Xiaomi Yeelights

the heathen

I've ordered one of these Xiaomi Yeelight bulbs - http://www.gearbest.com/smart-lighting/pp_361555.html

Can I ask why they don't seem to be part of the conversation in this forum? Are they of poor quality?

I notice that they've recently added IFTTT compatibility so presumably they'll work with Google Home and Alexa now so are they a decent alternative to Phillips Hue at less than half the price per bulb?

I'm new to this craic so it's quite likely I'm missing something glaringly obvious!

bk

Because I don't think any of us have bought them and tried them. So lets us know how they go.

I think the thing is that Xiaomi is a Chinese company, while Philips are a European company.

Hue lights are widely and easily available in Europe both online and instore, while these Xiaomi lights are only available from slightly out there Chinese stores, with questionable returns policys and often end up taking months to arrive from China.

Lighting in your home is something that I think you want great reliability with and it can be worth it to pay a little more from a well established European company. Specially if you buy a large number of them to fill your home with.

Also Hue has excellent, native integration with most HA tech, Alexa, GHome, etc. While these only work with IFTTT. IFTTT is only ok, not great, native support would be preferred. If your internet connection goes down, then IFTTT won't work, while native control will continue to work.

Finally Hue has a broader range of products including light switches and motion sensors, GU10 bulbs, light fixtures, etc. That really make it more useful.

These look more like a nice to play with, similar to Lifx, then a serious ecosystem like Hue is.

But don't let that stop you getting a bulb and let us know how it goes. Just that I'd be cautious about buying lots of them to fill a whole home with.

the heathen

bk wrote: »

Because I don't think any of us have bought them and tried them. So lets us know how they go.

I think the thing is that Xiaomi is a Chinese company, while Philips are a European company.

Hue lights are widely and easily available in Europe both online and instore, while these Xiaomi lights are only available from slightly out there Chinese stores, with questionable returns policys and often end up taking months to arrive from China.

Lighting in your home is something that I think you want great reliability with and it can be worth it to pay a little more from a well established European company. Specially if you buy a large number of them to fill your home with.

Also Hue has excellent, native integration with most HA tech, Alexa, GHome, etc. While these only work with IFTTT. IFTTT is only ok, not great, native support would be preferred. If your internet connection goes down, then IFTTT won't work, while native control will continue to work.

Finally Hue has a broader range of products including light switches and motion sensors, GU10 bulbs, light fixtures, etc. That really make it more useful.

These look more like a nice to play with, similar to Lifx, then a serious ecosystem like Hue is.

But don't let that stop you getting a bulb and let us know how it goes. Just that I'd be cautious about buying lots of them to fill a whole home with.

Brilliant answer BK - thanks for being so comprehensive. I'll certainly let y'all know what it's like when it arrives. Cheers.

Edit: I note that a representative on their support forum says that native Google Home support is in the pipeline.

Stoner

the heathen wrote:

Can I ask why they don't seem to be part of the conversation in this forum? Are they of poor quality?

Above I've never used them. Xiamoi is a good make imo
However when it comes to home av I'm interested in switching, using regular switching accessories, I like to use branded light bulbs. This is Philips biggest advantage, they are a great lamp manufacturer.
On the whole their light switches need a lot of work for UK and Ireland integrations, they could simply make an inline switch for legrand or MK grid switches.

Their integration into other home av equipment is second to none imo.

Man of Aran

My contact got me a quote for Philips Hue in the electronic district of Hong Kong over Xmas. HKD 1800 for Hub and 3x E27 globes. That's about Euro225 @ Fx0.12.
That seems quite a premium over prices I read on here available via great promotion deals from Uk , USA and Spain etc for lights and indeed other Smart Home gear.

That may tempt Xiaomi and others to enter this Smart Home arena.

oinkely

I ordered 4 of the yeelight bulbs and two have arrives so far. i ordered two white and two colored ones. I haven't any of them up and running yet as i need to get a couple of E27 lamp holders as all of the ones in my house are bayonet.

I'll report back when i have them working.

bk

Man of Aran wrote: »

My contact got me a quote for Philips Hue in the electronic district of Hong Kong over Xmas. HKD 1800 for Hub and 3x E27 globes. That's about Euro225 @ Fx0.12.
That seems quite a premium over prices I read on here available via great promotion deals from Uk , USA and Spain etc for lights and indeed other Smart Home gear.

That may tempt Xiaomi and others to enter this Smart Home arena.

It makes sense, Philips is a European company, so it makes sense that they are primarily targeting the EU and US market first and that prices are cheaper here, then in asia.

Xiaomi is really good as a fast follower company. Basically copying US and EU companies products and selling them at reduced prices targeting the Asian market first.

