Philips Hue system - Questions for those who own these

This is what happened. Anything unusual? Who switched off that light at 4:50 AM? Sending it to support.

2014-11-21 4:51:09.566 AM EST 2 hours ago COMMAND poll poll command was sent to Family Room 3 true
2014-11-21 4:50:46.156 AM EST 2 hours ago COMMAND poll poll command was sent to Family Room 3 true
2014-11-21 4:50:05.178 AM EST 2 hours ago DEVICE switch off Family Room 3 switch is off true
2014-11-21 4:50:04.697 AM EST 2 hours ago COMMAND poll poll command was sent to Family Room 3 true
2014-11-21 4:48:27.698 AM EST 2 hours ago COMMAND on on command was sent to Family Room 3 true
2014-11-21 4:48:27.368 AM EST 2 hours ago DEVICE switch on Family Room 3 switch is on true
2014-11-21 4:48:27.137 AM EST 2 hours ago APP_COMMAND on Good Morning! sent on command to Family Room 3 true

@scottinpollock @tslagle13 @Tyler @geko @Linda and all those who own hues:

Quick question for you guys:

Hey, I have a hello home action “All Lights on” which basically turns on 8 hues + 2 lighstrips + 1 LivingColors + 2 luxes = 13 hue family of devices. At times not all of them turn on. They are all pretty close to the hub (ST and Hue) and internet is pretty fast. Is it possible that there may be a time out at times internally due to turning on so many devices at the same time?

I have never seen this when executing commands to the hub from the Hue app, the local API (which I call from HAM Bridge and shell scripts on my desktop), or from other third party apps. But I wouldn’t be surprised if there were issues with the SmartThings integration. I don’t think it is very well designed, plus there are frequent issues with the platform in general as well.

I’ve more often seen issues where the hue bulbs don’t turn off (only in ST not in the hue app). I don’t have as many as you but every once in a while something odd happens.

Thanks guys! It doesn’t happen to me via the stock hue app, Quick Hue or my favorite OnSwitch. They turn them on near instantly.

Yes, unfortunately. I’ve run into timeout issues last night while debugging my app. SmartThings got so slow that schedule and unschedule APIs took more than 20 seconds to execute causing TimeoutException’s. This would leave the app in zombie state where it would not respond to events. Unfortunately, the app does not seem to recover until it’s restarted and there’s no indication that it’s broken other than a transient error message.

@geko Read your note from last night and that’s how my post originated. It got me thinking if I was having a somewhat related issue. Thx.

So sad this is continuing to happen. I just completed a roomie remote install this weekend in my home theater which includes several hue BR30’s and light strips which gradually fade up and down depending on the sequence. Instant response, smooth ramp rates up and down, all bulbs perfectly responsive.

It’s so nice having the lights perform a slow fade to black when the movie starts instead of a random sequence of lights shutting off instantly at different intervalswith usually 1 or 2 orphan lights failing to trigger at all.

It’s gotten to the point where my wife and oldest son try not to laugh when it happens.

This is what it is when it works with ST. Triggered by Hello Home action:

Philips Hues, ST Powet Outlet and Aeon Outlet.

POWERED BY SMARTTHINGS HUB!!!

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@ben @tyler Duncan and ST guys! Thanks for contributing towards making my home a home!

Anyone get their lights to fade between two colors or flash certain ways, especially for Christmas to fade between green and red?

Fading from one color to another requires the transitionTime parameter, which is not supported in the SmartThings integration. Nor are the ‘alert’ and ‘effect’ params.

You can of course set these params from the Hue hub API, but that involves getting your fingers between the fan blades of a SmartApp.

Yeah, I will have to sit down and learn how to do that.

A much simpler way, if you have a Mac lying around, is to use HAM Bridge to manage and actuate your Hue scenes. I have moved all of my Hue scenes to script files as it is just so much simpler to create and edit them, plus have access to all of the things Hue is capable of. Transition times are one of my favorite features.

Unfortunately, I do not have a Mac yet. So I am pretty much stuck with just solid colors for now or using the hue app or other hue apps to change and transition colors that ST does not have in theirs.

@zuperman4ever This is what I always do…when it works…

  1. Use the Hello Home action “Lights on at Sunset” which turns on all the hues, lightstrips and livingcolors.

  2. Use the “OnSwitch” or “QuickHue” iOS app. to play with the colors, themes etc. “OnSwitch” has really some cool scenes and also allows grouping by rooms etc. It basically turns on all 13 hue related products (if not using ST to do so) almost instantly.

  3. Hello Home action “Good Night” turns them all off. I manually trigger it before I retire even though set to trigger automatically at 9:00 PM. Since, it is Christmas time I use OnSwitch Christmas themes during the evenings. But before good night, I set all lights to “Standard” using the same app.

  4. Good Morning triggers when I wake up in the morning switching on couple of hues (4) based on ST motion sensor. This never fails. I get standard soft white light this way.

  5. Use my own “Home Status Monitor” app to turn off all hues when we leave for work (it detects if my wife and I have both left and only in the mornings - sunrise with an offset of few minutes to take into consideration if we left before sunrise which we always do). It detects if all the hues are off and if not turns them off. Never fails. Checks if doors are open. Notifies and pushes on two phones the hues that it turned off and state of the doors and confirms if the home is in away mode.

Guys can anyone confirm if a Hue Bulb can be UNLINKED using a Hue Bridge to which it is NOT linked.
By telneting to the bridge and issuing [Link,Touchlnk] ??? I am wondering if Hues linked directly to ST Hub can be stolen back.

I just have been using the Philips Hue Bridge and not going directly to ST. No need to go directly to ST and it is easy to have ST connect to the Philips Hue Bridge and then add new bulbs.

Is there a way to get the color that is being display to show that color on the tile on the dashboard?

I too also use GE Link bulbs connected to my Hue which is then connected to ST. Has anyone connected their GE link bulbs directly to ST instead of hue? Wondering if there is any difference. I personally like being able to control the lights in other hue apps if I need too…