Topic '[OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit' in forum 'TekSavvy' - dslreports.com

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 12:15:25 EDT

mlerner posted :

said by honix :

Thanks for your post. I bought the Hue starter kit and one extra bulb yesterday. I was trying out the timer and I set up a scene for one bulb to come on at a specific time and go off at a specific time. Surprise! The other 3 bulbs came on but the one I scheduled did not.

Unfortunately the software isn't user friendly and still a bit buggy. Without knowing how you have everything setup there a few things you need to keep in mind. I'm just going to speed through this presuming you've already done it but let me know if you need clarification.

Now the light switch has to be on at all times so the bulbs can get power which then enable you to control the bulb state.

Secondly, the bulb has to be configured with the bridge. If you haven't done so, you need to launch the app and if you bring up preferences there's an option to detect and add bulbs.

Third, presuming your bulbs can communicate properly, you should be able to set the individual bulbs in the light pattern just as mine is shown above.

Fourth, if you've done all that and still have issues you may have wifi reception problems with the location of that bulb. The key is since the bridge range is small (I believe 200 feet) the bulbs will act as a repeater and communicate between themselves so that should help but if not, you may need to add a bulb between the one you're having issues with and the last bulb you can communicate with.

said by honix :

You mention resetting the bulbs (turn the lamp off and then back on) for which you don't want the scene to apply.

Well that would be one way to do it. The intent of the on/off is so if you don't have access to the client/bridge you can still turn on the bulbs. In addition, by doing that it will reset so that it will not show a pattern.

Now there's a bug I believe with the patterns, the web portal applies patterns to every bulb (probably no support to apply individual bulbs) and the smartphone app if you wait too long, selects all bulbs and applies the pattern immediately even though the pattern hasn't been saved which I hope will be fixed soon.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 08:52:14 EDT

anon posted : Thanks for your post. I bought the Hue starter kit and one extra bulb yesterday. I was trying out the timer and I set up a scene for one bulb to come on at a specific time and go off at a specific time. Surprise! The other 3 bulbs came on but the one I scheduled did not. You mention resetting the bulbs (turn the lamp off and then back on) for which you don't want the scene to apply. Does that really work? I've also noticed that when you touch on a scene it sets the 3 original bulbs to that scene but ignores the 4th (extra) bulb. Have you run into this? Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 14:27:09 EDT

mlerner posted :

said by BuddyRich:

I was also interested in HUE but put off by the 50W. OTOH Philips has a history of making bulbs, this startup, not so much. I guess its good to have options, too bad they aren't cross-compatible.

The hue bulbs they say are equivalent to 60w but regardless, they are fairly bright even though some of my older bulbs were 80 watt.

And also, the firmware is supposed to be open source so presumably you could make your own bulbs that work with it or integrate it with your own software.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 13:49:41 EDT

anon posted : For CFL's, i find you need to get the 20watt 3500K variety, the all-too-common 13 watt 2700k is a terrible light source.

I too have CFL's outdoor that are left on all night, every night. Its been that way for 3 years and they still work great. In a bathroom, or somewhere they get turned on/off a lot, they fail in less than a year.

There was an overstock store i found cheap LED's made by sunbeam, 3 pack for $10. I put them in my aquarium 1 year ago and have been left on ever since (24/7) I also use them in cabinets, and in my bathroom. Best "cheap" LED's i've used. nice and bright for 4 watts.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 08:36:17 EDT

BuddyRich posted : There is actually a kickstarter that has been funded to a sizeable amount for a similar product:

Lifx

»www.kickstarter.com/projects/lim···invented

It seems Philips stole their thunder when they announced their product. The only difference is Lifx doesn't use a bridge and are 60W equivalents, not 50W.

I was also interested in HUE but put off by the 50W. OTOH Philips has a history of making bulbs, this startup, not so much. I guess its good to have options, too bad they aren't cross-compatible.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 01:14:12 EDT

graniterock posted : They're are pretty neat. The one thing that surprises me is that there isn't a party mode where the lights rotate between colours.

