I have 2 Hue bridges with about 85 Hue devices spread among the 2 bridges. Lately, when I try to create a room or group with Alexa app for controlling Hue Bulbs, I choose the bulbs in Alexa app but when the app "finalizes" the new room or group creation, it shows totally different Hue Bulbs than the ones I chose for the room. Example: I choose Hue Bedroom Bulbs 1 thru 4...click oK & Alexa App creates the room or group & it may say: Bath Hue 2, Dining Hue 3, ,,,never the bulbs I choose.
So, looking at the Echo skill in HE, I see I have option for slider to be on or off for: "Exclude Hue Integrated devices" or something like that..anyway, not sure what that really means or if I should or should not turn this slider on....don't know why Alexa app started this as it always worked fine in past.
Don't know if I should tell Alexa to forget all devices & start over.
That feature in the Hubitat "Amazon Echo Skill" app is used to decide whether or not Hubitat-integrated-Hue devices should be shared with Alexa, if they are selected as a device in the listing of devices.
The reason you may NOT want to have those devices shared with Alexa is to prevent duplicate Hue devices in the Alexa list of Smarthome devices. If you already have added your Hue bridge to Alexa using the native Philips Hue Skill, having Hubitat ALSO expose those same devices would create duplicates.
So, basically, if you are using the Philips Hue Skill in Alexa, you want the "Exclude Hue Integrated devices" turned on to prevent duplicates. If you are only sharing the Hue devices via the Hubitat Skill for Alexa, then you want to turn that feature off.
Thank you! So that may explain why some of the bulbs are listed twice in my Alexa app. It gets confusing with all those Hue Bulbs & all those 'scenes' that seem to imported with Hue.
OK...I am removing all of the Hue Bulbs from Hue Bridge as well as the Alexa app this weekend & going to start over with Hue. Some of the bulbs are listed 4 times in the Alexa app. I plan to pair them to the 2 Hue Bridges again.
It's a pain to delete all these bulbs. Which do you think is better...let HE handle the Hue Bulbs or let the Philips Hue skill in Alexa do it? I'm not sure what to do at this point. Thank you!
That's a good question, and there are pros and cons to both approaches. I personally have my one Hue bridge integrated with Hubitat, and then use the Hubitat Alexa Skill to integrate with Alexa.
However, for my Lutron Caseta lighting system, I do just the opposite. I use the Lutron Alexa Skill for Alexa, and simply do not select those lights in the Hubitat Amazon Echo Skill app on my hub.
The Hue bridge integration with Hubitat is local and LAN based. Unfortunately, it requires routine polling (every 60s by default) to 'see' if any Hue bulbs have been changed outside of the Hubitat environment (using the Hue app on your phone, or the native Hue Alexa Skill, etc...) So, by making Alexa use Hubitat to change the Hue bulbs, Hubitat has instant status updates. If one uses the Hue app on their phone to change a Hue bulb, then it can still take up to 60s for Hubitat to 'see' the change.
With Lutron, this is not an issue as the Caseta SmartBridge Pro informs Hubitat of every change instantly, regardless of how it was changed.
Log into alexa.amazon.com and you'll be able to delete smart home devices much more quickly than using the Alexa app on your phone.
Personally, I think it is better to connect everything possible to Hubitat and only connect things to Alexa that cannot be connected easily to Hubitat. Since Lutron switches and dimmers and Hue bulbs work through Hubitat, I do it that way and then link Hubitat to Alexa through the Alexa skill. The advantage I have found to doing it that way is that it make it easier to set up dashboards indicating device status and apps to trigger lighting if everything is in Hubitat.
I do have a couple of devices such my Hunter Simpleconnect fans that will connect with Alexa, but not directly with Hubitat. I plan to use virtual devices to indicate fan status within Hubitat, but is would be far simpler if the fans could connect to Hubitat directly. I am still trying to figure out the best way to get the link to work.
Just wanted to point out there are cons to removing the bulbs from the hue bridge entirely and pairing them directly to Hubitat, if that’s what you meant here.
As a hue user, @ogiewon is probably more familiar with the reasons why than me. But in general, I believe you lose out on a few bulb features that only the native hue app supports, and some zigbee bulbs can create problems when they’re not on a bulb-only mesh network like the one the hue bridge creates.
As @ogiewon explained above, you can keep the bulbs paired to the hue bridge, integrate with Hubitat over the LAN, and then integrate with Alexa via the Hubitat skill, OR you can integrate Hue with Alexa directly using the Hue skill.
I agree completely. I would definitely keep the Hue lights paired directly to the Hue Bridge. Make sure the Hue Bridge is using a different Zigbee Channel than the Hubitat Hub. I use Zigbee channel 25 on my Hue bridge, and Zigbee channel 20 on my Hubitat hub.
When Hue bulbs are connected to the Hue bridge, they support power restore features and native Apple HomeKit support. When Hue bulbs are paired directly to the Hubitat hub, they may cause Zigbee HA1.2 mesh issues.
