I have tried for years to be amazed and delighted by my installation of Philip Hue lights and the most I’m able to achieve is satisfaction.
While that should be enough I can’t help thinking I have great untapped promise in the automation and adaptation of light plus color into our daily lives.
I started by purchasing a three pack Starter Kit like the photo above. I quickly installed the lights in three different rooms.
Once I had the lights spread across three rooms I ran into a PRO and a CON. PRO you could easily provide navigational lighting so you can easily walk around the house without traditional night-lights. CON you lack full control of a single room, rather it becomes a mix of Smart and Dumb lights.
If you consolidate the lights into a single room you gain broader control of a smaller portion of your home. Obviously there is no “right” answer and you’ll be force to make these decisions until you acquire enough lights to achieve both goals (density & distribution).
Once I realized Tammy wasn’t interested in pulling out her mobile phone to control the lights I purchased a Hue Tap button. I am impressed by the form factor and functionality of the Tap. I highlight recommend getting one especially as you ramp up the quantity of lights. It allows convenient control until you get your automation tuned over weeks, months, and (in my case) years.
I have tried introducing colored light into our everyday life, but it hasn’t taken hold. Each time I try it seems forced and unnatural. Color light has not been compelling so the traditional white light keeps becoming the default.
What has been positively accepted by Tammy and me is dimming and timed scenes. It is nice to have a group of lights automatically come on and go off at predetermined times. For example on weekdays I have the lights comes on before Tammy gets home from work. During the spring and fall this isn’t noticed, but during the winter Tammy welcomes coming home to an illuminated home. Similarly in the morning when we get out of bed the lights are already on through portions of the house making it easier to navigate and prepare for work. Lastly, at night I have the lights slowly dim as it approaches our typical bedtime and finally go out. BINGO! I achieved limited acceptance for Philip Hue lights from Tammy.
I also created scenes for “Doing Nails” and for “Late Night Nightlights” which leverage different levels of brightness and shades of white light.
I have tried using Sunset and Sunrise to variably control the lights. For example turn on the evening scene 30 minutes before sunset, but inevitably it will be a cloudy day and we want the lights on sooner. Same with Sunrise and turning off the lights. I find it easier to adjust the time in a Pre-Defined Time event during the seasons than the try and rely on a variable.
LEARNING #1: While the Hue iOS app is nice we don’t use it beyond setting up new lights, creating scenes, and handling firmware updates for the bulbs. It was critical for acceptance that I incorporate the lights into Apple’s HOME application. The HOME application and the integration with Siri helped bridge the Use-ability gap with both Tammy and me.
We have slowly adopted Siri control of lighting. It comes with the issue of Siri’s voice being loud especially late in the evening when you quieting down for sleep, but it works well and consistently.
LEARNING #2: I placed the control box under a coach in the family room. Turns out you will need to press a button on the top of control unit frequently in the future. I highly recommend you place the control unit where you have easy access. This presents a slight problem because the unit has a bright blue light surrounding the button so it makes its presence known when the house is dark.
ASK #1: Outdoor rated bulbs. I want to turn my outdoor house lights different colors based on upcoming holidays. Make them green and red for Christmas, Orange at Halloween and USA Thanksgiving, pink for Valentines, green for St. Patricks, red/white/blue for USA Independence day, etc. I am not buying new fixtures, rather I want outdoor bulbs or at least bulbs that can withstand -10 to 90 deg Fahrenheit.
ASK #2: Let me say this might already be possible, but last time I tried I couldn’t figure it out. I want the ability to set a time based on sunrise and sunset, BUT with the ability to set an amount of time before OR after the event. Example: One hour before sunset turn on Evening scene -or - 45 minutes after sunrise turn off Morning scene.
ASK #3: Philips make the light on the control unit software controllable. I suspect most customers will elect to disable the control unit light during normal use.