Philips Hue Wiki/FAQ?

color
#1

Is there a comprehensive Wiki post or FAQ on using Philips Hue bulbs with WebCoRE? I just got some bulbs and having been digging around, there are a bunch of posts but having trouble finding the best way to do things or why to do one way vs another.

I’m currently working on a piston to manage my hue bulbs and ‘special effects’ because the Hue app and their labs doesn’t seem that great. I’m trying to set it up to use the webcore endpoint url with parameters so I can pick a mode/effect (fade, candle flicker, flash 2 colors etc), color, duration, etc from ActionTiles.

-is there a SmartThings SmartApp or DH that is most recommended (there are 2 or 3at least). Does one expose better features inwebcore
-fades - is there a way to fade from color 1 to color 2 without ‘going around the hue circle’?
-trigger from alexa without using the Hue app room/groups/scenes

That’s all I can think of right now, but every time I work on my piston I think of more stuff.

Transition To Color
Transition To Color
#2

Using Hue with webCoRE is pretty much the same as using it with any other lights. webCoRE determines the light’s capabilities from ST and then allows for various manipulations. Like anything else with ST/webCoRE, the definition of “best way” is always subjective. :wink: Typically, if something is working well for your use case, then I’d say that is the “best way”.

On the ST side, Hue B Smart (https://community.smartthings.com/t/updated-4-19-17-hue-b-smart-smart-and-fast-hue-lighting/60672) is pretty much the most recommended. Personally, I stick with the standard Hue integration only because I don’t really make use of any of the custom features in Hue and don’t really require a lot of logic and bells and whistles, but that’s just me. From what I understand, HueBSmart can trigger Labs scenes like the candle flicker and such, but don’t quote me on that.

Fading from color to color isn’t (AFAIK) really supported well in webCoRE (imho). That’s not to say you can’t do it with the “Fade Hue” action, but I don’t have much experience with it and so I’m not the best source of info on that one.

Triggering from Alexa can be done in various ways. You can add a virtual device (switch, contact, actuator, etc) in ST which you can use from Alexa. Then, have webCoRE monitor the status of that virtual device and take actions based upon that. You can also install Ask Alexa which has triggers built into webCoRE. My recommendation is to go the Ask Alexa route. You won’t be sorry with all the additional features you get with it.

Ask Alexa: https://community.smartthings.com/t/release-ask-alexa/46786

#3

To add a bit to what @Core_PHX said…

I would try to keep your fades to 10 seconds or less. This is simply because cancelling a fade is more trouble than it is worth. (for all practical purposes, once a fade starts, it will continue to fade until the time runs out… even if you try to make it do something else, it will return to it’s previous task)

Yes, but for some reason, the ‘Starting Hue’ is from 0-360, and the ‘Final Hue’ is 0-100 so a bit of math is required. The formula for the 2nd number would be: degrees (°) divided by 3.6

temp

Here is a few examples that may be helpful.

One other tip with Philips Hue bulbs, when trying to set specific colors, only use Hue, Saturation & Level… Do not use Color or ColorTemp, or the resulting color will not be what you want

#4

Yeah, I forgot about the Color/ColorTemp “issue”.

#5

Thank you for the feedback. I don’t like their Hue Labs interface so trying to do it in webcore. Guess I’ll just stick with the default DH. I saw some posts about the final hue so I am doing that. I was asking more about, for example, trying to fade from red to blue, seems like

it should kind of look like: red->purple->blue.

Instead it looks like: red->orange->yellow->green->blue->purple

Another hurdle coming up, converting color names or RGB to HSL. Are there any expression functions for this? I don’t see any in wiki; I can’t find hslToHex() either though :frowning: . I don’t even find it in search of forum… I found this js code which has bunch if conversion algorithms if that helps.

Maybe if we had a “fade to color blue” similar to “set color blue”

Any way, I’m rambling. Thanks again.

#6

I don’t have a color wheel in front of me at the moment, but if you want to start your fade from red, I would plug in 359 as the “Starting hue”. (This works because 0 is the same as 360 on the color wheel)

If your “Final hue” is blue, then I think that number should be somewhere between 62 & 72 (out of 100).

index

Going this way should be Red > Purple > Blue

If you are pulling the “Final hue” from a 360° wheel, then remember to divide by 3.6 for the conversion in webCoRE.

#7

The method I use is to make the bulb any color using any method. (Hue app, SmartThings app, ActionTiles, Scenes, Alexa etc) Once the bulb is a color that I want to remember and recall at a later time, I run this piston to capture the HSL. I can then plug those numbers into any piston (pointing at any Philips hue color bulb).

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(Notice 244 / 3.6 = 67.8)