Any difference with Hue bulbs?

Years ago I bought a hue starter kit so I’ve got their bridge (I guess the new one - more square with big button in middle) and 3 color lights - hue app says they are LCT016. I also have a newer box of 3 lights I got on sale. This box has Bluetooth on it, and also zigbee. Box says model # is 9290022268.

Since I already have the hue bridge surely that’s the best way to integrate them, yeah?

Is there any difference from a “network”/smart home/integration standpoint between these bulbs?

Yeah!

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Yes.

Shouldn't be.

A couple of things...

First it may help to have your Hue bridge on a different zigbee channel than your HE.

Second there are at least three Hue integrations available. I use CoCoHue and the built-in one but there is at least one more. CoCoHue and the one I can't remember both take advantage of features in the newer versions of the Hue hub. Devices like switches that are on the Hue hub update on the HE side much quicker.

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And the Hue bridge also lets you use any old GE Link bulbs you might have kicking around without pooching your HE ZigBee mesh. :grin:

ge

And those crappy Cree things, while they last.

How come a different channel? I haven’t actually got my hubitat just yet, so zero setup so far!

Nope - hue are the only “smart” lighting I have so far. Any other uses for hue/bridge?

I know the hue bulbs will act as zigbee repeaters which is nice

They'll interfere with each other.

They also have accessories like switches, buttons, dimmers, etc.

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Advanced hue integration is the 3rd one. I run it because it seems more reliable than the built in one and reflects status quicker.

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That's one reason to keep them on the Hue hub instead of on HE... bulbs don't always make very good zigbee repeaters, especially since they can usually be defeated by an off switch.

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Both the custom (Community developed) integrations, CocoHue and the Advanced Hue Bridge Integration, use a newer feature for pushing updates from the Hue Bridge to an external home automation platform, like HE and others. This means they can receive updates for motion sensors and other accessories without needing to pair them directly to HE (the built-in HE Hue integration does not support accessories paired to the Hue Bridge). The push notifications alone, even just for lights, is a big step forward, as previous approaches required regular polling of the Hue Bridge, with is how the HE integration receives and changes to lights made outside of the HE hub.

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And they make these cool (but a bit buggy) HDMI sync boxes that sync an HDMI signal to a multicolor LED light strip and/or Hue RGB bulbs! Makes for a very trippy TV viewing experience in an otherwise dark room.

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When it comes to the choice of the Zigbee channels, there can be interference between Zigbee mesh networks, e.g. HE's network (if you have it enabled) and the Hue Bridge, but also between these and your Wi-Fi network, which also has a channel that it uses. There's a couple of good Topic's here on the community if you are ever interested, about how to best select Zigbee network channels and Wi-Fi channels to avoid overlap / interference.

Probably not worth getting too bogged down in this detail just yet, but it may be something to come back to, either once you have the enjoyment of setting everything up and seeing the magic happen, or if you unfortunately experience issues.

Also I live in a townhome complex, so the amount of wifi alone is very congested. And I know at least some neighbors have some level of smart devices. So yeah, lots and lots of stuff around!

The key there, if you encounter issues, will be to increase the number of repeaters you have around.

If you have a linux machine handy, e.g. a raspberry pi or something similar, I have a script I have used to detect the channel currently being used for Wi-Fi networks I setup. I'm sure it could be used to detect the surrounding channels, at least those that broadcast. Again, probably not something to look at just yet, something for a rainy day if things are working as you may need them to.

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