Kbeg3

I have a Yeelight Colour bulb for a while now and it works great. Have been annoyed I couldn't use it with Alexa but have just set up IFTTT and it works great, albeit with a few seconds delay while it sends the command to IFTTT

pastor

I have 7 of the bulbs, 3 colour and 4 white. I have setup 3 bulbs in my sitting room. The app is really good easiet to use than the hue app. You can set scenes, schedules etc. The bulbs also integrate with the Mi Home app and this allows you to integrate them with other Mi Home home automation products. I have the living sensor module on our landing and if anyone needs the toilet they will be detected and the yeelight comes on at 25% and automatically switches off after two minutes. Xiaomi are building quite an economic system I have the following produts:

Gateway hub (all xiaomi products are controlled by this)
Living Sensor Module x2
7 yeelight builds
4 xiaomi cameras
Door and window sensors x2
Temperature modules x2
Home remote module (unfortunately app overlay not translated to English most of the other modules are)
Flowers care module (monitors soil, water of house plants via Bluetooth)
Xiaomi Bluetooth kettle

You can setup scenes using the majority of the modules via the Mi Home app. This is updated on a regular basis and firmwares are also pushed out as well.

The big thing for me is the wife acceptance factor with the yeelight lights she did not take to the hue at all and didn't use it. She uses the yeelight app as it is very visual and easy to use.

Xiaomi are putting together quite an ecosystem that is not too expensive and integrates really well with the gateway hub. I started with the starter pack from Gearbest and have been hooked.

pastor

I forgot to mention that there is currently no IFTT integration for the Mi Home app that I am aware of but as mentioned previously the Yeelight app has added this. The only problem that I run into is usually that a module overlay has not been translated to English. For instance up until a couple of weeks ago the kettle overlay was in Chinese but after a recent update it is now fully in English. I have gotten over this as there is quite a community for this ecosystem and via YouTube. I also have the wifi extender module which is amazing and only cost €8 and again is controlled via the Mi Home app. They even have a smart washing machine (yes I really want it don't need it but such is the tech addiction). When I purchased the kettle (it is a great looking kettle) and was showing it off to the wife who was rolling her eyes! She asked if we could turn it on via the app which I thought you could (did not do my research properly). This feature is supposedly coming as it is the biggest request. If they introduce IFTT support this would be hard to beat for the price.

pastor

I forgot to mention that there is currently no IFTT integration for the Mi Home app that I am aware of but as mentioned previously the Yeelight app has added this. The only problem that I run into is usually that a module overlay has not been translated to English. For instance up until a couple of weeks ago the kettle overlay was in Chinese but after a recent update it is now fully in English. I have gotten over this as there is quite a community for this ecosystem and via YouTube. I also have the wifi extender module which is amazing and only cost €8 and again is controlled via the Mi Home app. They even have a smart washing machine (yes I really want it don't need it but such is the tech addiction). When I purchased the kettle (it is a great looking kettle) and was showing it off to the wife who was rolling her eyes! She asked if we could turn it on via the app which I thought you could (did not do my research properly). This feature is supposedly coming as it is the biggest request. If they introduce IFTT support this would be hard to beat for the price.

bk

pastor wrote: »

The app is really good easiet to use than the hue app. You can set scenes, schedules etc.

......

The big thing for me is the wife acceptance factor with the yeelight lights she did not take to the hue at all and didn't use it. She uses the yeelight app as it is very visual and easy to use.

You know that Hue has a fully open API and thus there are well over a dozen different apps that can control Hue? There are much easier apps to control Hue then the official one, I'm sure if you had tried you could have found one she prefers.

Anyway, thanks for the info, sounds very interesting.

the heathen

Well I received my Yeelight bulb - very impressed with it in general - it's an E27 so needed an adapter to make it fit a bayonet fitting. It really shocked me just how much this ads to the size of the bulb - I'd been hoping to buy some Hue bulbs and convert them to E14 for some lamps in my sitting room but they'd look ridiculous. Same goes for some lamps in my hallway.

Xiaomi doesn't do E14 either so it looks like I'm gonna have to look at Milights or similar unless someone's aware of a better ecosystem?

Re. the Yeelight bulb - seems a very decent bulb for under €20 - voice automation works really well through IFTTT too.

