I like Hue and I’ve been very tempted but I’m stumped by the light switch problem. How would my kids & regular visitors deal with using my lights without an app? Am in the UK and Lutron switches & their like aren’t available here. We just have plain on/off switches. Any time I want a Hue scheme to come on I’m likely to find all the lights have been switched off.
I can tell you what I did to solve some of these problems, because it took my family and me a week or two to get into the new habit of not using light switches and talking to the HomePod or our iOS devices to operate the lights and other smart devices in our house.
1. Just as a physical reminder, I put some sticky strips on all the light switches connected to smart bulbs to kind of tape them into the "on" position. This keeps people from turning them off on accident, and also serves as a physical reminder not to turn that switch off. After we all got into the flow of talking to the lights instead of using the switches, I was able to take them off. Nobody even really thinks about those particular switches anymore.
2. The kids have taken to it VERY quickly. They LOVE using Siri to turn the lights on and off. I haven't had to remind them to not use the switches at all. My 7 year old is still a bit afraid of the dark sometimes, so he likes that he can turn his bedroom light on before he even goes upstairs. Your mileage may vary.
3. I found there was one area of the house where we're often not in earshot of the HomePod and may also not have a mobile device with us--the upstairs hall near all the bedrooms. So for that one, I installed a Hue switch that connects to the hall lights and both the kids' bedroom lights.
4. As a rule, I put no Hue bulbs in any of the bathrooms or the spare guest bedroom. That way guests who aren't used to the system can use the light switch in their room and won't have to announce to the house that they're going to the bathroom. I also did not install one in the laundry room, as it's not a place we need smart lighting.
5. There are some rooms where we still actually need to be able to use the switches if we're not near a Siri device. For those, you can just toggle the regular switch off and back on to make the light come on. Everyone just got used to the idea that in the rare case where they have to do that, they need to leave it on and then just turn it off when they are back in earshot of the HomePod or their iOS device. Or they can just leave it off if they really want to.
This system has worked surprisingly well for my family so far. If there are issues, the HomePod will let me know when I set a scene or try to turn something on or off, but those issues rarely come up unless someone accidentally turns a bulb off. The Hue system is VERY reliable and instantaneously responds through HomeKit or its native app. We have a combination of Hue lighting and some various other smart doors/locks/outlets/etc. and it all works pretty seamlessly. We're having a lot of fun with it.
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Has there been a change at all in the number of devices I can have on my hub? I am not close but want to keep the limit in mind as I expand over time.
I believe it's still 50 bulbs per Hue hub. I don't think we even have that many fixtures in our house.
