Smart Lighting - where to start

kah22

Now that I’ve just about finished some renovations, knocking two rooms into into one, I’m beginning to think about lights and Smart Lighting crossed my mind. At the moment just for this enlarged room, maybe later for other rooms

Philips Hue seems to be the major player but their products are expensive. I’m thinking of opting for Innr bulbs for two reasons: price and compatibility. My thinking would be that one manufacturers ‘White’ would be different from another manufacturers ‘White and its best to stick with one brand.

Now here is my question: I have an Amazon Alexa and two smart plugs an Amazon and a Tp-Link. If I just order a few bulbs from Innr could I get a reasonable feel about this smart lighting before splashing out on the Philips Hub. I’m thinking it might give me an opportunity to see at first hand what it’s all about. At this time I would be thinking of buying three bulbs for a chandelier.

As always thanks for your feedback

Kevin

sumo12

Hi Kevin

I have Hue working with Alexa and it works perfectly. I toyed with the idea of Innr bulbs too but stuck with Hue as I didn't want incompatibility gremlins. Yes Hue is expensive but I just bought a bulb here and a bulb there and over a period of a year and half I've a neat little set up.

During lockdown I bought garden spotlights on Amazon and hue GU10's and now Alexa turns my garden lights on and off Including cabling and everything it was less than e120

Amazon also sell little switch covers too -£3 -to stop clowns (my wife) turning off the switches so you have power going to your bulbs all the time

Buy Hue bit by bit is my advice, I find it very good

bren2002

I'm going to jump in here too -

Working on renovating the kitchen. It's a dark north facing kitchen so there is always artifical lights on.

What I'd like is some kind of smart light solution that can will have a daylight colour in teh day and automatically track to warmer colours at night. Ideally some kind of sensor that maintained constant light level too.

I've just started looking, so total noob.
Not married to voice assistant stuff, but might favour Goolge over Alexa.

bren2002

^^^ Also quite like the idea of the led panel concept as a daylight option.

kah22

I’ve taken the jump! Bought the Philips Hue White and Colour Ambiance Mini Starter Kit B22 costing @£;70. Had I bought the same but with 3 bulbs it would have costed an extra £80 ! So buyer beware

What I did do was buy the above with a Philips Hue White & Color Ambiance B22 Colour Bulb from eBay at £31. Hopefully that will let me see how they look in my chandelier.

As I mentioned before Philips bulbs are expensive so I think I’ll move down market for bulbs I want for standard lamps but you do make a valid point Sumo

Kevin

kah22

bren2002 wrote: »

I'm going to jump in here too -

Working on renovating the kitchen. It's a dark north facing kitchen so there is always artifical lights on.

What I'd like is some kind of smart light solution that can will have a daylight colour in teh day and automatically track to warmer colours at night. Ideally some kind of sensor that maintained constant light level too.

I've just started looking, so total noob.
Not married to voice assistant stuff, but might favour Goolge over Alexa.

Hi Bren

There are bulbs that can minic daylight. Philips have a white ambience option, where the bulb can vary between cool and warm white shades, worth a look, maybe?

Alkers

Once you have the Philips hub, IKEA tradfi bulbs are compatible. Much more reasonably priced but admittedly they are not as good.

Sheep Shagger

Word of warning never pay full price for any smart home automation stuff.

Most local retailers are a rip off so follow the bargain thread, Amazon is your friend with specuals, lightning deals and black friday.

kah22

The bulbs I’ve bought are, if you like, my test kit so I’ll probably move them around just to see how they look in different situations. ‘Boys with toys syndrome �� . ‘

One of my initial thoughts was to use them in a 3 bulb chandelier but I have a colleague who suggested that that seems silly as you’d hardly want to control individual bulbs !

Would they be right and if so what would you put into the chandelier ‘dumb bulbs?’ That doesn’t sound right.

ted1

There's a huge selection of lights out there. personally I think hue are overpriced and zigbee has a delay. I've mix of wifi lights and they are all great at a fraction of the price.

the only one type that you'll struggle with is finding good GU10 in wifi.

Sheep Shagger

ted1 wrote: »

There's a huge selection of lights out there. personally I think hue are overpriced and zigbee has a delay. I've mix of wifi lights and they are all great at a fraction of the price.

the only one type that you'll struggle with is finding good GU10 in wifi.

I find that as long as you dont pay full price for hue, they are worth the little extra.

sumo12

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

I find that as long as you dont pay full price for hue, they are worth the little extra.

+1
Agree

ted1

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

I find that as long as you dont pay full price for hue, they are worth the little extra.

What’s the is the equivalent of this for £12. That does the full colour spectrum ?

LE Alexa Smart Bulb Bayonet, App or Voice Control, B22 Colour Changing Light Bulb, Works with Alexa and Google Home, No Hub Required (8.5W = 60W, RGB and White 2700K - 6500K, 2.4GHz WiFi) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07L4D27GK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fab_j7CAFb84FM00D

eusap

I have played with many types of smart bulbs and always went back to HUE because 99.9% they work!

