What is Philips Hue?
Philips Hue is an ecosystem of smart lighting products. It consists of over a hundred products including multiple styles and sizes of smart LED bulbs, lamps, light strips and light fittings and accessories to control them including switches, remotes and motion sensors.
Spending on the lights you purchase, they usually come in white only, where you can control the brightness and colour saturation or lights that in addition also allow you to change the colour of the bulb to one of 16 million colours.
Philips Hue lights can be controlled by phone apps, voice control, switches, remotes, motion sensors and timers and integrate with many other home automation systems such as Logitech Harmony, Nest Protect, etc.
Are Philips Hue lights energy saving bulbs?
Yes, all Philips Hue lights use LED technology, which means they use significantly less energy compared to traditional bulbs and even compared to CFL "energy savings bulbs"
For instance while a traditional bulb might use 100watts, the equivalent Philips Hue bulbs use just 9 watt.
Will these bulbs take time to warm up to full brightness like CFL "energy saving" bulbs?
No, Philips Hue uses LED for all it's lighting which is far superior then the rubbish CFL "energy saving" light bulbs.
LED bulbs turn on immediately like traditional bulbs and even use less energy then CFL's, thus making CFL's completely redundant.
Will I be able to use Philip Hue bulbs in my existing light fittings?
In most cases yes, Philips makes a variety of bulb sizes and styles that should fit the majority of existing light fittings, including both screw in and bayonet style standard bulbs and GU10 spot light style bulbs.
The above should cover the majority of cases, however some unusual and unique bulb sizes and styles exist out there and Hue lights might not fit those. However it is often possible to replace the light fitting with a style that will work. For instance I was able to easily replace my old MR10 spot light fittings with more standard GU10 fittings and thus use the Philips Hue GU10's spot lights in my home.
Will I still be able to use my standard light switch?
Yes, you will still be able to switch Philips Hue light bulbs on and off using a standard light switch.
However there is one catch with this. If you turn the bulb off with the light switch then you won't be able to turn it back on with the app or otherwise control it, at least until you switch it back on at the wall.
As a result, most people who use Philips Hue bulbs, simply leave them switched on at the wall and use other means to switch "virtually" switch them off, which I'll describe below.
If I leave the Hue bulbs switched on at the wall all the time, won't that mean they use power all the time.
Yes, but very little. In this "standby mode" of the light switch on, but the light off, these bulbs use 0.4w in standby in order to power the wireless network that allows you to control these bulbs.
However 0.4w is incredible small amount of power. Remember if you are moving from a standard light bulb you are typically going from 100w to 9w LED, so 0.4w by comparison is incredibly.
In most cases you should still see a significant drop in power use. Only people switching from a standard LED to a smart LED will see a very tiny increase and that is a trade off for far greater control and smart features.
Is there a physical switch I can use to control these lights without really switching them off?
Yes, Philips makes a fantastic Hue smart switch which can control their lights. This switch can simply be stuck on your wall using sticky backs next to your old light switch.
Yet the switch itself can detach from it's frame where it is held by magnets and carried around the room and used as a remote control. The switch has four buttons, on/off/dimmer up/dimmer down, however using the Philips Hue apps each button can be "programmed" to show different scenes on each button press, up to 5 different actions for each button!
This makes for a highly effective, yet easy to use device.
But might people not accidentally turn off the light via the old light switch? Any way to protect against this?
Yes this can happen, specially when family and friends are visiting and aren't use to it. People use a variety of methods to protect against this.
- Sticky tape over the old light switch. Not very nice looking, but super cheap and easy to do.
- Child safety cover over the light switch. Stops people from just turning off the light switch without putting a lot of effort in, yet still allows you to use the light switch in an emergency. Pretty easy to fit and also to remove in future if you want to return to traditional, non smart lights.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/BabySecurity-Single-Electric-Socket-Cover/dp/B000X1DNIM/
I use one of these over a double dimmer switch in the main room.
- Similar to above, the following are more discrete version of the above for a standard UK switch. Very easy to install and still allow you to use the light switch in an emergency using a paper clip, etc.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/SwitchSafe-socket-protector-prevent-accidental/dp/B01634O2MS/ref=pd_sim_60_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=VMS1BH456Z1G9YN2XCRS
- Remove the switches and plaster over the hole in the wall. While this might be nicer looking, I don't recommend it. It requires a lot of work, depending on your skills maybe even an electrician and plasterer and what happens if you decide to move house later and you want to take your expensive Philips Hue light bulbs with you?
- A less drastic version of the above is to remove the switch, rewire the cables, but cover the old switch hole with a blank faceplate. Makes it easier to undo in future.
Personally I'd recommend living with the Philips Hue for a few months before deciding to go with either of the latter two options.
Does Philips Hue require a hub?
Yes, it does. However the Philips Hue hub can usually be gotten for free in a bundle with a few Hue light bulbs. There is really no disadvantage to getting the hub other then having yet another hub to plug in. However it is very dependable and just works.
Note there are two hubs v1.0 and v2.0, see the next question for more info.
What is the difference between the v1.0 and v2.0 hub?
THe updated v2.0 hub includes support for Apple Siri. It is also rumured that the v2.0 hub is a bit more stable, but no confirmation on this. However as you can usually pick up the v2.0 hub for free as part of a bundle with a bulbs, there is no reason to get one.
How can you tell the difference between the v1.0 and v2.0 hub.
The v1.0 hub is round, while the v2.0 hub is square.
Lots more to come on this massive topic........
