Direct connection to Hue bulbs?

[vancleve]

I've touchlinked 5 hue bulbs, which from everything I can read should have put them in a mode where they can directly connect to Hubitat. Still, despite "discover devices" and long waits, they don't appear. Have I misunderstood the ability of the HE to connect to Hue devices without a Hue hub?

[csteele]

Can’t add hue bulb directly to hub

I have 2 hue bulbs connected to a hue bridge that I would like to connect directly to the hubitat hub. (For several reasons - my hue bridge link has been flaky, it’s one less hub, and I’d rather have the bulbs act as repeaters on ZHA rather than be ZLL all by themselves). I can’t seem to get hubitat to discover them. I’ve deleted them from the hue app, but this doesn’t seem to matter. I also tried following this guide But that didn’t seem to do anything. Any one have an idea how to go abou…

Pretty sure I shouldn't be answering since I've never held a Hue anything... AND, I don't 'do' Zigbee either, but I did search this Community and found that Thread.

[vancleve]

That link alludes to the difficulty in resetting bulbs, but the “touch link” procedure I did is supposed to be equivalent to the remote based reset. So same question: has anyone been able to directly add bulbs to HE?

[Errand]

Yes, I have 7 hue bulbs added directly to Hubitat. There wasn't anything particularly odd in adding them. I reset them with a hue dimmer before pairing and they paired as zigbee bulbs.

[mike.maxwell]

The hue bulbs pair just fine to Hubitat, they do however need to be reset. If they don't join, they probably aren't. Lutron connected bulb remote or the hue dimmer are your friends in this regard.

[marktheknife]

@mike.maxwell do you know if a new hue bulb in box should be able to pair to the HE hub? Or is a reset likely needed even in that case?

I’m thinking of replacing a (dumb) candelabra bulb in a bedside lamp, and afaik only hue has a smart bulb with E12 base. I don’t have a hue bridge, dimmer, Lutron connected bulb remote, etc.

[SmartHomePrimer]

IKEA Trådfri also come in E12 base candelabra style. Reset shouldn’t be necessary, but it just is sometimes, even when it’s Hue to Hue pairing. People may have paired with something else, then returned.

IKEA build can be reset by just unplug/plugin 6 times. No remotes required.

[jrau272]

I started that other thread. I posted that link on the the touch link instructions, but try as I might, I was never able to get that to work.

Ultimately I bought the hue remote for $25, which is annoying, but my bulbs are directly connected to Hubitat now.

[vancleve]

Thanks all for the data. Have purchased a remote. What a silly system.

[mike.maxwell]

You don't need to reset them when nib, should pair, you may need to select the correct driver.

[SmartHomePrimer]

@vancleve

What a silly system.

The remote is ugly. How else are they going to move them (although, full disclose, I do own one and didn't buy it to reset Hue bulbs).

[gbpack4ever]

I am curious to know if you are able to change colors as well with directly connecting to Hubitat? I am just starting to research all this and trying to plan out what we are going to purchase and how to use it. I think I am strongly leaning towards HE vs vera but also would like to just have one hub if at all possible and the hue bulbs would be killer to use that way
Thanks

[Navat604]

@gbpack4ever

am curious to know if you are able to change colors as well with directly connecting to Hubitat? I am just starting to research all this and trying to plan out what we are going to purchase and how to use it. I think I am strongly leaning towards HE vs vera but also would like to just have one hub if at all possible and the hue bulbs would be killer to use that way
Thanks

I have a couple of color Hue bulbs and around 5 white direct connect to HE and around 20 on the Hue bridge. You can definitely change colors and brightness to the bulbs.
I am in the process of moving all my bulbs back to the Hue bridge. 3 reasons really.

1. My zigbee mesh is getting big and I don't want the Hue bulbs to be repeaters and messing thing up.
2. Couple of time the bulbs lost connection to the hub and it's a pain to reset even with a lutron smart bulb remote.
3. Easier for my kids to play around with colors with the Hue apps.

[gbpack4ever]

@Navat604

lutron smart bulb remote.

Thank you for the reply and definitely gave me something to think about!

[erktrek]

So a bit of a tangential question..

I have a Lightify RGBW strip connected directly to HE.. I read that I can pair it to a Hue hub if I want and use it through the Hue bridge. Is there any benefit to doing this? I am looking specifically at color changes which seem to be a bit off given certain values on a direct pairing. I was wondering if the Hue would have better mapping somehow.. or does it not work like that?

[mike.maxwell]

Yes, you will get better color rendering directly on the hue bridge using the hue app, this isn't an issue with HE specifically, but an issue with the current color schema that we maintain to be compatable with ported drivers, also I've ranted multiple times about osram bulbs not repeating data correctly, or more accuratly just not repeating but pretending that they do.

[mike.maxwell]

Osrams won't pair to the hue bridge...

[erktrek]

Yikes I was reading about how they could then I just googled it again and found that they couldn't - I think it was a later Hue firmware update or something. Thanks for that catch.

Any way having fun teasing out the colors I want in HSL + temperature. Will keep a file on hand.

Thanks again.

[erktrek]

My preference is always to go with HE anyway if I can help it..

[jpoeppelman1]

I think this question has been answered but want confirm. Can hue bulbs be paired/ controlled by HE directly? Any performance or reporting issues? I would like to sell my hue hub to simply my environment if possible. Or just keep the hub for firmware upgrades but unplug and keep offline.