These are on my "want" list but I may be waiting for the price to come down a bit.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 00:25:12 EDT

bbbc posted : Doesn't look like any of these products support 802.11a 5GHz. :(

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Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 00:18:30 EDT

Crowbar1 posted : Still fairly expensive ... $60 bucks to control 2 lights . But not bad :D! > »www.androidcentral.com/spark-soc···friendly

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 00:00:25 EDT

morisato posted : i found a Kickstarter That Allows u to use any Dimmable bulb in a Special bulb adapter in the same way these work, though u would not get color control. just on off/dimming. called the Spark Socket.
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Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 18:32:53 EDT

decx posted : CFLs are ok, especially in applications where they are on for an extended period. I have several that run from dusk to dawn for the past few years and they're still going. However LED produce better light especially for clear or parabolic bulbs as LEDs are point light sources and can produce the "sparkle" effect that CFLs can't.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 16:13:45 EDT

zomo posted : Thank you for the informative & interesting review. I accept CFL's, but they leave much to be desired. Your post spawned very interesting followup from the online community. Great info from DKS regarding the Phillips 800 lumen lights!

May just have to try some of these as the CFL's fail 1 yr into their 5 yr lifespan. :p

Zomo...

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 11:50:47 EDT

JonF posted : app is free and available on android as well (just checked)

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 01:10:08 EDT

morisato posted : Very tempting Only problem is apple store.. I refuse to buy anything in that Hell hole.. P:)
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Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 19:38:36 EDT

Gimli posted :

said by Rickkins:

$199. for 3 bulbs....??!!

Not in this lifetime.

+1
that's a lot of beer

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 14:55:16 EDT

JonF posted : Saw these on soldierknowsbest's vidcast. Pretty cool concept.

»www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hWNVBcuvt8
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Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 14:46:03 EDT

Crowbar1 posted :

said by Curmudgeon:

When I heard talk of banning incandescent bulbs, I stocked up with a lifetime supply.

Ever wonder why those bulbs produce so much heat ? There's a reason for that . Anyway , enjoy your hydro bill .... :(

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 10:57:57 EDT

mlerner posted :

said by DKS:

said by c2roth:

I guess you like your house to be dim, but lighting is of course subjective.

Don't find it dim at all. In fact, it's brighter than the CFL's and incandescents they replaced. I'm using the 800 lumen Phillips bulbs, mostly.

I agree. I'm not sure if we have the exact same bulb but I also have 800 lumen bulbs and I haven't noticed any difference at all in brightness with my old one.

I do like the fact that I can actually set the exact brightness I want. Even the old dimming bulbs were too basic as it had pre-set levels.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 10:55:21 EDT

mlerner posted :

said by Curmudgeon:

said by mlerner:

Anyway, if anyone has any questions, let me know. I'd be happy to answer them.

Why? Seems like a complicated solution to a simple problem.

Not complicated for me but I never claimed it was a solution for anyone else.

For me, my long term goal is to offload my household to electronic networked systems since most of what I do is already done electronically such as bill payment, banking, communication to some extent, entertainment etc. Even my day job often requires remote access and computer systems.

Now on the other hand, you can still get LED bulbs standalone, no wifi or anything like that. If that's all you want and likely most people will opt for, you can get the simple bulb and be done with it.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 08:36:40 EDT

TwiztedZero posted :

said by Curmudgeon:

When I heard talk of banning incandescent bulbs, I stocked up with a lifetime supply. All my light fixtures and lamps have simple mechanical switches. Works for me.

A life time supply eh? Short life plan? Or did you get filthy rich and make a few deals for a coupple of high pallets worth?
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Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 06:51:30 EDT

Curmudgeon posted :

said by mlerner:

Anyway, if anyone has any questions, let me know. I'd be happy to answer them.

Why? Seems like a complicated solution to a simple problem.

When I heard talk of banning incandescent bulbs, I stocked up with a lifetime supply. All my light fixtures and lamps have simple mechanical switches. Works for me.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:27:15 EDT

DKS posted :

said by c2roth:

I guess you like your house to be dim, but lighting is of course subjective.

