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Philips Hue Announces New Wall Switch Module, Dimmer Switch, and Outdoor Light Bar
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If you have an older home like mine (built in 1980), you may not have a neutral wire. This means that when the switch is in the off position, there is no electricity running through it. In this case, once you turn the light off, the switch goes completely powerless and there is no way to turn it back on (unless you do so manually). It's why most wifi switches need a neutral wire to function.
This is almost certainly a problem with your home's wiring and not the bulbs themselves. I have well over 50 bulbs and none of them have this problem - unless there is a power problem to the bulb (rare - mostly on circuits with old style dimmers I haven't yet replaced).
They are compatible only with Hue bulbs.
There is a battery because otherwise the circuit needs a neutral wire (rare in older houses) or needs a more complicated (bulky, expensive) design to leak current to power the switch.
If you want something more flexible, use the previously mentioned Shelly relays.
There are Lutron options that arent sold at Home Depot or DIY shops: PD-5WS-DV-WH
its a basic on off that doesnt require a neutral.
Phillips Bulbs run long(er) than most if not all their competitors and have more output (Lumens) per Watt.
I am not affiliated with Phillips at all, just my observation.
I don't like the Hue products though, the biggest problem is not being able to use the standard wall switches with them, this will now change, long overdue, but a battery inside...WTF philips....and too expensive compared to for instance Shelly.
Standalone switches don't have the neutral in European homes, if combined with a wall outlet they do, nowadays though most outlets are about 30 cm from the floor while switches are at about 105 from the floor.
Call hue support. I‘ve had a couple of bulbs go faulty whilst within the two year warranty period which they replaced.
The actual power is plugged into the hue device and controlled by it. Your old switch is just plugged into a set of dummy ports on the hue device which don’t actually control anything and the only purpose they serve is to let the hue device know you’ve flipped the switch.
Lutron Caseta... they are awesome switches and very reliable... I replaced every switch in my house with them.
Anywhere you have a 2 or 3 way switch up and down don’t indicate off and on already. With lighting it’s pretty self evident whether the circuit is on or not.
That said, despite having a major Hue installation - nearing and about to exceed 100 devices - I don’t really see the value in these. If I’m going to have to install something and it needs a battery, and it costs this much, I’d much rather use the Lutron Aurora dimmer switches we have already standardized on. Easier installation, easier battery change when they get around to needing it, built in dimming function, and overall much more configurable.
No. The only way you could still do that is if you got a stateless toggle switch. This is why most (all?) smart switches are stateless. In order to have a typical wall switch for smart bulbs that actually reflected the state of the bulbs, the wall switch would need a motor in it (or some other device) that could allow it to flip the switch position when the lights were de-activated from a secondary source.
This is also why you don't really see smart dimmers with physical slider based dimming. While it isn't impossible to work around (you could put motor in the physical slider) in increases the level of complexity to the point where manufacturers just go a different route (like stateless rotary dials, buttons+led indicators, etc.)
Yeah - it totally depends on your expectations and a large part your current setup.
For example, zhenya was mentioning 3 way switches because for a lot of people, they have so many of those in their house that mentally they have a complete disconnect between UP=on, Down=off. It gets to a point where when you want to turn a light of, your subcutaneous reflex action is to touch the switch, feel which way it’s currently set, then flip it the other way. That happened to me with my stair lights – I basically developed this gesture where I would place 2 fingers on the switch (one on the top and one on the bottom) then flip it the other way. The whole thing was totally subconscious and completely muscle memory.
Then there are people who are using stateless switches. I have this one in a couple places;
adorne® sofTap™ Switch | Switches | adorne Collection | Wiring Devices (legrand.us)
I know that one is on the pricey side, but we have it mostly because my wife really liked the design. There are similar switches (but more reasonably priced)
House was built a year ago, to CA 2019 electrical code. I have zero reason to blame the wiring...
Unfortunately I had a 50% failure rate on the Hue bulbs - but that was from me dropping them.
I have 30 or so Sylvania and Sengled bulbs with many over four years old. I've not had any failures. Eleven of the Sylvanias are outside and see daytime temperatures as high as 115 F. Not a huge sample size but I have no complaints on for the two brands.
In some cases you will see people have issues if their power isn't clean. You might not notice a flicker but it can be hard on the electronics. I expect that Philips produces a fairly robust and well designed product. It would have cost me over $3000 if my current bulbs were Hue. I like Hue but they were just too costly for my liking.
Understandable. My home is smaller and there are fewer bulbs to deal with. I've started to use Philips LED (non Hue) for those locations where I don't need the smart bulb capabilities, after being disappointed with the ecosmart bulbs from Home Depot.
The worst is in the middle of the night when power goes out. You are woken up to an entire house lit up like a Christmas tree.