RBG Bulb control

I know there have been tons of questions about bulbs, but it is often confusing to try and sort through it all.

What I want to do - I have a lamp in the living room. I would like to put and RBG bulb in the lamb that allows it to work in white, but to also come on in a different color when something triggers it. For example - The back door in the basement, kids often leave it open - so I would like the bulb to come on in red when the door is left open. I do not want to use a bridge, just smartthings.

Which bulb would work best for this? Do I need to install additional apps?

Thanks
Steve

If you already have a SmartThings and the application, the best way to positively assure working is looking at the marketplace tab of the app. It has a section called Light Bulbs. Lists options from LIFX, Oshram (sylvania), and Phillips. Good luck in your search.

Hi Dave

Thanks for the reply - I realize that I can look in the marketplace, but I have read a number of posts here that talk about not being able to control the color of the bulb without the bridge, and the issues with trying to trigger the bulb to - for example - turn on red based on the actions of another sensor. Some are from 15 - 18 months ago and updates may have fixed the issues. I can hook up any zwave/ZigBee device, but I was looking to see if anyone else had tried what I want to with success. I don’t want to go out an buy a bulb, only for it to not work in the way I want it to.

Many people do something similar, notifications are a popular use of RGB W bulbs.

If you don’t want to use a bridge your best bet is either the Osram lightify RGBW or the LIFX bulb.

Personally, I would recommend the LIFX at this moment because there have been some complex technical issues regarding the Osrams not repeating when they were supposed to. This is mentioned on the official support page.

https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/214191863-How-to-connect-OSRAM-LIGHTIFY-Bulbs

This isn’t a problem with the LIFX because they are Wi-Fi, not zigbee, so they don’t repeat for anything anyway.

https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/205956530-How-to-connect-LIFX-light-bulbs

As far as a special app, if it’s just one bulb and the notifications are simple, you can probably just use the official smart lighting feature.

If you want more complex logic like a different color notification depending on who is home, or an escalating notification where the color changes depending on how long the door has been open, stuff like that then your best bet is probably just to use core.

There are a number of individual lighting smart apps if you want to take a look at those. Core do pretty much everything, but sometimes you might want something simpler… :sunglasses::bulb:

http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=How_to_Quick_Browse_the_Community-Created_SmartApps_Forum_Section

Robin - hadn’t considered that unit. I had seen it before, but really only thought of it as a motion sensor. Having a cat, I always thought a motion sensor was not very useful. I am now considering it though. Thanks

JDRoberts - thanks for the feedback on the bulbs. I have been looking at CoRE, but haven’t tried it yet because I am still limited to a few devices. It is a little daunting looking at this point, but is definitely something I am interested in learning about. I certainly want it to come on after the door has been open for a specified time, so that may be the way to go.