Philips Hue Lighting

Philips hue us changing the way we light our houses. Remember when your lights were either on or off? You walked in a room, flicked the light on and that was it, a 60 watt bulb glaring away in the middle of the room. Luckily Philips (and a few other companies!) have decided they had enough of the standard bulbs. Philips are sick and tired of us foolishly just using their light to stop us falling down the stairs. No, they think we should be able to use them for much more.

Enter the Philips hue lighting range

Phiulips hue lighting
More than just a light bulb, Philips hue lights are controllable. You can dim them, change the colour, change the whiteness, set timers…The list is endless. You can even add another light switch if you want, without any wiring at all! Philips hue lights are the future. All the years of having to reach up and manually push the switch are over! Now you can set the mood with a simple swipe on your phone screen. The hue range is growing every day as Philips release new products and add-ons but it all starts with the bulbs.

The Philips Hue System

The whole Philips hue system usually has 3 elements :

But it can also include motion sensors and other devices…You can start with the light bulbs….Or even a Philips hue starter kit.

Philips hue light bulbs

Most people buy a hub and hue bulbs together because it gives you a lot of features….But you can just buy bulbs and a Philips hue dimmer switch and use them without a Philips hue hub.

There are loads of different fitting types but you actually only have the choice of white or colour bulbs.

The Philips hue strip light is an interesting choice which you may not have noticed or even considered but has lots of potential. The strip light comes in lengths of 1, 2 or 5 meters and is incredibly versatile.

White Philips Hue Bulbs

Just calling the bulbs ‘white’ makes these sound a bit dull. They are in fact tune-able white. You can swing your lighting from a lovely warm, relaxing yellowy white all the way up to a bright, lively, almost blue colour.

You can’t underestimate what a difference this whiteness makes to your room. The mood in the room is totally switched between relaxing and warm feel too a much cooler whiter than white.

lots of studies have been done on the subject of the effects. The warmth of the light in the room can seriously effect your mood and mind set.

Colour Philips Hue Bulbs

The next step is full technicolor! Why settle for tuneable white when you can have every colour under the sun?! Well the simple answer is cost. Philips hue colour bulbs are a LOT more expensive than white.

But who wants just white.

Philips colour hue bulbs have all the features of the cheaper white bulbs except you can choose any colour.

You can choose from 16 million colours with the same easy interface on your phone.

Philips Hue Switches

You can use standard light switches with your philips hue bulbs. A lot of people do just that. But there is a major problem when you do this.

Every time you switch the power off to the bulb it loses all the settings you have. Your last colour is lost, any timers you set are lost….Everything gone.

So your best option is usually to use a Philips hue switch and just leave the standard switch on all the time.

There are 2 main options that people usually use, these seem to be the best Philips hue switch options.

Hue Dimmer Switch

If everybody switching your hue light off is driving you mad, then a dimmer switch might be what you need. The dimmer switch is a great addition to your Philips hue system. They are dirt cheap, don’t need any wiring and can be stuck to the wall to replace existing switch.

People usually go for The standard arrangement of leaving your existing light switch in the on position and use the Philips hue dimmer to control your lights instead. You don’t loose any of your settings when you switch the lights off and you can change scenes without using your phone.

Hue Tap Switch

The Philips hue tap switch is more like a remote for your lights than a switch. Its a small circle that lets you select your favourite scenes or switch the lights on and off.

Whats the advantage then? The major advantage is the lack of batteries. None required. Astonishingly the tap switch doesn’t require batteries. The switch manages to charge as you tap it.

Connects to your hub and works within 30 meters. You do need a hub with this switch. The down side to all of this is that it is more expensive than the dimmer switch.

Philips Hue Motion Sensor

The hue motion sensor is a little known part of the system that is available.  The motion sensor is something that can be installed to replace the light switches in a room. If you want to know how the hue motion sensor works, click the link!

Place it in a room and the lights come on whenever there is movement.

Philips Hue Hub

And now we come to the star of the show. They call it a Hub, but really it is just a gateway that transmits to all your Philips hue devices. It links to your network so that you can access and control the Hue devices via your phone.

The Philips hue hub allows you to do all sorts of things. Things yo can’t do without it. But how does it work?

How the Philips Hue Hub Works

Its a such a simple thing to set up. You plug it into the mains electric and plug it into your wireless router. Then it just sits there listening for hue devices and telling them what you want them to do.

The hub allows you to control your entire network of Philips hue devices from your tablet or phone. You can download android or apple apps from the stores.

Whenever you install a new device in your house, fire up the Philips Hue app on your phone or tablet and add the device to your Hue network. You can then group devices into room names, setup new scenes and set timers and much more.

If you have a google home or alexa you can control your Philips Hue lighting with your voice, star trek stylee! You can even link your security alarm system to your lighting or set up sound to light systems via your phone.

Philips Hue is revolutionising lighting within the home. No longer is lighting just functional. Set the mood with Philips Hue or paint your walls with coloured light. The possibilities are endless.

The future of Philips Hue – Entertainment Focused

Who knows what the boffins at Philips will come up with next. The team announced this month that they are releasing a suite of entertainment-focused, free-standing light fittings.

The entertainment focused fittings sound great. They basically sync the colour of the bulbs with whatever is playing on your TV or monitor. It adds a whole new dimension to your tv viewing and completely immerses you in whatever is playing.