Hue Bulbs with C4

[SeeligCJ]

Is it possible to pair Philips hue bulbs straight to the controller or do you HAVE to have a hue bridge to make it work?

 

[tdougray]

Hue bridge is needed. 

[c4toys]

pro bridge (version2) is needed

[zaphod]

I don’t think you need the newer bridge - I had one of the older circular bridges until I switched a couple of weeks ago to a newer square bridge. 

[c4toys]

2 hours ago, zaphod said:

I don’t think you need the newer bridge - I had one of the older circular bridges until I switched a couple of weeks ago to a newer square bridge. 

I must be thinking about luron caseta needs the pro bridge, my bad

[blub]

Is it possible to pair Philips hue bulbs straight to the controller or do you HAVE to have a hue bridge to make it work?

 

Skip Hue look for something else.

 

Hue:

No 2way communication - this is a really a drawback

 

Hue bridge needed since Control4 doesn't use Zigbee 3

 

Some bulbs keep dropping from the bridge time to time, so more work

 

Hue is OK for a couple of lights, but anything over 25 or 30 will give you a lot of additional work if you want to keep it in a good condition.

 

 

[zaphod]

I have only used Hue in spots where it wasn't easy to put in C4 switches/dimmers.  Or to control light strips more easily from within C4, but there are other options to do this as well.

One other drawback of Hue is that there are a limited number of bulb types.  

[tdougray]

23 minutes ago, zaphod said:

 

I have only used Hue in spots where it wasn't easy to put in C4 switches/dimmers.  Or to control light strips more easily from within C4, but there are other options to do this as well.

 

This is exactly how I use hue and believe in this scenario can compliment C4 very well. I use it for all bedside lamps and light strips without any issue.

[LollerAgent]

57 minutes ago, tdougray said:

This is exactly how I use hue and believe in this scenario can compliment C4 very well. I use it for all bedside lamps and light strips without any issue.

I do the same, and I'm generally very happy with it.  Color control in C4 sucks, so I just use the "White" drivers and if I want to change color, I just. use the Hue app.

[tdougray]

1 minute ago, LollerAgent said:

Color control in C4 sucks,

Totally agree and I too only use white but do also use a hue slider to change from cool to warm. 

[LollerAgent]

Just now, tdougray said:

Totally agree and I too only use white but do also use a hue slider to change from cool to warm. 

In C4?  How does this work?  Can you post a screenshot?

[tdougray]

4 minutes ago, LollerAgent said:

n C4?  How does this work?  Can you post a screenshot?

I’m pretty sure it was set up as another light.

[LollerAgent]

 

1 minute ago, tdougray said:

I’m pretty sure it was set up as another light.

 

Oh - ok, so you have one slider (light) for brightness and another slider (light) for temp?  Got it.

[HomeAutomationNerd]

@blub

Quote

 

Hue:

No 2way communication - this is a really a drawback

 

What would you recommend instead?

I'm generally really happy with the Hue hardware ecosystem - colored bulbs look great and there are many options. 

I would prefer to avoid the Hue Hub if I could, and would love something with 2-way communication. 

 

[blub]

2 hours ago, ChrisM said:

@blub

Quote

 

Hue:

No 2way communication - this is a really a drawback

What would you recommend instead?
I'm generally really happy with the Hue hardware ecosystem - colored bulbs look great and there are many options. 
I would prefer to avoid the Hue Hub if I could, and would love something with 2-way communication. 
 
There is a 2way hub from  a German company but there isn't a C4 driver available (Phoscon Gateway) - the regular hue Bridge driver we have doesnt work with it.

Honestly I would go with any lighting system that has 2-way control.

[Köhler Medientechnik]

There are modules for Crestron that provide feedback for Hue lighting using the Hue bridge.
However, you need to poll for status updates: When changing light using the module, status feedback is updated automatically (i guess it justs sends a feedback poll request after sending the light command), but changes from outside the module (e.g. Hue app) are not detected automatically, you have to poll for it (e.g. via a oscillator every couple of seconds).

I´m not suggesting to use Crestron, just pointing out that it seems to be possible to have Hue 2-way.

[Pounce]

2 hours ago, blub said:

What would you recommend instead?

It may be weird to say, but I maybe don't "recommend" this, but it is an alternative. There are many RGBW smart bulbs out there with tuya chips. These are similar to Hue, but use wifi instead of zigbee. Most of the tuya products can be flashed with alternative firmware to give them more open control and less dependence on a cloud product. Depending on your personal interest in messing around with flashing bulbs you can have products like Hue with a wider range of options plus 2 way control. If you were going to do a handful of bulbs its not worth it. If you needed 100 BR30's and want to light the house up like an xmas tree once in a while it could be worth it, but only if you enjoy the process.

