Thanks - I’ve seen Innr and stuff about Homebridge since looking this.
Couldn’t see Innr colour GU10s, so might just go for white ones in the kitchen.
Something I am trying to set up but haven't yet, is the ability for the dimmer to switch on different bulbs, depending on the number of presses.
For example:
One press - switches on ceiling light
Two presses - switches on ceiling light + floor standing lamp
Threee presses - switched on floor standing lamp + shelf lamp
Is that possible?
It’s certainly possible. I’ll run through the Philips way first, as a learning experience but as with a lot of things in the Philips app, it’s not that obvious how to. Which is why I’m covering it.
Then I’ll show you a theoretical easy way at the end with the Home app, I say theoretical as I’ve not tried it and it’s more limited.
So, needless to say all of the lights in question need to be allocated to the same room but I’m guessing they will be.
This is all done in the Hue app.
First, make sure you’re on the first tab and tap on the room you want to setup the sequences for.
This takes you to a list of the lights in that room, at the top of the screen is a segmented control with “Lights” and “Scenes”. You want to tap on Scenes here.
Now tap the + button in the bottom right of the screen to add a new Scene. Choose the Picture option and then any old image you want, doesn’t really matter.
Tap at the top of the screen where it says “New Scene” to give it a personalised name which makes sense for the lights you’ll be using. Then tap the segmented control to select “Lights”.
Here switch on any of the lights you’d like to be on for this scene (which will ultimately be one of your button presses).
Use the sliders to set how bright you want them to be.
Off to the left side of each light listing there’s a circle with a picture of a bulb or LED strip. Tap on that to set the colour or hue of white you want the light to be then press done to go back to the previous page.
Tap on save and that’s one configuration done.
Repeat all of that for each configuration of lights you’d like to be available.
Once you have all of your lighting configurations set up as Scenes, tap on the last tab (Settings) and select Accessory Setup. Then tap on your Dimmer Switch.
Only the On button is configurable but you do get 5 configurations to set.
All you need to do in here is tap on the appropriate listing in the table for the number of presses you wish to change and in the list presented to you on the next screen, select the corresponding Scene you set up earlier.
Tap save and your work is done.
Sounds like it’s a bit of a faff and could be more user friendly. Yeah it could. But it really only takes a couple of minutes from starting to finishing. So it’s not as bad as it seems.
Right, now the Home way.
In the Home App, locate the entry for your dimmer switch and force press it.
Now tap Details and on the next page you’ll see four entries for the buttons, that’s the actual individual buttons rather than presses. The Home app just treats the dimmer switch as four discreet buttons.
Pick one of them and in the next screen simply select the bulbs you’d like switched on or off when you press that button. Or a scene you’ve set up with the lights included and that’s it.
Trouble is, as far as I’m aware it’s a single action per button. So to have on and off your dimmer switch would essentially be able to replicate two on/off switches if you catch my drift.
I’m also not sure how doing it that way would be reflected in the Hue app itself. It likes to complain about HomeKit issues if things don’t match up. But I guess that depends on if you plan to use the Hue app.
Personally I set them all up in the Hue app and just let it sync my choices over automatically
