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Control light without 3rd party app (mander.xyz)

submitted 6 days ago by KurtVonnegut@mander.xyz to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world

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Hi all. I recently bought a Philips hue smart plug to control a lamp.

I quite quickly realized that it was more complex than I thought.

Not only did I need to install the DIYHue add-on to simulate a Hue bridge, I also needed to download the Philips Hue app, or some 3rd party app called Hue essentials, to connect the smart plug (via the DIYHue bridge add-on?) to the home assistant?

I don't want to install any app from Philips.

Also it didn't work.

Isnt there a way to simply control a bulb or plug from the home assistant, running on a Raspberry pi, without having to install any corporate bullshit?

Sorry for the swearing. Im just frustrated that this all turned out to be so complex.

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[–] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 5 days ago

Not only did I need to install the DIYHue add-on to simulate a Hue bridge, I also needed to download the Philips Hue app, or some 3rd party app called Hue essentials, to connect the smart plug (via the DIYHue bridge add-on?) to the home assistant?

So, here's where Home Assistant (HA) can get confusing - there are multiple ways to accomplish multiple things.

The integration you installed is meant to integrate an existing Hue ecosystem with HA. You don't have (nor want, I presume) a Hue ecosystem. You want direct control of the bulb via HA.

Phillips devices generally utilize a wireless protocol called "ZigBee". It's similar to wifi and Bluetooth in that it runs within the 2.4 GHz frequency band, but it requires a ZigBee antenna, also known as a "coordinator". One of those can be picked up for around $30, and you only need one - ZigBee is a "mesh" network. Mains-powered ZigBee devices act as repeaters to automatically expand the network. It works exceptionally well, but you will feel it if you have lots of ZigBee devices and use 2.4GHz wifi.

[–] t0mxd@feddit.org 15 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

Afaik most hue devices use zigbee. If you have a zigbee stick for your pi you should be able to directly connect the plug to home assistant (using the zha integration or zigbee2mqtt) without any hue hub or app. https://zigbee.blakadder.com/Philips_LOM004.html

[–] ProperlyProperTea@lemmy.ml 6 points 6 days ago

I've got a couple Hue bulbs connected through Zigbee2MQTT and haven't had any issues.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Confirmed. I have a simple USB zigbee hun and use zigbee2mqtt and it all works. You do need to also purchase the hur remote to reset the bulbs though if they've already been paired to a bridge, but even if you need it it's zigbee too so you then just have a remote

[–] possum@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

AFAIK you don’t need the remote, there’s a combination of turning the bulbs on/off a couple of times to reset them, and then you can add them using touchlink. The process is a bit tedious, but it works.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I think I tried that, few years ago now, and just couldn't get the timing right.

[–] brisk@aussie.zone 1 points 4 days ago

In my experience a toddler can get the bulbs back into pairing mode reliably, whether you want it or not

[–] GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

A little late to the party, but yes, I can confirm that Hue bulbs can be controlled directly over zigbee. You will need a zigbee radio if you haven't already bought one (£20-ish).
They literally just appear like a zigbee device inside that integration.

You may need to reset them before they will pair.
I forget the pattern, but iirc it's on 2s, off 8s, repeated until you see an acknowledgement flash.
Sometimes, you'll get one that takes forever, then the next bunch will just hop right on.
I have several Hue hubs I still need to offload, as I sometimes buy the combo packs that include another hub.

I also found that the response time was a lot quicker over direct zigbee than farting around with Signiant/Philips' API.

[–] early_riser@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

You can buy a zigbee USB dongle and use the ZHA integration to control (most?) Philips Hue products. I can at least confirm their light bulbs and motion sensors work. You add them like any other zigbee device.

Thirdreality might be a better fit than Hue if you're using HA, as they advertise HA compatibility right on the product page. I started home automation with Hue bulbs right after they first came out, so my HA setup was very much brown field.

This is the zigbee dongle I use. It came in a 2-pack for some reason.

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

Do you have a Zigbee bridge? Philips Hue things do work without the Hue App, but you probably have to add a manually entry for the device, and you need a Zigbee Bridge. Also, if I remember correctly, almost every device that isn't a Hue bulb still shows up as a bulb for some reason. This is more due to the limitations of the Hue ecosystem than the HA implementation.

If you just want a smart plug without all the corporate BS, get one that works on Matter (Zigbee or Z-Wave if you have an endpoint), and check the integration before buying. Moe's is pretty solid, but there's a ton of open devices out there that "just work" on HA.