How to control a HUE bulb with a physical device (switch, dimmer etc.)?

Hardware Home Automation
1

Hi guys,

this is not directly related to OH, but maybe OH can act as a gateway here. This is what I want to do:

I have several HUE bulbs in my house. All of them are connected to a HUE bridge and the bridge is connected to my OH2.

Now, I want to control one of the bulbs with a local, physical device (switch, dimmer, relay, whatever). An on/off switch would be simple, maybe also a dimmer. But the HUE bulbs are colored bulbs, so I also want to control/change the color of the bulb using the same device. I know there is a HUE remote (Iā€™m using it in another scenario), but this remote only can control on/off, dimmer and optional scenes. But no color control.

Has anyone a solution for this? I am also using zwave in my house, so if there is a zwave device which can accomplish this, it would be fine since I can integrate it and then use OH as a gateway.

Thanks,
Stefan

2

Huh, ainā€™t there any Hue color remotes ?
I actually have the Hue predecessors in operation (Living Colors, now renamed to ā€˜Friends of Hueā€™).
They came with a portable remote control unit to allow for color selection, too.
I can still talk to the bulbs from OH via Hue bridge.

Now if you really wanna go for an alternative solution, itā€™s a bit tricky. I did some research but never built it. If I had to,
Iā€™d go for this:
You can get a color control panel from *bay, get one to provide 0-10V separate outputs per-color. These you could connect into an appropriate OH-controlled sensor. If you have zwave, you could use a Fibaro FGRBGW controller, it has 4x 0-10V inputs.

2 Likes
3

Thanks Markus!

The one remote I know only can control on/off and dimming (as mentioned). But I found out, that at least one can program the ON switch with five different scenes. Not exactly what I wanted, but at least I can define five favorite colours and use this as a scene (I hopeā€¦havenā€™t tried it yet).

I will also take a look at the color selection remote you mentioned. But amazon.de doesnā€™t show me anything similar ā€¦

4

Something like this.

1 Like
5

Uhhhā€¦groovyā€¦thanks Markus!

However, the german translation looks kind of scaryā€¦ (ā€œEchthaar Erkennungā€) :wink:

1 Like
6

you sure itā€™s just the translation ?
Wait until your get your hands on that ā€¦ err, hairy thing ā€¦ :wink:

7

Iā€™m facing the exact same problem :slight_smile:

What about using a Fibaro FGS 213/223? It has scene capabilities.
On first click one could use the relay function, so no need to have a running openHAB (important for the WAF).
Second and third click could be used in rules to select a scene. There may also be a fourth option ā€œKey Hold Down and Key Releasedā€.

@jaydee73, keep us posted for any solution you may find :grinning:

8

FWIW, check out these.
They also offer these in various technologies such as zwave here.
Thereā€™s no reseller, but you can order them from Sunricher, contact via mail.

9

Nice idea.
Meanwhile I carried out my idea with the FGS223, it works but I realized a huge time lag when the bulbs are reconnected to mains power (around 5 to 7 seconds).
So even my hue bulbs are connected to the FGS223 I leave them on and use the Hue Tap for switching ā€¦