Hue Bulbs Directly on ST After Echo Pairing

So - I know there are countless threads on the subject of using Hue Bulbs directly on ST, with various opinions, but none of them have seemed to solve the problem I’m having - and I’ve been reading all day it seems like.

Scenario:
I purchased an Echo Plus a few months back while they were running a package deal with Hue white bulbs - figured why not (without doing a lot of research into other smart devices) and jumped on it, ending up with two hue bulbs. I spent a ton of time getting those bulbs paired to the Echo, as they would not pair automatically - I had to reset them, then immediately turn them off (while in the middle of the reset) and then I could pair to Echo. Ultimately it worked out and I was happy.

Fast forward, I know have added a ST hub and a handful of other components, and since there is no way to control Alexa controlled devices through ST, I’m now wanting to move the bulbs over to my ST hub.

Now - everything I’ve read has said it should be simple to pair the bulbs directly to ST, simply by using “add devices” and then can assign it to a custom device handler afterwards for better control. I’ve put in the “Zigbee Hue White” device handler so I have that in place. Now, my issue is I need to reset the bulb to move it over. Great. I tried multiple things using Echo Plus (which has a Hue Reset programmed in) such as:

  • Reset bulb, immediately turn off fixture, wait until Echo stops, then try discovery with ST
  • Discovery with ST, reset bulb with Echo, hope for best
  • Reset bulb, turn off echo, turn off bulb, discovery with ST

etc etc with no success.

I did a bit more research and found the Lutron switch that is mentioned, but is no longer available in store, they only have the Caserta switches now. But I did find a Hue dimmer switch, which can reset hue bulbs! Success - bought one, tried it, bam! We can reset lights. …Although it seems to not always reset, and sometimes I lose the bulb, but surprisingly, I can reset from Echo plus and recover it. Strange indeed.

Either way, I’ve now reset the bulb and tried to discover it using ST, but no success. Doing the same things such as turning off the bulb in the middle of the reset and turning it back on during discovery, etc have no success.

  • Bulb is located within 12 inches of my ST hub
  • No other zigbee controllers or devices nearby, other than the reset dimmer switch

Would appreciate any help that anybody could provide.

Why would you want to add a custom Device Handler.? The Hue bulbs stock handlers work just fine and run LOCALLY, so if you have Smart Lighting rules setup and SmartThings goes out to lunch, you can still run / operate your bulbs.

Just don’t understand why people won’t buy the Hue Bridge and make life so much simpler.

Remember this:

If SmartThings hub goes offline or the cloud has issues and you have directly integrated your bulbs and are using a custom DH, you will have no access or functionality with your bulbs.

Whereas if you have the Bridge and ST dies, you can still operate all your lights from the Hue App or Widgets created from your Hue App.

If ST goes down and your directly connected bulbs are using a custom handler, don’t expect Alexa to be able to turn them on or off.

Just saying $50 is a small price to pay for a huge backup plan for lighting when it is needed. :slight_smile:

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Thanks for your comment, but frankly speaking I have no plans to implement significant connected bulbs, and the only reason I am using these is due to one lamp being controlled via light switch, and the other lamp being hard wired. I could use two separate components (eg smart plugs, or one switch panel / one smart plug, but since the bulbs were essentially free, why not). If in the future I have any thoughts of going with more bulbs, then sure, I’ll get a hue bridge, but I have no desire for anything but dimmable white bulbs.

Any other replies like this one you could just keep to yourself :grin:

@JDRoberts is great with these questions. I think you are running into the issue where once assigned to something you cannot re-assign it to another device. You might have to borrow a hub to re-pair them to ST.

This might help:

Thanks, that’s kind of what I’m thinking at this point as well. I spent some more time yesterday trying different resets but still ultimately couldn’t do anything with the ST hub and ended up back at Alexa. Perhaps I’ll have to stay this way which is a bit of a buzzkill. Hopefully they build more routine programming into the echo at some point in the future to make it comparable to the ST.

I believe I have the exact same problem. I was gifted the Echo Plus and 5 Hue A19 bulbs and the bulbs connected to Echo Plus without much of a hiccup. I started doing research into smart home solutions and decided on SmartThings as the hub because of it’s reviews as the best solution. I was unsuccessful multiple times at making the bulbs work on ST and ended up putting them back on Echo Plus. I had bulb recognized on ST as things but they had no functionality. The description of each said “tile missing” and the settings gear icon had an error message when tapping so I couldn’t delete it in the iOS app. I had to go on the browser on my computer to delete the 4 “things” off the SmartThings hub. The only solution I have read is to purchase the Hue hub for ST integration. I’m not buying another hub. Until there is an update to fix this, these bulbs are on the Echo Plus.

Kevbeek, I think you may be able to make yours work - in my case I couldn’t even get the Hub to recognize my bulbs, whereas you may just need to correctly associate them to the right device handler. There’s a few good ones if you do a search.

I ended up returning the Hue remote I had after being unsuccessful, and will stay away from Hue for the time being other than just the two devices I currently have.

I think it’s possible too. I haven’t given up. It has data when I look at the device in a browser. Device type is unknown.