Connecting Philips Hue wifi lights

Hi,

I’ve just logged back onto SmartThings having set up our home a couple of years ago. We’d lapsed in our use of the functionality of movement sensors/lights etc.

Essentially we have a ST home hub, which through the previous IDE I had joined via Zigbee to 2 Philips hue white wifi lights. When I go to add one of these lights to the home hub - either via app or the advanced online setup - I can’t edit all the elements that would make it work, such as assigning the virtual driver etc.

If anyone has a way to access the complexity of control the previous IDE allowed, or a solution to the Hue integration that would be ace.

I didn’t previously need a hue bridge and would like to get away without needing one now if possible.

Thanks in advance

Pretty much, everything is done in the app now. The IDE has been replaced with the Advanced page at my.smartthings.com
Your ZigBee devices were probably automatically migrated with a default driver, for the HUE lights you may need an Edge driver to make them local without using the bridge.

I’m confused.

There are some Philips hue branded Wi-Fi bulbs, which are available in China and Hong Kong, but that’s a co-branding partnership specific to that region, and I don’t believe they’re available anywhere else.

Most Philips hue bulbs sold in the us and uk/eu are zigbee. They connect to a Philips Hue hub through a zigbee network established by that hub. And they are then made available to smartthings through a LAN connection between the two hubs, which is local, or, if you don’t have a smartthings/Aeotec hub, there is a cloud to cloud integration where the Hue hub will use Wi-Fi to reach the Internet to talk to its cloud, which will then talk to the smartthings cloud, which will then use the Internet to reach the smartthings/Aeotec hub in your home.

It is technically possible to use a Philips hue Zigbee bulb without the Phillips hue hub, but it is not recommended, because they have turned out to be poor Zigbee repeaters, and they can mess up your Zigbee mesh. Here’s the FAQ on that.

FAQ: Do I need the Hue Bridge/Hub to Use a Hue Bulb with SmartThings?

So…

Assuming you do use a hue hub, there are currently three ways of using the hue, zigbee bulbs with smartthings. Different ones will work for different people.

  1. use the official cloud to cloud integration by going to link to services in the smartthings app. This works fine, it brings in a few additional devices besides just the bulbs, but you can’t use Hue scenes created in the hue app and of course it’s not local.

  2. use the official LAN integration by adding the Hugh hub through the app. This basically has the same integration options as the cloud cloud method, but it does run local.

  3. if you want to use more of the hue features, like more types of devices, and he scenes, there is a community created edge Driver, which exposes much more. This will require that you have both the Hue hub and a smartthings/Aeotec hub. It runs locally, but it is custom code. Here’s the thread if you want more information about that option, it’s quite popular:

[ST Edge] Philips Hue LAN [BETA] (3rd Party Driver, Not ST Native)

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If you want to, you can even use all three of these methods at the same time, but then you will have three duplicates of each bulb in the smartthings app. But some people do do that when they are testing.

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If you really do have some of the Chinese region hue Wi-Fi bulbs, Zigbee won’t enter the picture at all. I’m not sure if they’re available through the cloud to cloud integration, or not – – if I recall correctly, they used a different app. So if that is what you have, let us know, and we’ll have to research a little deeper. :thinking:

(Oh, and the company does have a separate line of Wi-Fi bulbs sold under the wiz brand-name, but those are not hue. They will say wiz on the bulb. And again, Zigbee won’t have anything to do with it.)

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To get to the Advanced section from this link, tap on the 3 dots in the upper right of the screen and select Advanced user.

The direct link to the Advanced Web App is https://my.smartthings.com/advanced

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So I defo don’t have a hue bridge, and it was long enough ago that I set this up that I can’t completely recall how I did link the lights. I have a feeling the key part is that the driver was a Zigbee Switch??

When adding a new device now, I’m finding that I can’t edit drivers etc… any way to do this in the new setup?

These are the bulbs

JKP - I’ve found the 3 dots advanced setup - thanks for the redirect regardless

Below is the device data for the light that is still connected to the system… this is what I’m trying to replicate when re-adding the lounge light…

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I am using the “ZigBee Light Multifunction Mc” driver for my Hue Bulbs connected to a ST hub. You can add it by going to:

https://api.smartthings.com/invitation-web/accept?id=6b68563b-1905-4654-8d2b-e677a2997424

After you install this driver the change driver option should work.

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The community FAQs should help answer this and all the following questions you’re likely to have.

Here’s a short FAQ just on switching from one driver to another:

FAQ: How to change to a different edge driver

And a complete FAQ with more details, and other topics:

FAQ: I have no idea what Edge is. Is that a new developer tool? (2022)

Also note that in the new architecture, there is no way to manually change to just any edge driver you want to. The new edge driver must include the “fingerprint“ of your device or they won’t pair up. So you will have to first identify an edge driver that will work with your device and then download it to your own hub If it is not part of the stock edge Drivers. So that’s why @Paul_Oliver just gave you the link to the custom edge driver that he has been using.

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The key part is that you have a hue zigbee bulb connected directly to a SmartThings Hub without using a hue bridge. Wi-Fi is not involved.

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