Introducing Philips Hue
Philips Hue is a smart luminaire and control ecosystem that communicates with smart phones and tablets via the Bridge Controller. In the wide range of Philips Hue products you will find monochrome dimmable bulbs, bulbs with adjustable colour temperature and bulbs and LED strips with 16 million colors. Wall, ceiling and table lamps are also available.
Getting started with Philips Hue Smart Lighting
The gateway to a functioning smart light ecosystem world are the Starter Kits. Each of these kits contain a Bridge controller and two or more light sources with either a E27 or GU10 socket.
Starter Kits Philips Hue
- Philips Hue White 8.5W E27 starter kit
- Philips Hue White Ambiance 9.5W A60 Starter kit
- Philips Hue White and Color ambiance 10W E27 starter kit
- Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance 6.5W GU10 Starter Kit
- Philips Hue 10W E27 starter kit + Philips Hue LightStrips Plus + 2x Philips Hue Bloom
After you bring the starter kit home and unpack the contents of the kit, simply screw the bulbs into the chandelier or the lamp and turn on the light switch. Then connect the Bridge to your home Wi-Fi router and power it with the supplied cables. The next step is to visit the App Store or Google Play and download the Hue app to your mobile device. This will allow you to connect with Bridgem, and you can simply search for your lights. Now that the system is plugged in and functional, you can start exploring Philips Hue. Other light bulbs and luminaires can added at any time. The Bridge can handle up to 50.
Hue app or meethue.com in your browser
Philips Hue LED lights can also be controlled from any computer at the web site meethue.com. One Bridge unit can be added to multiple accounts at meethue.com and controlled by more than one device - so everyone in the house can control the lights.
Philips Hue settings: adding lights
When you first start using the app, Hue takes you through a simple step by step process of adding and pairing the lights. First it searches for the Bridge unit, links to it, and sets up lighting updates. Pairing with Bridge is done either by entering the code on the back or by scanning it.
.jpg "Philips Hue Search Bridge")
Similarly, Bridge will find bulbs, lamps and LED strips (These must be plugged into an electrical outlet). They should be displayed automatically, but you can enter a serial number if you have trouble. Press + in the right bottom of the luminaire to add and name it.
The last step is to create rooms and assign lights to them. Now you can control the lights in bulk - switch on or off, dim, or even change colors.
Philips Hue: What are the possibilities?
Routines in the Philips Hue application
In the routine section, you can set what happens when you arrive to or leave the house. Your presence is detected by GPS or by connecting/disconnecting from Wi-Fi. As a result, all (or only selected) LED lights may turn on or off.
- Departing from the house or coming out of the house - switch off/on all or just selected household lights
- Slow awakening - the lights in the room will slowly turn on at the specified time
- Slow falling asleep - at a given time of night, the lights start to dim slowly until they eventually turn off completely
The HUE application can also turn on/off Philips HUE lamps around the house at irregular intervals to give the impression of someone being home, when you are away. This is particularly useful if you are leaving for a longer business trip or vacation to help deter potential thieves.
Scenes in Philips Hue application
On the introductory page, you can prepare a set of "scenes" for quick control. These can also be synchronized with the web portal. Among the basic functions, you will find a light timer to turn the lights on and off at certain times automatically. Another cool feature is the ability for the lights turn on and off depending on your location or the GPS position of your phone (geofence technology). They can also change intensity step by step or gradually between 3 to 9 minutes.
It comes with 11 preset scenes that imitate natural scenery (sunset, tropical twilight, polar glow, spring flower), or you can create an optimal atmosphere designed for different activities and situations (reading, relaxation, concentration, night light, etc.). In addition, you can freely choose specific shades, whether white or full color - for Hue color LEDs.
IFTTT: light responsive to applications
The possibilities become endless when combining the Philips Hue with IFTTT (If This Then That). Simply put, IFTT helps with the interfacing of applications and smart devices and helps control how they interact with each other.
All your lights can blink yellow before the Simpsons start, or maybe before the start of your favourite TV news - when paired with a TV program application. If it rains oustide, all Hue LEDs can turn blue to warn you. You can set them to slowly turn yellow with your alarm clock to make the sun rise more pleasant. The options are unlimited, and it is up to the user to set the rules, conditions and responses.
Bulbs into the living room, study and bedroom
Thanks to the Philips Hue White Ambiance lamps allowing you to change the color temperature (shades of white) and the Hue White and Color ambiance bulbs even have 16 million colors, you can create a diverse atmosphere with them. Every type and shade of light fits into something different. The temperature of light (chromaticity) is given in Kelvin, and the less Kelvin, the warmer and darker the light. E.g. The bright yellow light of ordinary candles has 1,900 K. The classic fluorescent lamp, emitting white, cold light, may have up to 6,000 K.
Cold white
(6,000K)
Daily white
(5,000 K)
Warm white
(3,000 K)
In rooms where you want to rest and relax, it is better to choose warmer colours (around 3,000 K). Warm colour is a shade similar to sunset or sunrise, which creates a sense of well-being, cosiness and peace. Kitchens and bathrooms fit colder colors with a color temperature of around 5,000 K. This creates a clean, modern look and tend to activate us, so they can also fit into a workshop or office. In other rooms, you can put coloured lights and choose from millions of colors to fit your current mood.
SyncMyLights
Philips LED Color Lights can also enhance your viewing experience with the SyncMyLights application. This application does not come from Philips, but it is compatible with the HUE system.
When watching a new or favourite movie, you can change the settings so the colors of the light (lights) in your living room change exactly as the colors on the TV screen change. With almost no delay, you can enjoy the same effect produced by Philips Ambilight TVs.
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