Dawn Simulation with Hue, Ivy Smarter Hub

[- rob -]

We have the Nanoleaf Ivy Smarter home kit and I've been using their bulbs and a collection of GE Cree bulbs in the house so far. The Ivy is somewhat unreliable and very difficult to set up, but largely integrates across bulb types so far.

We are looking to set up a dawn simulation light, my plan is to pair Sleep Cycle with the Phillips White and Color Ambiance BR30. We're attaching it to the bed frame using a gooseneck socket that will connect to a socket on a wire.

Couple of questions:

Does anyone know if Hue lights connected to an Ivy Smarter Bridge will show up in Sleep Cycle? Sleep Cycle does not see the GE Cree connected lights.

Is anyone familiar with the Hue line for simulating colors for sunrise? Based on this article from earlier last year, I believe that the "Hue Ambiance" is intended to suggest light spectrum ability we're after. But it really is unclear to me.

Finally, just as a comment on homekit: we've been using it for about five months now. When it works, it works great--but when it doesn't it is worse than a light switch. It seems a bit weird to have home appliances feel like technical integration projects. Though, I think this may just be the state of Homekit at this time.

 

[robnbill]

Finally, just as a comment on homekit: we've been using it for about five months now. When it works, it works great--but when it doesn't it is worse than a light switch. It seems a bit weird to have home appliances feel like technical integration projects. Though, I think this may just be the state of Homekit at this time.

We have been using HK for a while now - it is always consistent - works all the time. Many Lutron devices, multiple Ecobee's, iDevices, MyQ garage, multiple Sense locks, Elgato temp, etc.

We do use an ATV4 as the hub which is in decent BT range of the BT devices - locks & Temp.

What do you use as a hub?

Rob

 

[wesley96]

Does anyone know if Hue lights connected to an Ivy Smarter Bridge will show up in Sleep Cycle? Sleep Cycle does not see the GE Cree connected lights.

Is anyone familiar with the Hue line for simulating colors for sunrise? Based on this article from earlier last year, I believe that the "Hue Ambiance" is intended to suggest light spectrum ability we're after. But it really is unclear to me.

For the first question, I have to assume that you don't want to purchase the Philips Hue Bridge and just connect the Hue bulbs directly to the Nanoleaf Smart Hub which comes with the Ivy Smarter Kit? I'm not sure if the Nanoleaf hub exposes enough data from the Hue bulbs to the Sleep Cycle app like the native Hue bridge, so someone else with that exact configuration would have to chime in. Nanoleaf hub works on ZigBee HA protocol, and the Hue bridge works on the newer (but more restricted?) ZigBee LL protocol.

(For others reading the thread not familiar with the situation, Nanoleaf Smart Hub supports Philips Hue bulbs, and Sleep Cycle app does support the Hue bulbs.)

For the second question, the "sunrise light" can be done with the Hue bulbs (both 'White and Color Ambiance' and 'White Ambiance') by programming the Hue bridge with the Hue app, independent of HomeKit or any other solution. So unless you really want to avoid having a separate hub/bridge, just going 'full Philips Hue' for the Hue bulbs sounds simpler.

 

[- rob -]

Thank you so much for this reply. I had hoped to save some money by picking a hub that supported a broad array of accessory standards.

I gotta say, for the hassle, the Nanoleaf ivy smarter hub has been a huge miss. From how the app and website have evolved, it looks like they have put all their energy into their decorative aurora product.

If I could go back I would have just stuck w Phillips and paid the premium to buy lights in their ecosystem.

That said, I need this bulb anyway, so I’ll at least test it over the ivy bridge and report back first.

I can’t emphasize how primitive and pitfall-ridden this HomeKit setup feels today. A major reason I took a chance on nanoleaf was because Apple pushed it on their HomeKit site.

If anything I think HomeKit is too inclusive of various standards. Oh well.