Bitten by the bug

[OttoMation]

So after a year or so of on-and-off research, I finally stuck a toe into the automation pool. I bought a Phillips Hue set, which was so much fun that I bought an Insteon USB PLM and a LampLinc. Figured I'd run these through Indigo, so I've got that set up and running on my Mac Mini. So far, so good. Obviously not a whole lot I can do with this yet other than some schedules, but I figure I'll buy a piece or two at a time and just replace stuff as I go. Next purchase will probably be the dual-band 6 button Insteon dimmer.
 
Ultimately, I think my goal is to get an ISY, and an ELK M1 but I want to play with some of these things, and build out slowly.
 
Anyway, looking forward to mining the information you all have put here. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions.

 

[az1324]

What do you think of Hue?  How's the brightness?

 

[OttoMation]

The Hue is fun, but it's really only accent lighting. Brightness is decent, but don't expect task lighting from it. Two or three in a lamp make a decent reading light. I've got two in a frosted glass upshining floor lamp next to the couch right now, and a third in a table lamp about 8 feet away, and it lights up that whole side of the living room pretty nice for the evening. Again, you won't be threading any needles, or other task-type items, but it's pleasant.
 
What I've been surprised at is how they don't dim low very well. At their lowest setting, they are pretty bright. The difference between a Hue on low and an incandescent on low through the LampLinc is really significant. I can get extremely low levels of light from the incandescent, not so with the Hue.
 
But where the fun starts with the Hue is with the color. Put a couple of these in a frosted glass fixture, and the effects are awesome! I've got five bulbs now, and when you get them all going, it's really cool. The colors the Hue can reproduce, it generally does really well with. Deeply saturated blues and reds, warm oranges and yellows. It's really amazing. Ultimately (at least at this point) it's more toy than serious home automation product, but it's definitely in a grey zone between them, and it's a lot of fun. Plus there's a lot of future potential for incorporation into home automation systems with Phillips' commitment to making the Hue easy to develop for.

 

[az1324]

Thanks.  LIFX looks like it might be brighter.  99% of my lighting is recessed.

 

[OttoMation]

That would be cool. Once you get over the price, the brightness factor is the biggest barrier to wider use, IMHO. That, and more fully integrated control in sophisticated HA systems. I'm sure that's just a matter of time though.

 

[tmbrown97]

I've tried a ton of LED lights, and the reality is that they're always pretty bright right up until they turn off while dimming down - they definitely don't go as low as the incandescents, and definitely not as linearly.

 

[OttoMation]

Ah well, so it is. I just bought a Cree LED at Home Depot, and its similar. Not the worst flaw in a bulb, but certainly not an incandescent equal in that regard.

 

[tmbrown97]

If you love Incandescent and try an LED or two, then they never compare.  But if you've been experimenting with LED's for years, you learn to accept the faults of LED and appreciate as each bulb gets closer to getting it "right".  I don't expect them to ever be as perfect because Incandescent works natively at 120V whereas LED is adapted down to much lower voltages and has to compensate for the dimmed levels...  Maybe we're conditioned to lessen our expectations - who knows... but the most recent options are getting a lot better!