue and Lighting Family
« Reply #39 on: October 13, 2016, 05:50:24 pm »
Sweet! Cheers for the info. Reckon I'll get one  :)