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Philips to Sell iOS-Controlled LED Light Bulbs Exclusively Through Apple Stores
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I have recessed lights downstairs - 25 of them. I don't see why they would not work. If I had the money, I would replace all of them with these. You can get an extension adapter from the store for like 50 cents or so.
I suppose with the return policy, I have nothing to lose. The depth of the bulb is adjustable from inside the can, but if I need more, I could get extensions. The only question then is how they'd look with the space between the bulb and the trim. It would probably be a matter of finding the correct trim to fill the void. Might be worth a shot.
I don't know... I ordered the kit online but wanted to check for an extra bulb at the San Jose Apple store yesterday. They were shown as "in stock." I got there and they were completely sold out of kits and bulbs, and the guy who helped me said they're sold out all over the Bay Area.
So you can group 4 bulbs in a fan and control them at once? Also, how do they work with lamps going to manual mode? Like can you use the lamp twist switch to manually turn the bulb back on/off? If you turn off your network (inet goes down) do the lights turn off? Stay on? Go from color to white? Thanks.
Didn't get mine yet but from what I've read:
- Yes
- Cutting the power at the switch (or power failure), they turn back on to a warm white. I think I read 3200k.
- Not sure about network outage. My guess is they stay the current color or go to the 3200k. Going off would be a pretty bad design flaw.
Network outage will not affect the lights. The lights will stay constant unless changed via the app, manually turning them on/off or a power outage.
Any loss of power either by manual means or nature, the lamp defaults back to a warm white color for safety reasons.
They're available right now. In the UK, you'll need Edison screw to bayonet socket adapters. I got some from my local hardware shop for £2.99 each.
Yes, but seems like a more complicated system as well - with the election process, and need for all lightbulbs to contain the Master smarts.
I just hope in the future these systems are interoperable... perhaps we need a lighting standard like we have WiFi.
I agree, I wouldn't count on using these lightbulbs for more than 6 or 7 years. Once these start to become common place, a standard will emerge, making these pioneers obsolete. For under $200, that's still a pretty good return on investment.
Not only that - if smart light bulbs become the future, we really need to rethink household electrical too - like do we really need room switches anymore or switches on the light themselves. Because right now, if you turn off the switch in the room (or fixture) your smart light bulbs become extremely dumb and don't work at all! Ha Ha
It would be good if these bulbs supported NFC or something similar to perform occupancy detection.
<snip>
Because right now, if you turn off the switch in the room (or fixture) your smart light bulbs become extremely dumb and don't work at all! Ha Ha
... </snip>
Er, no. They become dumb but they still work like any other dumb bulb. They default to a medium-warmth at a similar brightness to a 60W incandescent bulb.
If you turn off the light switch, they won't receive any signal for control. My point was that for smart bulbs to be truly integrated, our wiring, fixtures, etc need to be redesigned to accommodate an always on bulb.
I suspect that the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers would beg to differ on safety grounds alone...
Nope they are instant on. I bought some. suppose it's down to your wifi connection.
Just a heads up - the only way to remove a bulb from the apps is to reset the bridge back to factory and find all the bulbs again. How do I know this? I received a cracked bulb (single) and didn't realize it at the time. I put it in use and noticed a few days later it looked weird. Went over and saw it was cracked. Checked it's box, sure enough, small pieces of glass and the top flap had been scraped/worn from the cracked glass.
Could not remove the bulb - swipe to delete or anything. Called Philips. The CS rep gave me the "reset bridge" instructions.
I tweeted to @tweethue that they need to have a better way to remove bulbs. In theory you wouldn't need to unless one was damaged, not working or the like. The odds of that are pretty slim but again, still would be nice.
I had that bulb replaced today at the Apple store. Still love the system
Could not remove the bulb - swipe to delete or anything. Called Philips. The CS rep gave me the "reset bridge" instructions.
I tweeted to @tweethue that they need to have a better way to remove bulbs. In theory you wouldn't need to unless one was damaged, not working or the like. The odds of that are pretty slim but again, still would be nice.
I had that bulb replaced today at the Apple store. Still love the system
So how do you reset the bridge?
Does anyone understand why you wouldn't be able to use bulbs from multiple starter packs on the same hub? I can't get this to work. Shouldn't single pack and starter pack bulbs be the same? They are marked identically.
You can do exactly what you're trying to do. The Apple store did not have the single bulbs in stock so they gave me one from a starter pack. Works fine. Just search for new bulbs.
Reset the bridge - flip it over, there is a recessed white button you have to press with a pencil or pen tip. Press, hold, release. Start the app, find the bridge, connect back and you're good too go!
