Hello, I currently have 4 Hue Zigbee white bulbs and two Smartthings motion sensors. They are running on the Echo Show 2nd gen built in Zigbee hub. I just purchased the Hubitat and now I am debating on what I should do concerning the Zigbee bulbs and the rules I would like to build. Right now I have two outdoor Hue BR30's come on from motion on a Ring camera (rules built on the Echo Show). I have the Ring Alarm as well.
Looking for advice/recommendations on what to do. I do not plan on going to any color bulbs from Hue, but I do what to make sure I can set up as much as possible via Hubitat. I was thinking about purchasing a Hue bridge and putting all of the light bulbs on it and connecting it to the Hubitat. But from reading the various post on the Hubitat community I am now thinking that perhaps another Hubitat might be a better idea. The second Hubitat would have only Zigbee bulbs paired to it. The Hue bridge would allow me to have the Hue app, just not certain that it matters.
I have 6 wifi white bulbs as well that are connected to the Echo Show (2 Lifx and 4 Wyze), I added the Hubitat custom app and have the 2 Lifx bulbs added in the Hubitat. Just learning how to get the Hubitat setup. Looking forward to start using it, but still planning things out.
Thanks,
I've done it both ways, and in my experience, the Hue Bridge (which apparently they're at least marketing as "Hue Hub" now?) provides a better experience, but there are advantages (and disadvantages) to both.
Hubitat advantages:
- Can use a variety of smart bulbs (nearly any Zigbee HA, Zigbee LL, Zigbee 3.0, Z-Wave or supported Wi-Fi bulb--not may of those last two and especially that last one--will work); the Hue Bridge works with only Zigbee LL and supposedly Zigbee 3.0 bulbs
- Can create "groups" entirely within Hubitat and use Zigbee group messaging to reduce or eliminate "popcorn effect" (and sometimes even missed commands), which Hue can do too but you have to create them in Hue and then import into Hubitat, i.e., you can't do it all within Hubitat to get the full benefit
- If you're already familiar with Hubitat, it's one less interface you need to learn
Hue Bridge advantages:
- Absolutely rock-solid--Hubitat isn't bad, but Hubitat is an all-purpose hub whereas Hue is dedicated entirely to lighting, and Zigbee Light Link is a bit lighter of a protocol that can still do quite a bit on its own even if your Bridge goes down (e.g., a Hue Dimmer or Hue Tap paired directly to the Hue network should still work as they usually communicate directly with the bulbs)
- The ability to use native Hue controls like the Tap, Dimmer, RunlessWire Click, and Lutron Aurora, plus some unofficial third-party controls like the Ikea 5-button "steering wheel" remote and Eria Dimmer, in the manner mentioned above (many of these will also pair to Hubitat and tehcnically gain more power there but with the tradeoffs below plus the slight possible disadvantage above)
- "True" scene support: Hubitat has scenes, but even with Zigbee bulbs, they are software "emulations" of what true Zigbee scenes can do, which would be storing the scene on the bulb itself (how the Hue controls work without the Bridge), providing reliable and instant switching to a specific scene. I've found that directly paired Zigbee bulbs often require me to send the Hubitat scene "on" command twice to get everything to the right state, possibly because it's flooding the Zigbee network with a bunch of individual messages to different bulbs and some get lost (using groups with group broadcasting helps, but that assumes you want every bulb in the group to the same setting; compare to default Hue scenes like Savannah Sunset where that is not the case).
- No need to set up HubConnect (or Hub Link/Link to Hub) on both Hubitat hubs (this is a wonderful and powerful app, just not quick to set up the first time)--just the Hue Bridge integration app (quick and easy) on Hubitat.
- The Hue Bridge is usually able to be found for a bit less than a new Hubitat (though you might break even or even tip in favor of Hubitat if you don't use all Hue bulbs)
I tried a second (OK, fourth...) Hubitat just for bulbs and eventually moved almost everything back to Hue except a few bulbs I wanted to keep this way (or am willing to tolerate using this way) to continue testing this setup. Some bulbs "missing" commands when not used as part of groups was a major setback for me, and some third-party bulbs that worked fine on Hue occasionally fell off when used in ZHA mode on Hubitat (Cree Connected A19 cool white), so when I reset them I decided to just put them back on Hue instead and eventually migrated most back.
I don't want to discourage you from using a second Hubitat--a few of us have tried it and I think I think many of them have had better experiences than me (though I'm not sure all of them have used Hue to compare, and they may not have as many smart bulbs). With all white bulbs, you're less likely to run into some of these problems, and if you're able to use groups (but still not too many at the same time), you'll likely fare even better. At the current time, however, I think Hue--designed for this exact purpose--provides an overall better lighting experience, and it can be easily integrated with Hubitat, so there are few disadvantages.
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Thanks for the detailed reply. You make some good points on the Hue and it's specific purpose to manage Zigbee lights. I also have a HunterDouglas Powerview that is working perfect and has never failed since I started using it. It does a great job managing what it is supposed to do. There is a lot to be said about having something that just works vs the headaches of dealing with little issues that can pop up. I started out considering buying the Hue hub and your comments are making me feel a lot more comfortable that it wouldn't be something that I would regret doing.
You can pick up a Hue hub used for a lot less than new. Also noticed that Home Depot looks to be clearing out some older hue sets, making way for the newly branded models. They had a 4-lamp set with bridge for $88.
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One big disadvantage with the Hue hub which might affect you or not is when using a motion sensor connected to the Hue hub trying to control a light/switch/etc on another hub. It will be delays and the experience is like on SmartThings with cloud devices.
The reason for this is that the API provided by Philips Hue is the polling kind (last time I tried at least) and if you poll the Hue hub ones every second for state changes then of course you will get up to a second delay from the motion event until the information is received and acted on.
Hubitat does not expose motion sensors (or any a sensors) on Hue to Hubitat, only lights. That does bring up a point, though: there will still be a delay updating light status for any changed outside of Hubitat until the next "refresh"/poll (configurable in the integration app but also possible manually should you need to do that). Unless you depend on these states to trigger other automations, it's unlikely to matter much.
Valid point! Only just recently switched from Home Assistant to HE where all sensors is exposed when using their Hue hub integration. My above statement about the delay made me use a Conbee zigbee stick instead and when migrating I just joined all sensors, lights etc directly from Conbee to HE.
I went to Home Depot and they had the 4 lamp set + hub (the 800lm bulbs) for $83 so I picked up the kit. Adjustable from 2200k - 6500k. Thanks for the info. Moved the 4 Hue bulbs on the Echo Show to the Hue hub (very easy to do). Haven't done anything with the new bulbs yet. Now to connect to Hubitat!
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Yep, I plan on moving the SmartThings motion sensors to HE. Keep only the lights on the Hue bridge.
