Philips Hue with or without Hue Hub?

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41

If I understand correctly, you are or plan to no longer use even the Philips Hue hub and connect everything to zigbee2mqtt. Which zigbee adapter are you using?
I also have Home Assistant running with mqtt broker and Homey is already connected to it.

42

No I really like having the Hue Hubs, literally keeps the lights on when all else fails :slight_smile:

One for downstairs one for upstairs.

I use a Hue Magic Node to control lights.

As the lights are mainly managed using Hue motion sensors I only use NR to control lights by exception, ie Goodnight routine, and a few other occasions.

43

If you still use the Hue hub what are you connecting to zigbee2mqtt? Do you only connect the Hue devices to the hue hub and everything else to zigbee2mqtt?

44

Yup, 99% of the lights are Hue, on a hub, one upstairs one for downstairs.

Motions sensors not involved in hue lighting are on zigbee2MQTT, all the motion sensors related to Hue lights remain on hue hubs.

I managed to get a whole pile of hue external Motion sensors for Ā£15 each, so have loads and use them as outdoor triggers, in fridges, freezers whole house battery cab8net, sheds, drive etc.

This way if, and I have the Mac mini running zigbee2MQTT, MQTT Broker, node Red, running on a 20kWh failover battery.

NB, the battery charges at night during cheap rate, and discharges during day at peak. I have all critical equipment on the failover if the grid goes down.

45

Hi, I use HUE with hub but with this solution, Homey cannot detect energy consumption from light, instead of direct connection, without bridge, itā€™s working, do you have same issue ? Thanks

46

When using Hue WITH Bridge, if you tell Homey what each bulb uses individually, full power on and standby, Homey then estimates usage based on dim level. Works fine. It cannot detect but you can still get a reasonable estimate

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47

Hey all, Iā€™ve just purchased a Homey Pro (2023) and am starting off on my smart home journey.

Iā€™m a bit confused when researching the Philips Hue smart lightsā€¦ They claim they require a Philips Hue Hub (PHH). However, it feels like this would be redundant for me since I already have an IoT Hub: my Homey Pro.

Iā€™m wondering the followingā€¦

  1. Do the PH smart bulbs truly require the PHH, or can Homey fulfill this role?
  2. Assuming the PHH is optional, is it better to use the PHH and control the PHH through Homey as opposed to each smart bulb, or is it truly redundant to have the PHH in this setup?

Based on reading through the thread, seems like most people roll with the PHH and then orchestrate the PHH through Homey. Is this necessary? Are there things that Iā€™d miss out on by skipping the PHH and simply configuring each bulb to connect directly to my Homey?

Thanks in advance!

48

PHH is not required but the experience is great with a Hue Hub. Thatā€™s how Iā€™ve run mine for a few years and it is very reliable and the lights responsive.

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