Phillips Hue White zigbee bulbs

I bought a few of these bulbs: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QV9XLSD

I'm not using any Hue bridge. I have been trying to get them to pair with my hub as a zigbee device but the hub is not seeing them at all when I try to discover them. Any idea why this would be? I have had success pairing other zigbee outlets and bulbs (they were not Hue though) with the hub previously. The box the bulbs came in says Zigbee certified.

If they're brand new, they should have come "reset" and ready to pair. My guess is that maybe yours aren't for some reason and therefore won't pair to Hubitat. Since you have the new Bluetooth (plus Zigbee) model--assuming that listing is correct--you should be able to reset the bulbs by phyiscally powering them on and off 5 times in a row if you're on relatively recent firmware. That will be difficult to check (or update) without a Hue Bridge. Another way you can reset them, again assuming you really have the Bluetooth model, is to use the Hue Bluetooth app (different from the "regular" Hue app) to reset them. If you don't really have the Bluetooth models or nothing else works, you can try one of the tricks that works for any model of Hue bulb: use a Hue Dimmer (hold the top and bottom buttons together while keeping the remote very close to the bulb, an inch or two, until the bulb flashes), Lutron Connected Bulb Remote, or similar Zigbee remote to reset the bulb. With Alexa plus Zigbee or a Hue Bridge, there are also tricks you can use to "steal" the bulbs and then either reset or "politely" un-pair them (which should also reset the bulbs), making them ready to join Hubitat.

That being said, I would caution against directly pairing many Zigbee smart bulbs if you have non-bulb devices on the same hub, as it sounds like you do. This is briefly touched on in Hubitat's Zigbee tips doc, and you can also find several forum posts warning of the same. The reasoning is that many of these are bad repeaters that can wreak havoc on your mesh for other devices--inconsistently so, making it hard to troubleshoot. Others have good luck, or at least don't see a connection between this and whatever problems they may have. :smiley: A Hue Bridge eliminates this concern, though others use things like a separate hub instead.

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Thanks for your reply. I do have the bluetooth bulbs and was able to connect with them and control them with the Hue BT app. Interestingly, resetting the bulb in the app doesn't seem to help with making them discoverable by Hubitat. I will just go ahead and order the Hue Bridge and see if that helps. Appreciate your insights.

The Dimmer would be cheaper I would imagine. I can't say for sure I was doing this with BT devices, but I have been able to use the Hue Dimmer trick when transitioning my bulbs to my new C-7 HE hub. I had a couple that I removed from the Hue bridge then didn't get them connected to HE in time, so they were left in limbo. I wasn't aware of the off and on option, the dimmer was the the solution I found on the web. So if you are going to buy anything I would think the dimmer is probably a better option as it will give you a method of controlling the lights as well.

All that said I did just read @bertabcd1234 's comment re the mesh, and he is right, if you plan to put other zigbee devices on the same HE hub, then either another HE hub or a Hue bridge would be advisable.

ebay 23- 25 bucks, that's where I got mine, but in the USA only Hue bulbs work, along with maybe 1 other brand. Not any zigbee bulb works with hue hub, so beware before you get locked in, unless you already are. For me I refuse to support a company with their overpriced gear, but that's for me. My money follows my beliefs

Hue, Ikea, Innr, Cree, Gledopto, and Ecosmart are a few that I know work in the US (all of which I currently have paired to my US Bridge network). :slight_smile: Two major players I know of that don't work are Sengled and Osram/Sylvania/Lightify, both because they are ZHA and not ZLL. Zigbee 3.0 bulbs (should either have any now) will supposedly work as of a recent Bridge firmware update, but I'm not sure what anyone has tested in that regard. For a brief period of time a few years ago, Hue experimented with whitelisting only Hue bulbs for pairing to their network. They quickly backtracked. I don't suppose you're thinking of that?

Hue isn't cheap, but they are reliable, and the Bridge has a documented, local (and optionally cloud) API* that allows for easy integration with systems like Hubitat, so it balances out for me. Others' preferences certainly vary; I know you're not alone in this opinion, for sure!

*Only thing I wish they add is add a way for "pushing" changes to integrations instead of making them poll, which would both eliminate (potentially slight) delays with state updates but also make things like button devices and motion sensors actually useful with these integrations

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Thanks, I agree. All I really care about is adjustable white light that can go down to the lowest (warmest?) color temperature possible. I saw that these particular bulbs go down to 2200K and were zigbee which is why I grabbed them. If there are any other adjustable white bulbs that can get to that color temp (or even oranger) I would be even more interested in those. I work late every night and having the warmer colors and dimmable lights along with f.lux on my computer has done wonders for my ability to fall asleep easily. Don't have much interest in all the other fancy colors. If you have other thoughts about different products i should consider I'm all ears. Thanks again.

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