Before I break anything, Hue, Ikea

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So for a long time, I was using Hue light (6 bulbs), hue dimmers (2), and a couple of smart outlets that I won't even mention :slight_smile:

For some issues with those outlets, I started to investigate to go local and landed in Hubitat.

So I plan to add these hue lights and switches and some IKEA bulbs, switches (the small one), and motion detectors that I just bought.

I don't have the IKEA hub. I was reading that it is possible to configure all of this without hubs and because I am planning to play with switch-bot and maybe add some smart in-wall switches. I don't really want to have many hubs if I can connect everything to HE without any extra hub, the better.

So with these constraints, what do you recommend?

So far, I was reading that the small IKEA switches are probably not possible to use without the hub. Everyone recommends maintaining Hue bulbs and dimmers into the hue hub and adding the IKEA bulbs and motion detectors into the Hue hub. Probably I should return the motion sensor?
I am not sure if this is correct or obsolete information.

I appreciate all the help; I am so confused and reading too much, and the more I read, the most confusing I get.

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So you're not using the Hue bridge at all atm I take it?

Most of the IKEA control devices use a part of the Zigbee protocol called Light Link (ZLL) in a manner which makes them difficult/impossible to use on other hubs like HE.

I've used the Hue Bridge in my setup in the following way.

  • Hue bulbs and a couple of Ikea bulbs are paired to the Hue Bridge and controlled by the local integration app on Hubitat.
  • I have a mix of hue dimmer switches connected to the Hue bridge for direct bulb control and some connected to Hubitat for other automation control.
  • Hue Motion Sensors and other Zigbee Motion/Contact sensors are connected to Hubitat for automations.
  • I have a couple of Ikea control dimmers Light Link paired directly to some Hue bulbs that are in lamps for direct local control (this outside of HE/Hue altogether.)

The Ikea bulbs work alright connected to the Hue bridge, although they don't do the behaviour of staying off when the power goes out.

Cheers,

Glenn.

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Haha, @gbrown, It does look like I will end having to use it :frowning:

This relation between bulbs and Ikea control dimmers are outside HE/Hue. Neither the bulb of the dimmer is visible for HE?

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I used the sonos sound remotes and light linked them to hue bulb whilst that bulb was still paired to the bridge.

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You can pair them to HE, but I found the batteries were draining super fast. Nice little dimmer puck for directly controlling a bedside lamp though.

The dimmer isn't visible in Hue or Hubitat at all though, it just directly controls the bulb within a few feet of it.

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Like Glenn I used a Hue bridge up until recently for a number of Hue bulbs and accessories, using the mobile app All4Hue to achieve much more fine-grained control of my rules on the Hue hub. I recently purchased a second HE hub, now having both a C-4 and C-7. I mostly hooked up my Hue lights and accessories to my C-7, leaving other Zigbee devices such as Samsung contact sensors and buttons on my existing C-4, along with other LAN devices, various apps and my dashboards. I have now turned off my Hue hub.

While I have linked my lights to my new C-7, I am learning that is an important aspect of my setup. Like Glenn mentioned, there are differences in the ways Zigbee devices implement the Zigbee protocol and that can mean they don't play nicely together, causing issues with communications for other devices when on the same Zigbee mesh. That is one of the reasons people suggest isolating your Hue lights either onto the Hue bridge, another HE hub or something similar. There are some more nuances to that which I'm not the best one to explain, so hopefully others can chime in with more detailed responses on that topic.

I chose to go this way so that I could integrate the contact sensors and other HE-related features into my lighting. Like you will have read, you don't technically have to pair your lights with HE to achieve this in general, however I do like to incorporate the status of my lights into some of my rules, which becomes difficult with most of the in-built or custom integrations with the Hue hub, given that they need to poll the Hue hub periodically.

Just to be clear, this is the IKEA switch you are talking about:

If it is, I have used these by pairing them to a Conbee2 Zigbee stick connected to my raspberry pi 4. There is a community written driver for the deConz software that is typically used for this device. If you are interested I can provide some more details.

Simon

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Thanks, both. For now and because I want to start playing around I connected the bulbs via hue bridge to the HE.
For the switches and motion sensors. I pair the lights in the bathroom with the motion sensor from Ikea. They are not visible from my HE :frowning: Not a big deal for the bathroom lights but I will return my other switches and motion sensors to Ikea. So sad that it is not an easy way to have them working. I am looking into the sonoff, looks like they are easy. Bought one and if it works fine probably I will buy more of them somewhere cheaper than amazon :slight_smile: I kinda want to be able to override the sensor with a switch sometimes.

Thanks again for your answers. I am amazed at how fast this community reply and how welcoming it is.

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I picked up a hue v2 hub with 2 bulbs at homedepot for $35 on clearance. I have a few cree bulbs I picked up a couple of years ago for 5.00 each before the whole Wink thing went tits up. They work well with the hue hub and are easily controlled with he cocohue integration with hubitat. Very happy with it. Though I only have the bulbs for the odd table lamp. For most of my lighting I use switches.

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