 mlernerPremium
join:2000-11-25
Nepean, ON
kudos:5 | [OT] Just bought the Philips Hue bulb kit 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. |
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 andybPremium
join:2003-05-29
SW Ontario
kudos:1 | If it comes from the apple store its way way way way out of my price range for a light bulb |
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 TSI GabePremium,VIP
join:2007-01-03
Chatham, ON
kudos:2 | Any way you can set the values in Kelvin? (White Balance) |
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decxPremium
join:2002-06-07
Vancouver, BC | reply to mlerner
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). |
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Reviews:
 ·TekSavvy DSL
| reply to mlerner
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  |
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mlernerPremium
join:2000-11-25
Nepean, ON
kudos:5 | reply to andyb
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. |
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mlernerPremium
join:2000-11-25
Nepean, ON
kudos:5 | reply to TSI Gabe
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. |
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mlernerPremium
join:2000-11-25
Nepean, ON
kudos:5 | reply to decx
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. |
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| reply to mlerner
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 . |
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mlernerPremium
join:2000-11-25
Nepean, ON
kudos:5 | reply to Crowbar1
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
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. |
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| LED's put out a little more light wise than an equivalent bulb and tend to last quite a long time to boot .... |
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| reply to mlerner
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. |
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| reply to mlerner
»store.apple.com/us/product/HA779···ter-pack
at $200 for a starter pack, i'm thinking there's low demand. |
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Reviews:
·TekSavvy DSL
| reply to blink
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 ...  |
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 hm
@videotron.ca | reply to TSI Gabe
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)? |
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Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
| reply to cognizantt
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. |
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| reply to mlerner
Any idea how many lumens each bulb outputs? |
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mlernerPremium
join:2000-11-25
Nepean, ON
kudos:5 | said by MaynardKrebs:Any idea how many lumens each bulb outputs?
Forgot that in my original post. Each one is rated to 600 lumens. |
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 DKSDamn Kidney StonesPremium,ExMod 2002
join:2001-03-22
Owen Sound, ON
kudos:2
·Bell Sympatico
| reply to mlerner
I have just been replacing most of my incandescents with LED's from Home Depot I like them. .
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care. |
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| reply to mlerner
$199. for 3 bulbs....??!!
Not in this lifetime. |
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