 

[Gary Leeds UK]

We have 18 Phillip Hue Bulbs and more than Happy 

We even use Hue Sensors - With regards to the two way feed back - How lights show on and off on the slider 

so not sure what people mean - Concerning Colour just use the Colour wheel on Driver Central Web Site 

[blub]

We have 18 Phillip Hue Bulbs and more than Happy 
We even use Hue Sensors - With regards to the two way feed back - How lights show on and off on the slider 
so not sure what people mean - Concerning Colour just use the Colour wheel on Driver Central Web Site 

I had about 50 lights. Whenever I turn a light off or on at the mechanical switch the status is not reflected to Control4 - this makes programming in Control4 something between impossible and a nightmare

[Köhler Medientechnik]

22 minutes ago, blub said:

Whenever I turn a light off or on at the mechanical switch

Cutting power via a mechanical switch is always a bad idea in a smart home.

According to Hue, the "intelligence" lies in the light bulb itself, so if you just cut power, it can´t send it´s status out anymore, hence it can´t be reflected in the system.

This is not a Control4-issue. Even the Hue app itself doesn´t get updated when just cutting power of bulbs.
The solution would be to provide permanent power to the bulbs and control them solely via the control system / Hue system.

[HomeAutomationNerd]

I have a number of hue bulbs behind C4 switches. I have all the switches set to act as keypads, so that pressing on/off does not control load.

Instead the “keypad” just triggers an advanced lighting scene (on / off / etc).

I program a double-tap to control load, just in case I need to actually turn them on/off.

This has worked out quite well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Gary Leeds UK]

8 hours ago, blub said:

 

 

I had about 50 lights. Whenever I turn a light off or on at the mechanical switch the status is not reflected to Control4 - this makes programming in Control4 something between impossible and a nightmare

 

We have a Sensors Turning all the lights on and off - Not used switches for about 4 years 

[HomeAutomationNerd]

Quote

We have a Sensors Turning all the lights on and off - Not used switches for about 4 years 

Can you elaborate a bit? What sensors do you use?

Is this all motion sensors, or are you using the roomme type solution and tracking based on a watch/phone? 

[Köhler Medientechnik]

2 hours ago, Gary Leeds UK said:

We have a Sensors Turning all the lights on and off - Not used switches for about 4 years 

Wow, most people (including me) prefer to stay in control of their lights.
There are areas where i find sensors useful, but there are lots of occasion when i wish lights to stay off. 

I´am using sensors in most of our rooms as well, but mostly to turn lights off (after a certain period of time) rather than switching them on.

2 hours ago, ChrisM said:

I have a number of hue bulbs behind C4 switches. I have all the switches set to act as keypads, so that pressing on/off does not control load.

Yep, that´s what you would install in a "smart home". But if it´s an older building, this would require changing switches with keypads/push buttons, But it´s definitely worth the effort.

[blub]

On 8/10/2020 at 9:38 AM, Köhler Medientechnik said:

Cutting power via a mechanical switch is always a bad idea in a smart home.

According to Hue, the "intelligence" lies in the light bulb itself, so if you just cut power, it can´t send it´s status out anymore, hence it can´t be reflected in the system.

This is not a Control4-issue. Even the Hue app itself doesn´t get updated when just cutting power of bulbs.
The solution would be to provide permanent power to the bulbs and control them solely via the control system / Hue system.

Hi

I know this isn't a C4 issue. But the lack of 2-way feedback is a driver/Hue bridge issue.
As Gary said you can run it all via sensor but I agree with you that this is not what most people prefer. I also agree that with hard-wiring the lights to "always on" will solve this issue with the exception to changes made via iOS or Android apps.
However in this setup one would need keypads in the house with Control4, so "Friend of Hue" keypads which are available for a year I think are not working at my satisfaction and I am personally not going to get "Hello Alexa or Google into my house...".

So it all comes down to C4 compatible keypads and about 1,5 years ago the only solutions offered to me here in Germany was wired KNX Keypads and Control4 - re-wire a whole house with KNX cables was something I did not want, Control4 keypads were quoted at about 200€ + faceplate and keycaps - for the Control4 keypads one would need to be brain-dead to spend so much for a keypad that doesn't even blend in to a European design as neither color nor style matches anything over here as Control4 is not compatible with system 55 sets - same goes for the switches and dimmers.... - @Control4 how hard can it be to make a trim mechanism and keycaps to match the European system 55 design !? - I know from more than 4 Control4 dealers that the lighting system doesn't sell well due to design differences and the exceptional high price in relation to price/perfomance (no tft/oled option and no thermostat)

So for anyone located in Germany retrofitting a home with a Control4 compatible lighting solution was basically impossible - now that there is a solution with Enocean via Apple Homekit called "MyOpus" there is at least one option that might do a fairly decent job for "plug'n play" retrofit.