smart LED bulbs - Colour changing - Wifi controllable

[ExtraSlow]

So, I'm looking for some LED bulbs that are wifi controllable to a) change colour and b) change brightness on a schedule. Example, for a kids bedtime, bulb comes on full bright 7:00 pm, goes to 50% brightness at 7:30, goes to red at 50% brightness at 7:45, goes to red at 5% brightness at 8:30, and shuts off completely at 8:45.

Had some cheapo ones that worked great for a while, just as described above, but they now both are stuck on an ugly blue hue, and the wifi can't see them anymore. They were only about $20 per bulb on one of those "steals" websites.

I hear Phillips Hue are the "good" option, but they seem insanely expensive. Like a "starter kit" will be $300 bucks. WTF? Even $50 per bulb sounds okay to me if they are going to last more than a couple months and they have the functionality that I want.

[imranm]

If you look on kijiji there's a guy selling the regular white hue bulbs for $15 I believe. You pickup the hub and download the app and you're good to go.

[rage2]

The Hue's are expensive, but you do get what you pay for. They work awesome.

I have a scene for kids story time where it's a warm temp in the room with the kids reading lights being more white. For mornings, I mimic'd airplane lights where it's a cool white for the main lights and blue for the reading lights which slowly turns on between 5:45am to 6:00am just like on a long red eye flight. I also have individual remotes that controls all lights at the main switch, and 2 separate remotes for controlling the individual reading lights on each bunk bed so the kids can turn on just their lights to hit the bathroom.

The Hue setup will do everything you're looking for. I went with the starter kit (2 bulbs ceiling, one bulb for desk lamp), one additional bulb for top bunk lamp, LED strip + extension for bottom bunk, and 3 remotes. About $500 worth of crap haha. I also had to remove the original light switch and wire it to be always on. Same goes for the desk lamp and top bunk lamp. These bulbs require power at all times otherwise they're not reachable/controllable.

Siri control is great too, kids can voice control lighting through their iPod/iPad.

[Stephen81]

I've had several HUE bulbs for about a year now and no issues.

Rage, which App are you using to control them and build your scenes?

[mr2mike]

I just assumed that pot heads bought up these color changing bulbs.
Or for kinky bedroom role playing but, what do I know?!

[rage2]

Originally posted by Stephen81
I've had several HUE bulbs for about a year now and no issues.

Rage, which App are you using to control them and build your scenes?

I build my color scenes using the Hue app, then I export them to Homekit so I can control it using Siri or the widgets from the Home app.

Originally posted by mr2mike
I just assumed that pot heads bought up these color changing bulbs.
Or for kinky bedroom role playing but, what do I know?!

I think they're stupid too, when I first got a set to test with in my bedroom it was so tacky and cheesy and looked absolutely stupid. But then I installed them into the kids room and the kids just love it.

[RealJimmyJames]

http://www.shopbot.ca/m/?m=philips+hue+starter+kit

Seems like $199 is the best price for the colour kit. No idea if you could use the hub from the white kit with colour bulbs bought separate. Memory Express sells this kind of stuff, has a few options, and has that starter kit of $199.

[rage2]

Yea, it's selling for $199cdn at Home Depot and Apple store. I loaded up on the setup because they haven't adjusted to US pricing yet, they're still priced at 1:1 compared to the States ($199US). At some point, all this will go up in price to reflect our weak CDN$. The wholesalers have already bumped up the pricing, Gescan sells the starter kit for $276cdn.

[ExtraSlow]

Got the philips Hue system. Bought the white starter kit and a single coloured bulb, worked out cheaper, and seems to be doing what we want.

[speedog]

rage2, you are indeed the ultimate nerd by far.

[JustinMCS]

I have the phillips HUE. It's amazing. Not much else to say about it. Have it on schedules and room controls by WINK, but now they have room controls in their own new Hue V2 App.

[sabad66]

i picked up Green Bulbs at the home & garden show last year. Similar to hue but much cheaper. Can be controlled by remote or wifi/phone app. I believe they are a Canadian company as well.

http://thegreenbulb.com/

i have two of them in my living room lamps... 99% of the time i keep them on white but it's nice to be able to adjust the brightness from the remote. i don't use the colours much unless i'm having a party or something.

[speedog]

Originally posted by sabad66
i picked up Green Bulbs at the home & garden show last year. Similar to hue but much cheaper. Can be controlled by remote or wifi/phone app. I believe they are a Canadian company as well.

http://thegreenbulb.com/

i have two of them in my living room lamps... 99% of the time i keep them on white but it's nice to be able to adjust the brightness from the remote. i don't use the colours much unless i'm having a party or something.

You mean Canadian company that sells product that's most likely been manufactured in China. I would be very surprised if there is any Canadian company selling LED bulbs that are actually manufactured in Canada.

[flipstah]

My cousin in Oakland has HUE. I'm sold. I'm going to see where I can buy it tomorrow.

[rage2]

Home Depot and Apple Store is the cheapest place to go for Hue.

[speedog]

Originally posted by flipstah
My cousin in Oakland has HUE. I'm sold. I'm going to see where I can buy it tomorrow.

TomcoPDR has some for sale on here - link to thread, second post.

[flipstah]

Bought Tomcos kit and it's life altering lol. My living room doesn't have a dedicated light switch so have to be dependent on floor lamps. Not anymore!

Edit: will play around and see if Zigbee non-HUE bulbs will work with the HUE hub.

GE Link is cheaper per piece.

[rage2]

Yea it works with other ZigBee bulbs. It didn't for a week last year though when Philips blocked them.

In other news, if you don't care about color but care about color temperature, the White Ambiance bulbs came out yesterday. White, adjustable color temp from 2000k to 6500k, $30/bulb (1/2 the price of color'd Hues).

https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.h...001010085.html

Starter kit at $130, 2 bulbs, Homekit compatible v2 Hub, and a dimmer:

https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.h...001010086.html

[Proyecto2000]

I just got a free HUE starter kit from Enmax so guess I better give them a try

[sabad66]

Originally posted by Proyecto2000
I just got a free HUE starter kit from Enmax so guess I better give them a try

how did you get that?