In my living room I have 6x 4" ceiling light fixtures. They were here when I moved in. The room is large and it really wasn't enough. I replaced with 660 Lumen LED fixtures and it was WAY better, but never quite bright enough sometimes.
I see that Costco has 3x Hue 4" lights for $140, which is not THAT bad (I mean after you accept how over priced Hue is normally) They are listed as 850 Lumen.
So, I am debating replacing with HUE, but have questions. I currently use a Lutron Caseta wall switch and I also use Logitech Harmony to control them from the couch/
Will these lights REALLY be 25% brighter than my current lights? Or is does Lumen rating teeter on "marketing term"?
What is the "right way" to control them so that I can do so both "simple" via wall switch, and through automations/Harmony?
Caseta is not directly compatible with any smart bulbs/fixtures since Caseta does not have a smart-bulb-mode option (like Zooz or Inovelli switches).. No idea about Harmony - I stopped using it years ago when they deprecated it.
The 850L value would be at the brightest possible setting (highest CT, full brightness). No idea how that'll actually compare to your current lights - it's hard to know without trying.
Lumens are a standard unit, so they should be able to be compared, but there are a couple things that might complicate things:
Directionality/shape of the beam (should be similar if the bulb shape is similar...)
under what conditions you actually get that output; most Hue devices I see specify at 4000K, where they are normally brightest, but other manufacturers may vary
However, as mentioned above, to get smart control of them, you'd need something besides Caséta switches/dimmers (Lutron doesn't really have this use case in mind--they cut power, and even if you re-write, they don't send button events like many modern smart Z-Wave and Zigbee switches and dimmers do). I don't see any way Harmony could help either, but maybe I'm just not thinking imaginatively enough.
A Pico remote would work; I have many around my home doing something similar. So would any button device you can integrate into Hubitat and then program to turn on, off, dim, etc., the Hue bulbs as desired. Likewise with nearly any current smart switch/dimmer, remote/button device, scene controller, etc. that works with Hubitat and generates similar events you could use to automate.
You also don't necessarily need the controls for Hue integrated into Hubitat. I have several Hue control devices (Hue Dimmer, Hue Tap, Lutron Aurora, etc.), and they work fine as-is. (It's actually kind of nice to have in the event you update your hub -- something I've been doing a lot during the current beta -- and step into another room you expect to have motion lighting while it's rebooting!) Despite having written the CoCoHue integration and a way to get these events into Hubitat, I still don't really make use of that feature.
Yea I dont mind replacing the caseta, I can put that someplace else. And Harmony integrates with HUE as well so that isnt really a problem.
I think the big question I have is...how well do the dimmers actually work in Smart-Bulb mode?
Is it "native" function that HE can recognize? "Hold to increase" Or do I have to build a series of button controllers in HE to emulate?
Will it "feel natural"? or will my wife be annoyed?
Will the dimmer controls work even if I modify the light? Like if I had a Zen32 scene controller, could I set the buttons to change color/temperature, and still have the dimmer change brightness no matter what "mode" it's in?
This is true, but either a Rule or an app like Switch Bindings works around this issue. When switch turns on, turn on Hue group. When switch turns off, turn off Hue group. I use Switch Bindings with Lutron and Hue and it works wonderfully for the few times my wife wants manual control.
You will need to use an automation to run the "Start Level Change" and "Stop Level Change" commands on the device (I wrote Dimmer Button Controller to make this easy for me, but built-in apps can do it, too).
An alternative is a Zigbee switch/dimmer that supports bindings, which the Inovelli Blue Series (VZM31-SN) does, along with smart bulb mode. That's the only one I'm aware of, though there may be more.
I'm not such a huge fan of this given the latency involved. (Button events normally come in pretty fast and the command--and desired effect--happens fast enough for me, but I don't know that I'd tolerate the delay of having to wait for the "source" device to report back first.) But, of course, everyone's preferences are different.
Picos feel natural to me. Some people don't like the "hold" up/down thing that pretty much every Zigbee and Z-Wave dimmer does to dim, but that's a separate issue...
The "Start Level Change" command will raise or lower the brightness (usually only if the bulb is currently on, though some other bulbs behave differently) and doesn't care about the current color, CT, etc., which will remain as-is, if that is what you mean.
If you wire the line and load together, it will not affect the Hue bulbs and work similar to smart bulb mode with Zooz.
What I have found is that Lutron events come in at the same speed whether it is a Pico or a Switch. So, if the line and load are tied together, Hubitat sees both the button and on/off commands at about the same speed.
I have a house full of Hue devices on 2 bridges. To echo last point @bertabcd1234 made above, after many years and trying different dimming solutions that ultimately drove my family members crazy, I settled for Hue dimmers next to the smart switches in each room. They are detachable so they can serve as remotes too. They are connected to the Hue bridge. The smart switches next to them are used as button controllers in bulb mode. You can cycle through light recipes similar to Hue remotes, but customized in Hubitat. That makes smart home predictable to those who prefer to use physical devices, as all switches in the house behave the same way. I have a mix of Inovelli devices, some of which don't support binding, so achieving a consistent behavior across different models was nearly impossible. The reality is that we rarely use physical devices, all rooms are automated by Hubitat so Hue lights come on at desired levels and temperatures based on each room primary occupant's liking.
See I'm never able to do that. I have lots of different lighting preferences depending on what i'm doing....and time of day.
Watching TV in daytime, vs night time is different.....watching a movie...also different....Watching TV WHILE eating pizza....also different. So I like to just be able to easily control, in an intuitive way.
Can't get any link to generate a preview but at least this one has a link. These dimmers work only with the Hue bridge, but they work very well and keep the light switch from being turned off. Hue remotes also work well. Hue talks directly to Logitech so no problem there.
Personally, I use motion sensors to turn then lights on when a room is in use. I use RM rules to determine what the lighting looks like based on time of day. I tell Alexa or Siri to turn on a switch that changes lights for things like watching movies. But the Aurora dimmers work great if for some odd reason I want to touch a switch on the wall.
Wow that's a really cool device! If i decide to go the smart bulb route, I will CERTAINLY buy at least one. Not every location would need one, but a couple main places.
With occasional voice control overwriting based on real mood.
