Control Hue from Insteon Dimmer

[giesen]

I'd like to install coloured Hue bulbs in the pot lights in my rec room, and control on/off and dimming with a 2477D dimmer. Now I realize I can't do that directly, what I was thinking was to hard-wire the pot lights so they are always on, and install the dimmer with nothing connected on the load side. I'd then use the ISY Hue node server to have the ISY issue Hue commands to the bulbs when the dimmer is pushed.

 

Any one done something similar to this? Can you speak to how responsive the commands would be?

 

Also, my other concern is that since the Hue bulbs don't provide real-time status feedback to the ISY, if anyone manipulates the bulbs through the Hue app, I wouldn't be able to have the ISY adjust the dimmer to match the state.

 

Is there a better way of doing this? Maybe another product out there beside Hue that offers coloured lights? I'm not really interested in using the "stick on" Hue wireless dimmer...

 

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Edited August 12, 2016 by giesen

[MWareman]

It should work. But there will be a short activation delay. You also will have to have the dimmer trigger programs for the functions you want - dimming will certainly be problematic to implement, or even not possible.

[larryllix]

I use my Hue bulbs in conjunction with many other coloured strips/bulbs and Insteon white lighting all from one SwitchLinc dimmer.

 

My SwitchLinc dimmer is wired to the central potlights in the room so they always get hit first. But with a longer ramp on the main lights I can scene hit and Hue hit on the other bulbs and make it look fairly simultaneous from ISY.

 

I use top tap to alternate scenarios between TV and Reading modes.

I use double tap up to put all Insteon, Hues, and MiLIght strips and bulbs full on. = very bright!

I use long top tap (brighten) to set a brighter scenario with everything.

I use bottom tap to turn everything Off

I use long bottom tap to set movie watching mode= dim white lights and multi-coloured outside room lights.

I use double bottom tap to turn off white lights in the ceiling (7 bulbs) off only leaving just coloured lights.

I use bottom tap, while off, to rotate through colours on the outside 5 Hues, 5 MiLight strips, 4 MiLight bulbs.

 

The Hue bulbs are very fast to respond but I use the main ceiling white lights to distract from any delays seen.

 

BTW: The Hue bulbs cannot produce any yellow or green (no Xmas), any only purple shades of blue with only three LEDs inside.. The Hue Bloom uses four LEDs and can produce all the colours.

 

I would try the MiLights first for 1/4 the price and the 9W bulbs outshine the Hues with far more light output and very rich colours.

Edited August 12, 2016 by larryllix

[mwester]

I use a mixture of network resources and Polyglot.

 

Response time is usually sub-second.

 

Polyglot makes each Hue bulb appear in the ISY -- it's level and color (in XY coordinates) can be read.  You can write programs to trigger on those levels, etc.  Just the same way you can do that with the Insteon LED builb, for example.

 

I doubt that the usability factor with the 2477D will be good.  There's an expectation when using that dimmer of "instant" response, and even a small delay will result in overshoot, etc.  But it's worth a try.

 

I have my Hue bulbs in pot lights in the family room -- and there's no direct control for them.  Instead, they are controlled indirectly by other scenes controlled by Insteon switches and a few timers.  For example, at 7:30AM, they come on set to a pleasant color and brilliance -- makes it easier for me to have my first cup of coffee.  If I turn on the "evening" scene switch, the ceiling accent lights come on, the Insteon-controlled floods behind my chair go to 50%, and the Hue lights shift color and brilliance to fill the rest of the room.  And so on.

 

Regarding the network resources, the Hue bulbs have a neat "alert" feature where they flash (rapidly dim and brighten).  A number of programs monitor various things like z-wave door sensors, and the appropriate Hue bulb with start to alert depending on which door was left open for too long.   Until the alert feature gets added to Polyglot, I use network resources to implement that feature.

[giesen]

Thanks for all the feedback guys, I'm going to re-evaluate my plan and see if I can come up with something better based on your suggestions.

 

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