Iâm looking to purchase an Amazon Echo and start making our house more automated, first with lights in the living room. I was going to do the Echo and a cheap Philips starter kit but decided if we were going to do more addons why not get a Hub. But Iâm a bit confused with all the instructions with different lighting available.
I know I need the Echo and SmartThings hub. After that do I still need a full starter kit for the lighting with the bulbs brand hub? Iâd appreciate any inexpensive bulbs you might suggest that I might be able to just install to the echo and ST hub without too much more crap if thatâs possible.
My dads disabled so I hope to make things easier on him by allowing him to just voice control things with the Echo rather than having difficulty getting up to turn a light on or nagging mom to do something
bamarayne
(Jason "The Enabler" as deemed so by @Smart)
2
Hi there and welcome aboard.
Iâve got the echoâs set up and I love them all.
I use the GE link bulbs. They are connected directly to st and echo controls them.
I am myself quadriparetic, use a wheelchair with limited hand control. So totally handsfree voice control is very important to me. I really like the Echo. It has totally changed my life.
As far as what you need for your Dad, as of Thursday, November 12, 2015, echo added IFTTT triggers. This totally changes what you need for a minimum set up. So anything dated earlier than that is now obsolete.
( The following assumes that you live in the United States. Officially Echo is not supported anywhere else, including Canada and the UK. So all of what Iâm going to say now applies if youâre in the US. If youâre in a different country, it gets trickier. )
Minimum setup for voice control of lights.
One Echo ($179.)
One Hue Bridge ($60) plus One âHue whiteâ bulb ($15)
OR
the Hue white starter kit with one Hue bridge plus Two âHue whiteâ bulbs for $80 (so an extra bulb for $5 more)
If desired, add one âHue Dimmer Switchâ ($25 for just the switch or $35 for switch plus one âHue whiteâ bulb in the âpersonal dimmer kitâ)
Thatâs all you need. You do not need a SmartThings hub if all you want are lights.
Best Buy is starting to get all these items in stock now. Amazon has been going in and out of stock for the last week or so but should be getting more and more of them for the holidays.
You can add additional Hue lights at $15 each. Donât bother with any other brand. The hue whites are excellent bulbs and the price is very competitive.
Donât get the âhue luxâ even if they are on saleâthatâs the older line which is being discontinued in favor of the âhue whites.â The Lux only go up to 600 lm, the âHue whiteâ go up to 800. Itâs a big difference in brightness. And the price has come way down for the new generation.
you only need one bridge for up to 50 bulbs so donât get extra bridges.
The dimmer switch is optional, but nice to have for other people to use. Itâs battery operated and has a magnet on the back so you can put it on the wall or the table or on the refrigerator. One dimmer switch can control many bulbs as long as you also have the bridge, so you can turn them on and off as a group. But thatâs up to you.
I do recommend spending a little bit more and getting the new Hue 2.0 bridge, which is square rather than the original bridge which is round. It will just give you a few more options for the future. But thatâs up to you again. The older one works fine with Echo.
With just this configuration, you can say âTurn kitchen light onâ or âDim Bedroom light to 50%â and have voice control of an individual light or any grouping that you want to set up. And if you spend the extra $25, you have the dimmer switch if you want an optional wall switch as well. So for under $300 you have voice control of two lights plus the echo itself, which is a very cool device.
For me, the best thing was pathway lights. I could have echo turn on one light in the living room and one light in my bedroom, go in my room, get into bed and then turn the lights off again in both rooms. That was really nice. As someone in a wheelchair, I canât feel my way over to the switch in the dark.
And if you get the extra dimmer switch, you could put the dimmer switch on the nightstand and use it there, while using voice control in the living room.
As it happens, at my house itâs a pretty open plan, so echo can hear me from both the bedroom and the living room. But the switch does give you another option. Itâs also quite an easy switch to press.
Echo plus the Hue bridge is a very reliable, flexible, easy way to add lights with voice control. And now with the Hue whites itâs affordable as well.
So what does adding the SmartThings hub give you?
The SmartThings hub is not important if all you want is control of lights. Itâs when you want to start getting control of other things such as door locks, room heaters, coffeemakers, etc. Then, you can use echo with SmartThings for those, because the Hue bridge only controls lights. But you also have to buy the other devices to be controlled, Like the networked door lock or the networked appliance plug. So it just depends on how far you want to take it.
The following is my project report about my first phase investment In home automation and how I decided what yo get. I donât know if it would be of any interest or not. But itâs just another way to look at budgeting the money.