Don't find it dim at all. In fact, it's brighter than the CFL's and incandescents they replaced. I'm using the 800 lumen Phillips bulbs, mostly.
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Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:06:27 EDT

c2roth posted : I guess you like your house to be dim, but lighting is of course subjective. I'd love to replace my overhead kitchen fixture with some nice track lighting that uses LEDs. That would look really nice and be very efficient. Currently that fixture is still stock on incandescent as the glass dome is too narrow to fit in the wider base of a CFL.

Thanks for that article Maynard. Some great information in that first article.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 10:29:02 EDT

MaynardKrebs posted : Interesting article on LED performance
»ledsmagazine.com/features/9/6/8

A consumer perspective from Australia
»www.wattsaver.com.au/products/gu···r16s.pdf

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 09:56:02 EDT

anon posted : LED are probably good for places that have lights turn on and off often (e.g. kitchen, washroom) as their light level reach full level instantly vs old CF that sometimes take minutes especially on a cold day. They should handle the on/off cycles a lot better than incandescent and CF as cold filaments draws a lot of inrush current and those tend to die prematurely in those locations.

The "white" LED still uses fluorescent material similar to that of CF, so the light output will decrease over its life time and due to excessive heat. That limits their useful life time.

In theory, the LED would last a long time, BUT they would only last as long as the power supplies in them. So good luck with those cut rates Chinese no-names capacitors in Chinese electronic that is crammed inside the small base of the bulb under high heat.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 09:42:13 EDT

DKS posted :

said by c2roth:

CFLs still have LEDs beat for lumens. I can't even consider switching to them because everywhere I have CFLs would be dim.

I found the opposite to be true. LED's were superior to every CFL application in my home.
--
Need-based health care not greed-based health care.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 08:21:41 EDT

c2roth posted : CFLs still have LEDs beat for lumens. I can't even consider switching to them because everywhere I have CFLs would be dim.

Where I find LEDs look really good is in the kitchen for spot lighting of specific points but you do need to double up on them number of them to get any really usable amount of work level lighting. A friend of ours recently did this for their kitchen remodel and it looks really nice with the white light on white cabinet.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 08:13:07 EDT

Rickkins posted : $199. for 3 bulbs....??!!

Not in this lifetime.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 06:59:40 EDT

DKS posted : I have just been replacing most of my incandescents with LED's from Home Depot I like them. .
--
Need-based health care not greed-based health care.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 06:08:19 EDT

mlerner posted :

said by MaynardKrebs:

Any idea how many lumens each bulb outputs?

Forgot that in my original post. Each one is rated to 600 lumens.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:55:57 EDT

MaynardKrebs posted : Any idea how many lumens each bulb outputs?

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:42:27 EDT

silvercat posted :

said by cognizantt:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/HA779VC/A/philips-hue-connected-bulb-starter-pack

at $200 for a starter pack, i'm thinking there's low demand.

Hmmmm... would make a great x-mas gift.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:39:19 EDT

anon posted :

said by TSI Gabe:

Any way you can set the values in Kelvin? (White Balance)

Wouldn't that require a full spectrum bulb and then remotely (somehow remotely) applying a filter to it to adjust the spectral output (or kelvin output)?

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:09:13 EDT

Crowbar1 posted :

said by blink :

But are you saying you bought some sort of special light bulb just so you can turn them on or off via the web?

In my day, we would walk to the light switch and turn it off before leaving the house.

Seems like money well spent.

Money well spent indeed ... the bulbs also use alot less energy saving coin , and you can turn them up/down or on/off even remotely. You don't have to remember to switch them off or on before leaving the house ... :)

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:04:02 EDT

cognizantt posted : »store.apple.com/us/product/HA779···ter-pack

at $200 for a starter pack, i'm thinking there's low demand.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:45:27 EDT

anon posted : I didn't read the spec's or what it is exactly, just going by your description here...

But are you saying you bought some sort of special light bulb just so you can turn them on or off via the web?

In my day, we would walk to the light switch and turn it off before leaving the house.

