Who do think makes the best RGBW Bulb?

Hardware Home Automation
1

I now have 2 Philips A19 RGBW and 1 Aeon bulb in my HA project. And the more I learn and expand, the more I get frustrated, etc.

So, I’m learning the Philips Hue bulbs are just terrible at Greens. There more like a warm yellow. And Blues are more purplish.

The Aeon bulb seems to have some better blues and greens, but the red seems to look more link pink.

I’m reading the Lightify bulbs may be best ones out there. But I know that those are also Zigbee and that the Philips as blocked 3rd party lights now. So I try to get some of those, I’ll need to get a Zigbee USB to add to my setup as well.

So whats your thoughts on who has the best RGBW bulbs?

2

I have bought Milight.
Those bulbs are cheap and a working.“somehow”.
The disadvantage is that those bulbs are only supporting a unidirectional protocol and I have noted that if I am sending commands fast without pause, they are not working realiably.

3

Didnt Philips reopen the gateway for 3rd party lights ?

4

There are also LIFX who have put a lot of effort into making good quality bulbs with great interfacing capabilities and light output. They are expensive however, and last I checked had absolutely no security. As they are AllJoyn, they are natively supported in OpenHAB 2 which is a pretty big deal for simplicity and lack of need of another gateway/network interface.

5

Yes, Philips is open again to 3rd party bulbs.

If color rendition is an issue, then there is a nice alternative for the Philips Hue system The LED stripe controllers made by Dresden Elektronik can be used with RGBW stripes with up to 120 Watts of power total (when used with 24V stripes).
On the other hands its not a ready to use system and can not be called cheap either.

6

Thanks for all of the feed back on the different bulb types and manufacturers. Since Philips did re-open the ability for 3rd party bulbs, I went and ordered an Osram Lightify bulb to try out. I hoping to see some much better colors with this one.

I haven’t ventured into the lightstrips yet, but if the Osram works well that could become my goto choice.

7

I went from MiLight to Hue bulbs and the differences in quality and range of colours is very impressive.

Very rich colours with silky smooth transitions.

The LIFX are more power hungry at 17w with the Hue at 9w

There is a detailed comparison here http://arijaycomet.com/2015/10/21/tested-an-epic-comparison-of-smart-light-bulbs-philips-hue-versus-belkin-wemo-versus-lifx-versus-ge-link-versus-tcp-connected-versus-misfit-bolt/

And a Reddit thread here https://www.reddit.com/r/huelights/comments/2nooij/

I opted for Hues over LIFX because of the third party support (in the form of apps, and tools on github) and the lower power consumption.

Expensive, yes. But i do think for the primary “illuminated” areas where I spend most of my time (my office, and the living room) they are worth it. But not essential for low traffic areas where all you need is a light to walk up the stairs etc :slight_smile:

8

Well,

I got my Osram Lightify bulb this weekend, and I cant’ get the stupid thing to pair up with my Philips Hue Hub. I’ve reset the bulb multiple times and a few times, the bulb did blink 4 times which would indicate it should have paired. But the light won’t show up in the Hue app.

Ironically, I can pair the Osram Lightify just fine with my Wink Hub. But really need to get it found by the Hue for easier OH integration.

Early looks, the blue and greens do look better then the Hue bulbs though.

9

Though it says you do need to have updated the Lightify firmware, which requires the hub.

I have no idea if this helps, but I have spotted in a couple of Hue apps a thing called “Touchlink” which (as the screenshot claims) can force the ZigBee bulb to the bridge.

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The app that screenshot is from is called Hue Lights my LapApps, LLC.

I have absolutely no idea if it works, or if it will break anything. So please research this Touchlink thing before trying anything.

10

All I can say is… SUPER ANNOYING!!

I had read that previous wordpress blog as well. And the article seems to say that updating the software on the bulb was necessary to only fix a on/off vs fading issue.

I had also read elsewhere the Wink Hub is suppose to be able to update the software on the Bulb, and that does NOT appear to be true. When connect to the Wink Hub, I have not found any options to update the software on a Lightify Bulb.

So…to try further… I did go out a buy a Lightify Gateway. After setting that, and then upgrading the Gateway Software and the LightBulbs software to the latest… Like the Wink Hub, easy pairing with the Lightify GateWay and the Wink Hub.

Remove it from the Lightify setup, reset the bulb, and Philips Hue still does NOT find and pair this bulb. I’m going to start posting on the Hue forums now as well. Supposedly Hue did revert and allow third party bulbs. And I can actually connect GE Link bulbs to the Hue as well, yet this Osram Lightify bulb will not pair with it!

11

I’m successfully using the Philips ‘Living Colors’ products (now renamed to ‘friends of Hue’) with a Hue bridge. They’re not ZigBee but use a proprietary protocol that the Hue bridge supports for backwards compatibility, and as they’re no longer ‘top notch’, you can obtain them for less or as used equipment.