MentalMario

pastor wrote: »

I have 7 of the bulbs, 3 colour and 4 white. I have setup 3 bulbs in my sitting room. The app is really good easiet to use than the hue app. You can set scenes, schedules etc. The bulbs also integrate with the Mi Home app and this allows you to integrate them with other Mi Home home automation products. I have the living sensor module on our landing and if anyone needs the toilet they will be detected and the yeelight comes on at 25% and automatically switches off after two minutes. Xiaomi are building quite an economic system I have the following produts:

Gateway hub (all xiaomi products are controlled by this)
Living Sensor Module x2
7 yeelight builds
4 xiaomi cameras
Door and window sensors x2
Temperature modules x2
Home remote module (unfortunately app overlay not translated to English most of the other modules are)
Flowers care module (monitors soil, water of house plants via Bluetooth)
Xiaomi Bluetooth kettle

You can setup scenes using the majority of the modules via the Mi Home app. This is updated on a regular basis and firmwares are also pushed out as well.

The big thing for me is the wife acceptance factor with the yeelight lights she did not take to the hue at all and didn't use it. She uses the yeelight app as it is very visual and easy to use.

Xiaomi are putting together quite an ecosystem that is not too expensive and integrates really well with the gateway hub. I started with the starter pack from Gearbest and have been hooked.

Did they send a UK plug with whatever needs to be plugged in?

Xiaomi are a quality brand. Would definitely be interested in getting some of their stuff.

pastor

MentalMario wrote: »

Did they send a UK plug with whatever needs to be plugged in?

Xiaomi are a quality brand. Would definitely be interested in getting some of their stuff.

Yes they send a uk plug with all their modules. The converter sold in Deals for 1.50 works great with them as well.

bittihuduga

pastor - how is the home remote module?
is this equivalent to harmony hub?
have you tried with alexa+ifttt?

pastor

The home control unit is a remote control unit than can control your tv etc. It is controlled via Mi Home app and depending which appliance it is controlling the overlay changes. You can use it as part of scenes switching heating and tv on in the morning etc. I have not used it as it has not been translated into English.

OrdeP

Which "locale" you set when configuring your mihome/yeelight app? And which ISP you're on?

the heathen

OrdeP wrote: »

Which "locale" you set when configuring your mihome/yeelight app? And which ISP you're on?

Singapore

OrdeP

Do you have the xiaomi gateway? Does it work with Singapore as locale?

the heathen

OrdeP wrote: »

Do you have the xiaomi gateway? Does it work with Singapore as locale?

Nope. That was only for setting up the Yeelight bulb.

oinkely

Have now got two of these working and they are good. Had to wait for the E27 fittings to arrive from amazon. The white is a little cold, personally I'd prefer a slightly warmer tone. Work fine with alexa, just a few second delay as the commands work their way through ifttt. Would recommend.

bittihuduga

oinkely wrote: »

Have now got two of these working and they are good. Had to wait for the E27 fittings to arrive from amazon. The white is a little cold, personally I'd prefer a slightly warmer tone. Work fine with alexa, just a few second delay as the commands work their way through ifttt. Would recommend.

do we need any hub for these or do they work individually?

the heathen

bittihuduga wrote: »

do we need any hub for these or do they work individually?

No hub necessary...

oinkely

Yep, no hub necessary, each light connects to your router and is controlled by the very slick app.

pjproby

Flash sale on Gearbest
http://www.gearbest.com/smart-lighting/pp_361555.html?utm_source=linkshare&utm_medium=linkshare&utm_campaign=linkshare&siteID=TnL5HPStwNw-_vzoJjO74x38xG3xl2ZUFw

bittihuduga

one of the Q&A on this ad says - hub required.
i dont think thats true.they can be controlled individually via wifi/app.
am i correct?

the heathen

bittihuduga wrote: »

one of the Q&A on this ad says - hub required.
i dont think thats true.they can be controlled individually via wifi/app.
am i correct?

Yup, you're right. No hub required.

Can be controlled via app and IFTTT.

oinkely

have one of the white bulbs in the bedroom main light, its a little on the cool side but not too bad. Have it linked to the alexa alarm through IFTTT and when the alarm rings the bulb comes on at 25% brightness, which is just right for a wakeup call!

pjproby

Anyway of using this plug in Ireland?

http://www.gearbest.com/power-strips/pp_341431.html?3&utm_source=mail_eoview&utm_medium=mail&utm_campaign=eoview.0218&email=b2t8bm9lbC5iZW5uZXR0bkBnbWFpbC5jb218MTI0ODc=

OrdeP

pjproby wrote: »

Anyway of using this plug in Ireland?

http://www.gearbest.com/power-strips/pp_341431.html?3&utm_source=mail_eoview&utm_medium=mail&utm_campaign=eoview.0218&email=b2t8bm9lbC5iZW5uZXR0bkBnbWFpbC5jb218MTI0ODc=

Yes. If you ask to include or buy something like this http://www.gearbest.com/plugs-sockets/pp_281926.html?wid=21