Seems like money well spent.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:26:25 EDT

Crowbar1 posted : LED's put out a little more light wise than an equivalent bulb and tend to last quite a long time to boot .... :D

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:19:31 EDT

mlerner posted :

said by Crowbar1:

Those are even more energy efficient than those stupid spiral bulbs , and i suspect will last a very long time as well . I think the price will come down some in the future as they seem too expensive at the moment ... very cool bulbs though :D

Yup and surprisingly, the bulbs are as bright as the ones I had before. I don't notice much difference. These LED bulbs I believe are rated up to 15 years, so yes I spent quite a bit but if they last that long, I might get my money worth.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:19:06 EDT

Crowbar1 posted : If they're anything like car headlight blubs you have to change the bulb to get different kelvin values .Something around 5 - 5.5 k is white looking .

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:16:42 EDT

mlerner posted :

said by decx:

Frankly it's not just a little pricey. It's more than double the price of a regular Philips LED bulb. As long as you don't need the colour lighting, with that difference, after a couple of additional bulbs you one could use the difference to get a integrated lighting control system which would allow for a greater variation in bulb types (currently the hue comes in one shape).

Could be true, I haven't seen the pricing on other models but the price will definitely come down in the next year or two as LED bulbs are entering the marker in North America. And they did mention on the site that they are working on other bulbs for the Hue system.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:14:39 EDT

mlerner posted :

said by TSI Gabe:

Any way you can set the values in Kelvin? (White Balance)

Nope, can't set anything except the colour and brightness. Although, Philips is making the code open source so it might be possible to tweak some things like that once they release the tools.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:12:24 EDT

mlerner posted :

said by andyb:

If it comes from the apple store its way way way way out of my price range for a light bulb

True though LED bulbs aren't yet mainstream priced but it should come down in the next year or two.

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:05:32 EDT

Crowbar1 posted : Those are even more energy efficient than those stupid spiral bulbs , and i suspect will last a very long time as well . I think the price will come down some in the future as they seem too expensive at the moment ... very cool bulbs though :D

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:01:36 EDT

decx posted : Frankly it's not just a little pricey. It's more than double the price of a regular Philips LED bulb. As long as you don't need the colour lighting, with that difference, after a couple of additional bulbs you one could use the difference to get a integrated lighting control system which would allow for a greater variation in bulb types (currently the hue comes in one shape).

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 20:56:48 EDT

TSI Gabe posted : Any way you can set the values in Kelvin? (White Balance)

Re: [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 20:42:05 EDT

andyb posted : If it comes from the apple store its way way way way out of my price range for a light bulb

[OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 20:30:56 EDT

mlerner posted : I figure some of you might be interested in this and wanted to share my experience. So I heard recently about the Philips Hue LED bulb kit - some info here: »www.meethue.com/en-US

It's a wifi enabled bulb set that you can use to manage lighting in your house from an iOS or Android device or remotely via the web.

So I bought it yesterday at the Apple store, only place you can get it right now. It comes with 3 bulbs and I bought 4 more for a total of 7 bulbs which covers almost my entire house.

Installation was dead easy. You just have to unhook your old bulbs from your lamps, put in the new LED bulb and turn on the lamp switch. Works right out the box. The only thing you need to do then to control them is plug in the supplied wifi access point.

You might be thinking, why do I need their access point? Apparently the wifi they use is more energy efficient (the bulbs are rated for 7.5 watts) and I suspect also for ease of use since you don't have to configure it with your wifi network.

Also from what I've learned the bulbs themselves act as repeaters to boost the wireless signal. In my house I can have the access point on the second floor and I'm still able to control the lights on the main floor, though I haven't tested in the basement.

Now the software side, I got the client for iOS on my iPhone and iPad but there's also an Android version. There's still a few bugs like when you set up a new colour profile (they call it a 'scene') it turns on all the lights and applies it to every one, so then you have to reset or turn off the lights you don't want to use it on.

The web access also took me some time to figure out, for whatever reason it wasn't working at all last night but I tried it just a little while ago and it got the wifi bridge setup with my web account. Once you have an account you can see the status of the lights, turn them on/off, schedule the timer for when you want them on or download new scenes to use from the community.

All in all, I am obviously a geek, but this thing is pretty damn cool, if not a little pricey. You can probably search around to figure out the pricing. ;)

Anyway, if anyone has any questions, let me know. I'd be happy to answer them.