Phillips Hue Bridge [BRIDGE ONLY] €39.95

GaryCocs wrote: »

Right another thing I don't need, can you let me know what cool things can be done with this??

Summary: If you have to ask, you don't need this particular item.

If you have an existing Philips Hue lighting system, with an existing bridge, then this replaces the bridge, to give you integration with Siri on an iPhone. That means on you iPhone you can do things like say "Siri Turn lights on" and your Philip Hue lights turn on. Or you might say "Siri change light colour to red" and the colour changes to red, etc.

But this only works with Philips Hue lights.

If you don't already have Hue lights and you are interested in this, then you would be better off buying a bundle which would include some lights + the bridge.

GaryCocs wrote: »

Thanks for getting back, like everything here on boards bargains I didn't know I needed it until I saw it on here

In relation to the lights themselves, I'm guessing you leave the light switch permanently on and your phone plus lightbulb controls the switching?

It wouldn't work in a kitchen with GU10s or in a 5 bulb lamp or something like that?

The Philips Hue is an entire ecosystem of different lights, all of which can be controlled by a bridge.

They do in fact have GU10 lights and they will work perfectly fine in a GU10 fitting (they should do, I haven't actually bought one of these yet myself). They also have a variety of other standard bulb fittings that should fit various lamps.

I believe they come in two types. Ones that are white only (can be dimmed and turned on and off remotely) and ones that do both white and 16 million colours (a bit more expensive).

My understanding on how these work is that you can use the normal light switch. When you switch on the light switch they default to a soft white colour.

You can then use your iPhone to change the colour of the bulb, etc. (awesome you buy the coloured ones).

Turning them off by the light switch to turn off like normal bulbs, but obviously you can't turn them back on by the iphone then, so yes, you would normally leave the switch on if you want to control them fully by your iphone.

If you really get into these, you can get rid of the light switch and replace it with a hue switch which works like a light switch turning them on and off as normal, but adds the advantage of mobility of the light switch (can be removed from the wall and walk around with it) and even when off, you can still turn back on with the iphone.

Personally, I only have 3 Philips Hue Blooms, which are bedside type lamps. I just bought one bulb from Amazon lighting deal to try out how the bulbs work in real life. I'll let you know how it goes. I can for see me replacing most of my lights with these in the long term!

elmicko wrote: »

The description of this is throwing me off: Philips HUE HomeKit Upgrade Bridge (for Current HUE Bridge Users)
I'm pretty sure that I don't need the old bridge but I would just like this confirmed before buying this.
Full story:
I bought my first piece of the Hue ecosystem (Bloom) on a recent lightning deal with Amazon. It did not include the bridge. I just want confirmation that this will act as my bridge.
Cheers,
Mick

Well the bloom you bought won't work without a bridge. So yes in your case you will need to buy this in order to get your bloom working.

Your case is unusual, they are just assuming that most people when they buy their first Philips Hue light, buy it as part of a bundle with a bridge and that these people with old bridges will want to buy this to upgrade to siri support.

J.pilkington wrote: »

How much did the bulbs go for in the lighting sale?

I got this one to try them out, for £35:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Personal-Wireless-Lighting-Single/dp/B00ID6US0K/ref=sr_1_10?s=lighting&ie=UTF8&qid=1449055103&sr=1-10&keywords=hue+gu10

They certainly aren't cheap, but they are fun.

For those who get this, here are the instructions on how to easily migrate from your old bridge to the new bridge (copy your light and remotes to the new bridge):

http://www.howtogeek.com/231454/how-to-migrate-your-smart-bulbs-to-the-new-philips-hue-bridge/

here is another article on what you can do with Siri voice control:

http://www.howtogeek.com/231046/how-to-use-siri-to-control-the-lights-in-your-house/

stuartmchugh wrote: »

Do these work so that when you walk into a room the lights come on?

Not out of the box, but I'm sure you can do so with extra hardware (a sensor) and some software, but that might be more for people who are comfortable with tinkering with gadgets.