I just hope in the future these systems are interoperable... perhaps we need a lighting standard like we have WiFi.
"Philips hue uses the open ZigBee Light Link standard so that it can be integrated with other ZigBee certified systems."
I just hope in the future these systems are interoperable... perhaps we need a lighting standard like we have WiFi.
I decided to do some calculations to see if LED is worth the cost. Assume that the bulb will be used for six hours every night, for a total of ~2200 hours per year. Prices taken from bulbscanada.
$0.55 for 60w incandescent, rated 6000 hours
$2.45 for 13w CFL, rated 6000 hours
$16.00 for 6.9w LED, rated 40000 hours
LED life is 18 years, meaning I would use 7 incandescents or CFL for every LED.
Purchase price over 18 years:
$3.85 incandescent
$17.15 CFL
$16 for LED
I pay 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour (we have "time of use" rates in Ontario, this is the off-peak rate), so the energy rates per year are:
$8.58 incandescent, $154.44 for 18 years
$1.86 CFL, $33.48 for 18 years
$0.99 LED, $17.76 for 18 years
Total cost of ownership for 18 years:
$158.29 incandescent
$77.58 CFL
$33.76 LED
Conclusion: you will pay $43.82 more over the life span of an LED bulb if you use CFL. Over the life span of these three bulbs, you would pay $131.46 to own and operate equivalent CFL bulbs. The Philips bulbs in the article have a $102 premium price. It is actually cheaper to buy these "expensive" Philips LED bulbs than any other bulb type!
So with the first starter kit I picked up, none of the included bulbs would pair with the bridge station. The two extra bulbs I picked up outside of the kit DID work.
So I exchanged the starter kit today, and now the included bulbs work, but the two extra bulbs do not. Presumably, it's because they've been paired to my previous bridge.
Anyone know how to unpair those bulbs? Or will I have to exchange them for virgin bulbs?
I've been trying to figure out the same thing. Philips support told me that hitting the factory reset on the bridge would unpair any connected single pack bulbs, but this isn't working for me.
This has to be possible, otherwise all bulbs would be useless if you ever broke / switched bridges. This is actually the case with the starter bulbs since they are preconfigured to only work with the bridge they were shipped with.
Pretty ridiculous... maybe someone can explain why it was designed this way.
That is incorrect according to the guy on the previous page. He said he got a broken single bulb and apple exchanged it with one from a starter pack.
I assume you unscrewed them and put them back in?
Wow...just got off the phone with Philips support. They told me once a bulb is paired with a bridge, there is no way to ever pair it with another one. They said they hope there is a resolution to this eventually.
So if your bridge is broke, or you return it, all your bulbs are now useless.
Hopefully there is some low level Zigbee hack to reset a bulb or allow starter kit bulbs to work with any bridge.
Can anyone tell me if these are rated for outdoor use as well? There's a question on the apple store that says yes but I'm not trusting that. Take a look through your documentation please. Thanks.
Just thought I'd give a tip on availability. A few days ago pickup in store listed January 11. I checked again this morning and my local store had them in stock. I went up there and they had 4 out on the sales floor.
So keep checking each day. I was tempted to just order online and wait the 1-3 months it is quoting... glad I didn't. I can't wait to get home from work to set it up!
Wow...just got off the phone with Philips support. They told me once a bulb is paired with a bridge, there is no way to ever pair it with another one. They said they hope there is a resolution to this eventually.
So if your bridge is broke, or you return it, all your bulbs are now useless.
Hopefully there is some low level Zigbee hack to reset a bulb or allow starter kit bulbs to work with any bridge.
Can anyone tell me if these are rated for outdoor use as well? There's a question on the apple store that says yes but I'm not trusting that. Take a look through your documentation please. Thanks.
Anybody who buys this has more money than sense.
Anybody who doesn't understand how this can improve your life and productivity has either no sense or no money.
"Improve your life and productivity".
Oh yea, sure, you're so right. I mean, how did people even work before without being able to dim their lights from their iPad?! I bet those people must have done some primitive stuff like, I dont know...walked to the dimmer switch?
This is typical gimmicky products aimed at suckers who believe it actually has a purpose because its "new" and "cool". I'm sure it will be successful though, because of people like you (what more can you expect of a guy who has a thank you message to Steve Jobs in his signature?).