I could be duplicating another awesome topic.... so ambassadors / moderators please work your magic if that is the case....
Now that Philips Hue has now taken it's rightful place in the HE line-up of (more) fully supported lighting platforms, it feels like a good point to encourage Hue users to share their uses of the Hue platform within HE, particularly within the new built-in integration, but also users experiences in transitioning from the existing built-in integration or the Community developed CocoHue and Advanmced Hue Bridge Integration Apps.
My personal circumstance has meant I have not been able to move so quickly onto the new platform version, so have not yet made the move from my existing Coco-Hue setup. My move may be delayed by a few months yet..... I would be interested to hear from others who have made the move already and how this played out....
Equally, and more generally, I am also interested in how others choose to use Hue.... What accessories do people use, what (Hue native) automation options (if any) do people use, what third-party stuff are people using...
Before 2.4.0, I was using the old Hue integration for just lights. Was using Coco Hue for just some of my hue buttons and all of my motion sensors.
Both integrations coexisted well with no issues on resources nor any issues with Webcore automations between the two.
When I upgraded to 2.4.0, I ended up migrating my Coco Hue setup to the new Hue integration. I did so as I figured it was a safer bet as perhaps sometime down the road, coco hue may become depreciated.
Plus since bertabcd1234’s code was used and was on the hue cutting edge with great functionality and great support, I thought it was best to consolidate.
There was a hiccup or two after the migration with what appeared to be a bug or two (noted and fixed in the latest update). All now seems to be running well.
I should note that bertabcd1234 was incredibly kind (and patient) and responsive in getting to the bottom of the initial new platform rollout issues I was having. Which resulted in a quick fix by Hubitat team and bertabcd1234
I should also mention that it is a rare privilege to be a part of a home automation platform where the team is incredibly transparent and responsive in acknowledging issues with equal transparency and responsiveness in addressing them.
Personally, I’m still with CoCoHue but may eventually move to the built-in now that it supports Smart Scenes and the new button activation options on regular scenes. While on CoCoHue, I modified the scene driver to add these activation options before they got added. One of my major uses at home are the transition/duration of switching between Hue scenes. When using a Hue App automation, the transitions are great, but limiting compared to Hubitat. Bringing these activation options into Hubitat allows me to create advanced automations but have the Hue bridge do all the color conversions making for a much smoother transition.
I like the Hue bulbs. I use the color temp and colors frequently. I don't like the way I have to interact with them using the actual Hue platform and hardware.
In the same house I have Hue integrated with Hubitat, Control4 and Josh. Yea, I control Hue from all 3 in various ways. I like to ask Josh to set the color temps to specific temps. I like having my Control4 screens to control the lighting and control color temp through the day. I like Hubitat for easy cheap device integrations like zigbee button controllers.
Every once in a while I'll get back into the weeds and see what's possible that wasn't in the past. My biggest issue I'd like to solve moving forward is keeping state of the lights. I think Hue isn't good at this and it's probably the firmware/api's. I'm hoping this has changed in the recent past.
So I guess I like Hue because it's an independent system that can stand alone and support integrations. Expensive, but worth it.
I was never able to reliably use the Hue dimmer switches paired to HE so I have shelved a dozen dimmer switches that I bought but then wasn't able to use. They kept falling off the mesh. And of course with the old built-in Hue integration, the dimmer switches paired to Hue weren't available to HE, so I've not used them. I also have close to 20 Hue motion sensors, all paired directly to HE. With the new integration I'm going to bring back a few of the dimmer switches and pair them with Hue but use them for functions on HE and I'm looking at moving over all the motion sensor to the Hue bridges just to free up space on the HE mesh. I'm going to leave the hub with the old integration as it is (a C7) and migrate room by room over to a new C8 Pro that I purchased many months ago now for the purpose of taking over the function of the C7.
I’ve got a bunch of hue colour temp bulbs and a couple of motion sensors. Only the latter are paired directly to Hubitat. That is going to change when I get home from or family vacation.
I’m also planning to replace my nano leaf matter RGB bulbs with colour hue bulbs. Yeah they are expensive, but they just freaking work. I’ve still got a few Lifx bulbs that are also going to get replaced by hue colour bulbs - I love the quality of the light from these, but hate everything else about them.
I think we’ve also got some hue remotes in a draw that I’m going to try again, now that they are properly supported via the hue bridge.
I'm still using CoCoHue. I have 6 bridges and multiple lights in 6-7 rooms. Admittedly, I became aware of Philips Hue doing something different with the formulas being pulled, but I never got around to figuring out what to do about that. Now I'm hearing of this change, I admit to being a bit clueless - what exactly happened with HE support of Philips Hue devices? Does one have to migrate from CoCoHue, and what advantages does that give? Sorry for the clueless question, I've not been following the forums much lately.
What’s the reasoning behind bringing them back to the hue hub? I thought that may cause additional delays with the extended path of travel I.e Motion message from sensor to hue, message from hue to Hubitat to kick off rule, message from Hubitat to hue to activate device, I know these delays are very small, however delays in lighting seem larger than they actually are.
Will be interesting to see how this works, might have a play on the weekend.
On another matter Hue related, has anyone seen a difference in delay between the V1 and V2 hue dimmers, I have a scene that I activate via several dimmers and there is a considerable delay when activated by the V2 dimmer.
Yeah, like @dJOS said, traditionally people kept their hue stuff on the bridge to isolate them from other Zigbee devices because they could be problematic when acting as repeaters. Not sure how much of a concern that is nowadays with newer models, but it may still be...
By keeping them in the hue bridge you also gain flexibility in being able to easily integrate with other platforms that include a hue integration, such as home assistant, node red or GH and Alexa, not that many of these can't be achieved through HE. You can also continue to use the Hue app.
For me I always want to have flexibility where I can, so this option makes sense for me.
Re delays, I can't say I have compared the API versions, or hue bridge vs HE. You are right that delays can make a difference in the experience of a lighting automation, but I can't say I have noticed any particular lag in using the bridge approach.
Thanks all for the info, I might transition a few dimmers / sensors on the weekend, this may also reduce the delay with the V2 dimmer which really grinds at me .
If you have used the dimmer in a number of automations, you may want to consider setting up a dummy virtual button to take it's place while you move the physical device, swapping them at each step, if that makes sense.
I'll admit I am not up on the best migration paths to take, but I believe the new integration is very similar in features to Coco-Hue, so am not sure if there is any driving need to transition just yet.
As always you can continue to use what you already have setup as long as you want.
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