The Philips Hue Smart Lighting System, Part 2
Programming your Philips Smart Lights
Set your Lights to Turn On and Off Automatically,
Learn to Program Light Routines, and Explore New Hue Features
This is Part 2 of a tutorial on using the Philips Hue Smart Lighting System, and Part 7 of our series on building a Smart Home using Alexa. Last week, we reviewed the Philips Hue System, talked about its various options, and learned how to set up the system. We learned how to use Alexa and the Amazon Echo to turn lights on and off. This week, we will be looking at programming your Hue Lights so that they turn on and off automatically. You can read Part 1 of our Hue tutorial here, and you can read Part 1 of our Smart Home Series here. Links to other chapters can be found in the sidebar.
Automating your Philips Hue Bulbs
As we briefly discussed in Part 1, Philips Hue Bulbs can be controlled remotely, or programmed to come on automatically. Today, we're going to learn how to schedule your lights using the Hue App. Before setting up schedules, you need to have your bulbs installed and grouped into rooms. (See Part 1 to learn how to do this.) You will also need your mobile device, running the Hue App. (You can also do this on a Kindle Fire Tablet using the "All 4 Hue" app.) Presently, you can NOT set schedules and routines through the Web Portal; you can merely turn your lights on and off. Most programming must be done through the Hue App.
What Types of Automation does Hue Offer?
Currently, the Hue System offers:- Home & Away Scheduling: Also known as "Geofencing," you can set Hue to turn on certain rooms when you come home. Similarly, you can set Hue to turn off certain rooms (or all Hue devices) when you leave your house.
- Wake Up: You can set certain lights or rooms to turn on "Wake lights," as a supplement to or replacement for an alarm clock.
- Go to Sleep: You can program your lights to fade out or turn off in preparation for bed time.
- Timers: You can set a timer to have certain lights or rooms turn on or off in X number of minutes.
- Other Routines: This is where you can set traditional light timers, and "randomize" turn on/off times to make it look less like the lights are timer controlled. You can set up timers to turn lights on or off, and to dim or brighten lights in up to 4 rooms per "routine."
- Hue Labs Formulas: Hue Labs periodically introduces new "formulas" for lighting automation. These formulas can be installed to your Hue System through the app.
We will discuss each of these features, as well as how to set each up. With the exception of Hue Labs Formulas, these functions are set up using the "Routines" tab of the app. This is the tab accessed by tapping the "Clock" icon.
