New habitut owner here, just started migrating things over from SmartThings. So I went with the easiest stuff first, which is normally our Hue Lights. We have 2 Hue Hubs connecting about 60 lights throughout. I'm able to use the built-in app to connect to a single Hue Hub and the lights work as expect but anytime I try to add a second hue bridge app or switch the existing hue app to use devices from the second hub the first Hue Hub Devices stop working. They still show in the device list but commands are no longer sent successfully.
It appears that we can only have a single Hue Bridge established at a time. Am I missing something (I hope so) simple or is this a current limitation?
Don't know the answer to the multi-Hue hub question, but I do know that the actual limit according to users in the Hue Developer forum is 63 lights +62 sensors, dimmers and taps
We've found the real limit much smaller, close to about 35-40 lights per Philips Hue Hub. After that you start to get odd problems such as bulbs turning their selves off and back on or just ignoring commands. Thus the reason we have multiple hubs in the house to split the load (which has worked great for over a year). Each hub communicates with a subset of the overall house (about 30 each) and previously SmartThings would aggregate those into one system and control them. I'd like to do the same using Hubitat.
I'm exploring doing a Factory Reset on the Hue Bulbs and pairing them directly but the Wife likes the "look and feel" of the Hue app at times so I'd like not lose that if possible.
Side note: Just did some limited testing with Alexa and one of the Hubs/set of bulbs and things are Amazing fast compared to what we're use too. The lights were enabled before Alexa even responded! Great work there guys, local execution for the win!
Yes, Hubitat communication with the Hue bridge is local. I would keep the bridge(s) in place personally. The Hue scene control is a plus, vs direct connect. Plus, it takes the Zigbee load off the hub, so you can add even more devices
The official supported limit for the Hue bridge is 50 lights. You should not be limited to 40 or less. Something's amiss.
I've moving the Hue Lights over to the Hubitat directly and this has caused no end of issues to my zigbee mesh. Hue bulbs are horrible repeaters, as I've read and found out first hand. I'm in the process of moving everything back to my 2 Hue Bridges now, I could attempt to load them all on a single bridge but I'd prefer to keep them spread across two Hue Bridges if possible.
I've did a factory reset on both Hue Bridges and associated them directly with the Hubitat using the " Hue Bridge Integration" app. I paired two separate bulb with each bridge and then proceed to test the bulbs abilities. As previously noted, only the last bridge I associated with the hub works. if re-associate (and link) Hubitat to the other bridge then then all commands to it work but the problem swaps.
The log shows a command was issue to the device but it appears the commands only succeed on the most recently associated hub. Below is a copy of the Hue Integration app details incase this is helpful to anyone. I'd be glad to reproduce the issue and gather any future details if anyone has any ideas. It looks like things are setup to support multiple hubs but it currently isn't work as I would expect.
Hue Bridge Integration Built In App
Name
Type
Value
selectedHue
enum
0017886DB546
selectedBulbs
enum
selectedGroups
enum
Event Subscriptions
none
Application State
Name
Value
refreshUsernameNeeded
bulbs
{2={hub=null, modelid=LWB014, name=Hue white lamp 1, id=2, type=Dimmable light, remove=false}}
So, I went in my Hue Bridge Integration app just to see, and I agree that it does appear like it should let you add multiple bridges. The act of either merely opening the app and clicking on my Bridge or trying to discover more, however, apparently made it forget the username (populated in your case, and something you may wish to edit out in case you think someone would ever gain access to your LAN). There is no way for me to manually add or edit this (not saying there should be, but it just disappearing shouldn't happen), so I had to restore from a recent backup.
I'm afraid to go look in the app again for this reason, but I do see that the app tracks "bridges" but only has one place for "username." Each bridge would need a different username, since these are randomly generated when a device/app requests access (technically, Philips used to let you request a specific username, but that has been deprecated and probably removed, and it's unlikely to be what Hubitat is doing). But I also see "selectedHue" with the MAC address or some other unique identifier for the bridge. Does it only let you have one "active" at a time? That also seems odd since it doesn't appear to let you switch/choose between them. The wording in the UI looks like it should let you add multiple bridges, but me trying to guess what their variable names mean make me unsure if the way it's possibly built would actually support this.
