Currently have no color changing bulbs, never saw a need, but now looking for something new to play with since my system seems to have finally hit steady state. I've read a little bit about Hue and Lightify, but it sounds like these cause problems as repeaters. Is there anything out there that will connect directly to HE without an additional hub, and not cause problems?
I'd also like to find something outdoor rated if possible, my first potential use for these would be garage sconce lights. The sconces have A19 bases in them currently, but that would be easy to change out to something else, including a plug for strip lighting if necessary.
Apparently Hue bulbs won't act as repeaters if you pair them with the Hue hub before integrating with HE - meaning they'll be part of a separate Zigbee mesh. I believe there's also a way to pair Osram Lightify bulbs with the Hue hub, meaning they also wouldn't interfere with your other HA devices.
You might check out the Yeelights RGBW bulbs though. I have 3 coming, and if they work well I will replace my Hues. They're super inexpensive (like $15), and have direct HE integration. They also have the widest range of white temperature (1700-6500) of any other bulb.
If you don’t have a Hue bridge, that’s a worthwhile investment and then you can add Trådfri color bulbs without breaking the bank. I’ll call them decent. Hue bulbs are the best Zigbee bulbs I’ve used.
These are wifi bulbs right? I hadn't considered them because of this, but I guess if it's a native Hubitat integration it should work fine. I'll check them out. Looks like the native integration is local...cool! This has potential.
I get that, but the issue of zigbee bulbs trying to repeat and doing a terrible job of it is an issue worth avoiding. Lifx are on par with Hue for color, but they're cloud based WiFi bulbs.
If it makes you feel better, the Hue is a bridge, not a hub
Seriously though, there are so many really cool Hue apps and things you can do with the bridge independently of HE and yet still control from HE, that make it a nice addition, vs one of those bridges like the Sengled literally do nothing but control a bulb. The Trådfri also seem to have no problem keeping up with apps like screenBloom that shift the bulbs very quickly. This feature is also an available Hue Lab feature called Hue Sync.
You might also check out Sengled color bulbs. Sengled don't repeat, so you can pair them directly without issue. I have no experience with their color bulb, but I think @ogiewon has at least one. I have their Element Plus bulb, and that is definitely a like/hate relationship.
I just ordered 2 of the Sengled bulbs. Don't need the repeaters, they were available on Amazon with free same day delivery, and the price was good. Will see how they work. Thanks guys
On a side note, aside from some LED strip lights, I have not been able to find anything that's outdoor rated. My sconces are fairly well protected but I could see some water getting in if there was heavy rain with high winds. Fingers crossed these will be ok.
I've had a Lightify and a Sengled BR30 out in the rain for many months without issue. They have been pointed downwards though, which might be the ticket.
Sengled works great and for $23, I have Yeelight too, I believe they still at $15 each but they are in backorder right now, I like Yeelight because the app but if you will use HE only then both brands will do the same. Now, I'm looking for a rule for those lights, if here is a power failure them will turn on if they were off, both brands.
I don't think I'd use the app. Really all I'm after is the same white sconce lighting that I have now, plus the ability to change colors on holidays and special occasions. Probably will just create a bunch of rules to do that for me.
Interesting about the power outage...worst case for me is that they would come on during the day, then stay on until the next scheduled off at sunrise. Not a big deal being outside.
I have a question about this...since the bulbs do such a terrible job repeating, how do you get full coverage for bulbs far away from your hue hub? Do you have separate repeaters paired to your hue hub to repeat the signal for your hue bulbs? Or are they just terrible repeaters for everything else but repeat the signal fine for other light bulbs? Is this where the difference between ZLL and ZHA comes in? I never understood why people would talk about having a whole bunch of zigbee repeaters but then also talk about taking their bulbs off the hub directly.
When using hue bulbs with hue bridge, they create their own separate mesh for just bulbs. I have the HE hub set to a different channel than the one Hue is using so the bulbs do not interfere with or try to route my other zigbee devices. I've got 22 bulbs all over the house with no issues.
I understand how to set it up. What I don't understand is why you don't need repeaters in your hue network if they are such terrible repeaters? If you have hue bulbs all over your house, if they were terrible repeaters, wouldn't you need to have repeaters to reach all of them? Or, like I asked, is it that they repeat for other bulbs fine but not for other devices, like motion sensors or contact sensors? I'm considering investing in Hue but don't want to if I'm going to need a whole bunch of other repeaters for that separate network.
I am no expert, but I believe when paired to a Hue Bridge, these bulbs use ZLL and properly route/repeat ZLL commands. When paired directly to Hubitat, they have to use ZHA, and thus they are asked to route/repeat for non-lighting devices like motion, temperature, water, switches and dimmers, door/window, etc... That is where they don't too well.
If someone knows differently, please correct me as I'd hate to spread misinformation.
That's what I thought but I just wanted to confirm. I didn't want to go out and get the Hue and start doing all that just to find out that I'll have to buy a whole other set of repeaters too! Thanks Dan.
From what I've been able to find (and understand) the big difference between zll and zha comes with how the devices join a network and whether or not a hub is required. That's why you can buy the pre-paired hue bulb/dimmer switch set and NOT need a hub for those. SOOO much information to digest. They say that learning keeps your brain young. I think mine's just regressed to infancy at this point.
This is correct. Confirmed by @mike.maxwell. I haven’t got the technical explanation, but @ogiewon ‘s explanation sounds good. Especially since there are non-Hue outlets that apparently work fine with it.