Where i wasted lots of money with smart lights

1. bought non Hue bulbs
2. bought hue "white" bulbs and then wanted more control of the White/Yellow light the ambiance gave so replaced the white bulb with ambiance bulb
3. changed the kitchen/living area bulb holders to GU10 and had to get rid of the ambiance but this time went straight to colour bulbs as we have them elsewhere and the kids love them.


As other have said look for deals around the place buy 1 or 2 a month and in no time you have it all covered, also look in amazon warehouse for open box deals (thats where i get the colour gu10 as starter kits for half the bulb price)

ted1

eusap wrote: »

I have played with many types of smart bulbs and always went back to HUE because 99.9% they work!

Where i wasted lots of money with smart lights

1. bought non Hue bulbs
2. bought hue "white" bulbs and then wanted more control of the White/Yellow light the ambiance gave so replaced the white bulb with ambiance bulb
3. changed the kitchen/living area bulb holders to GU10 and had to get rid of the ambiance but this time went straight to colour bulbs as we have them elsewhere and the kids love them.


As other have said look for deals around the place buy 1 or 2 a month and in no time you have it all covered, also look in amazon warehouse for open box deals (thats where i get the colour gu10 as starter kits for half the bulb price)

Where you use other zigbee lights?

I be has yeelights for several years and the ones linked above for over a year and have never had a problem.

Gooey Looey

Amazon prime day is 13th October, there's always great deals on Phillips Hue. I got most of ours at half price

eusap

ted1 wrote: »

Where you use other zigbee lights?

I be has yeelights for several years and the ones linked above for over a year and have never had a problem.

I tried the Ikea ones, TP-Link ones, and the Innir bulbs and it was never a smooth operation. I always seemed to be deleting and starting again

maxamillius

I have hue everywhere in the house and would highly recommend,

However I Posted this in the bargain forum earlier, I would still rather hue and if you wait for Black Friday you can get some good deals, couldn’t justify the price tag of the GU10s this time round so went with below.....

Bought the below GU10 from Ali express 3 weeks ago, delivered yesterday.

I have hue all over my house but decided to try these out as they are ridiculously cheaper than hue GU10.

Very happy with the colour output and also easier to connect to hue app than hue lights.

I got these (120 degrees)

€ 16,96 51%OFF | ZIGBEE smart home LED gu10 bulb RGB+CCT color change 5W smart led spotlight AC100-240V led dual white light work with echo plus
https://a.aliexpress.com/_dZNzE0G

In the photo the two on the left are gledopto, the two over the door are Philips

maxamillius

Pic attached

kah22

Gooey Looey wrote: »

Amazon prime day is 13th October, there's always great deals on Phillips Hue. I got most of ours at half price

With the possible exception of Hue dimmer switch I’ll not be buying anything else until Prime day.

All you guys out there waiting for a bargain remember that you have to be a prime member, remember you can get a 30 day free trial after Prime Day you cancel

kah22

Well I’m up and running and spent this past few hours playing with my new fancy lights (toys for boys) 😋 but I don’t want funky light all of the time I’ll want/need white, but I can’t figure out how to set up a day white light seen , something I’d want in the evening if eg reading a newspaper or maybe when people visit

Can you advise me how I might achieve this. I know I can reset the bulbs but that defeats the reason for having smart lights

in this case it’s the operator who is dim
Kevin

THE ALM

kah22 wrote: »

Well I’m up and running and spent this past few hours playing with my new fancy lights (toys for boys) �� but I don’t want funky light all of the time I’ll want/need white, but I can’t figure out how to set up a day white light seen , something I’d want in the evening if eg reading a newspaper or maybe when people visit

Can you advise me how I might achieve this. I know I can reset the bulbs but that defeats the reason for having smart lights

in this case it’s the operator who is dim
Kevin

Hi Kevin.

I would group all the bulbs that you require to be white and create a zone. I would then create the particular white scene that you like with these bulbs, you can create several scenes of different whites or colours if you require.

You can then create a routine to come on at a particular time of the day (sunset for example) to turn on the zone using the scene you have set.

A Hue wireless dimmer switch would be a really handy thing to have if you don't already have one. With this you can assign a zone, room or bulb and cycle through five different scenes, dim and turn off and on the particular zone, room of or bulb.

bren2002

How good are the deals and discounts ?
I've about €500 worth of hue gear in an amazon basket - hub, bulbs (colour & white), sensors, dimmer switches etc.
If the discount is €50 I'll just go and buy them now instead of waiting for a couple of weeks, but if the discount is likely to be €200 then it's worth waiting off for.

THE ALM

bren2002 wrote: »

How good are the deals and discounts ?
I've about €500 worth of hue gear in an amazon basket - hub, bulbs (colour & white), sensors, dimmer switches etc.
If the discount is €50 I'll just go and buy them now instead of waiting for a couple of weeks, but if the discount is likely to be €200 then it's worth waiting off for.

I would hold on as there is regularly 30-50% off so saving should be more than 50