Most people only have one Hue bridge, so if it's supposed to support more, I suspect this just a case that was never tested. If no one from staff ends up reading this, maybe try e-mailing support to see if they have an answer.
@bertabcd1234 Thanks for the follow up and info on the Hue Api. Sorry you had to do a restore afterwards but I appreciate the effort! I throw some extra characters into the username thanks for the concern, I assumed a pass-key would also associated with it but not shown in the UI (but maybe not).
My guesses track with yours, the naming makes the app feel like it was built with multiple hub support in mind. The UI remembers which devices came from which Bridge or at least shows you those devices are already added to the Hub when selecting them under the add Device UI.
I do know SmartThings supported multiple-hubs because that is how I've used them for the last year. Worse case I could keep smartthings around (yuck) and put one hub on it and drive it from Hubitat or maybe drive the other Hue Bridge via another means. Hopefully this is just a bug or maybe something that could be added easy enough.
Oh, no problem! If anyone else wants to try to replicate my disappearing-username issue, maybe I/we could more confidently make that a bug report. Or...maybe it would be fixed if the problem with using multiple bridges is, indeed, a problem. Certainly looks like it should let you add arbitrarily many, which they do with their Lutron bridge integration.
(And if you're curious, the Hue API works over HTTP, with the "username" being part of the URL that apps use to access it with HTTP methods; there is no password per se, though I'm assuming the username was designed to be long and random enough--and the stakes are low enough--that it effectively acts as such.)
I was able to reproduce the empty password issue by selecting the app and then NOT selecting a Hue Bridge but instead selecting "<<App List" at the top. Username now shows empty and none of my associated lights work from either hub. Looks like opening the discovery dialog blanks out the current username and sets it again once you select a new hub and link with it.
+1 to this, have 2 hue bridges with 90 bulbs total, only able to control 1 bridge at a time. This has been the only thing blocking me from converting over from Samsung, unfortunately.
I've opened a support ticket last week and Bobby said there was nothing in the app that prevented multiple bridges but that they had only tested the integration with one bridge. He escalated my ticket to an engineer for research/testing. I'm hoping to hear a resolution time frame at some point.
For now I've moved everything I could to one bridge and since purchased about a dozen more Hue (from their outdoor line, I might have a problem) and put them plus the remainder of the house on the second bridge. I'm using IFTTT to do very basic automation of those but I really want to get everything fully integrated soon.
After the last 10 hour outage with smartthings I've decided that Hubitat was worth the pain even without full integration. WAF has been on the rise for sure and the "other hub" is sitting unplugged which makes me happy.
Hopefully it gets resolved, I don't have that type of flexibility with my setup where I can move them from bridge to bridge. We have a few light fixtures in the house that use 6-9 bulbs each, which is just annoying when working with a 50 bulb limit.
Yeah, you can use up to 62, but I found that performance nosedives after 50... meaning that when a group of lights is turned on, one of the bulbs will just miss the command.
Yep we're hitting all those issues mentioned. Kick on night mode and some lights just don't respond (but not always the same ones). Turns off some lights and others turn on or flicker. 50 lights per hub is what we've found to be the sweet spot as well.
I'm hopeful for some feedback soon on this matter. Configured Lutron Bridge recently and have been installing a ton of Pico remotes, the support is great for that hub. Hoping for the same on Hue shortly!
We are looking into this issue. It was never tested with multiple hubs so we are not sure what the problem is, but I've sent a second hue hub to @mike.maxwell for testing and we will get to the bottom of it.
I only have one Hue bridge, but I'd be in favor of at least getting rid of the bug where it erases your Hue username in the Hubitat app when you do so much as open the page for your existing bridge in the app.
I imagine these are related, since the app itself is worded as if it should support multiple bridges.
This will be in the next build.
The app wasn't specifically written to support multiple bridges within the same instance, despite it appearing so.
When the update comes out you will install a new app instance for each additional bridge that you have.
Had we decided to support multiple bridges within a single app install, the entire app would have needed to be re written, and would not have been compatible with the current version.
Or...maybe it would be fixed if the problem with using multiple bridges is, indeed, a problem. Certainly looks like it should let you add arbitrarily many, which they do with their Lutron bridge integration.
and the "other hub" is sitting unplugged which makes me happy.
