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Thoughts on Philips Hue Lights (midwest.social)

submitted 4 months ago by dumples@midwest.social to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world

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I am a dabbler in home automation and thinking about starting to get into lighting. I have heard mostly good things about the Philip Hue line and wanted to see what peoples thoughts are about it.

Our main current automation are a large number of Google Smart Speaker and Arlo video doorbells. Everything is working now on the Google ecosystem which I think Philip Hue will connect with. Our house is 100 years old which means that our possibilities to automate are lower than a new home since we have very few overhead lights, power outlets are at a premium (we have lots of power strips running through the house).

We are thinking about doing smart bulbs in some lamps which we can leave on and a chandalier. I think the biggest issue will leaving things always powered on.

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[–] dan@upvote.au 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (8 children)

They work well. They cost more than other options, but (at least in my experience) colours are more consistent and uniform.

Not sure if it's still the case, but the ones I have from a few years ago use Zigbee so you don't actually need their hub - any Zigbee coordinator will do (I'm using a PoE one, the smlight SLZB-06).

Consider using smart switches instead of smart bulbs. However, given how old the house is, you might not have neutral wires at the switches, which limits the types of smart switches you can use. Do you know if the electrical wiring is still original, or if it was redone at some point?

For the power outlets, I'd highly recommend getting an electrican to install more. It's way more convenient than having power strips everywhere.

[–] webhead@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I've done smart switches and so many suck shit. Also different colors for the bulbs are so nice. And hue has options for wall switches too (slap a little switch on the wall that has different scene options and such). They're just better honestly lol. Instant response time too. I was cheap for so long avoiding these and I just kick myself now.

[–] dan@upvote.au 1 points 4 months ago

Smart switches can have instant response time too.

I'm using high-end smart switches (Inovelli Blue) and they're great. They don't have any of the problems of the cheap ones. You can use them with regular bulbs, or in conjunction with smart bulbs. For smart bulbs, you can pair the switch directly with the bulb.

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