Smart lighting advice

So I'm trying to get my head around which bulbs and hub to buy to play nicely with my Google Home...

The plan was to get a Philips Hue hub (in case I want to get colour bulbs in future) and most of the bulbs from IKEA.

Would the bulbs connect to the hub ok by themselves, or would I need the IKEA hub to update them to the latest firmware first?

Or can I connect the Philips bulbs to the IKEA hub? Which is easier and more reliable?

It'd be simplest to stick to one brand, Phillips hub and Phillips bulbs.

If they did all the sizes of bulbs I need that would work.

But I need an E14 golf ball for the bedroom as a candle wouldn't fit in the shade.

Li-FX I believe is the best price <> feature/compatibility ratio...

WAY better than Philips, and doesn't need a HUB like they do...

Have you considered smart switches rather than bulbs?

Will keep costs down if you have a lot of bulbs and you won't have issues with people using the switch to switch it off killing the power to the smart bulb stopping it working.

Also another issue with smart bulbs is that after a power outage they come back on at full brightness when the power is restored which can be a pain if it happens at silly o'clock in the morning.

My advice would be smart switches like LightwaveRF for the main light in each room and then maybe smart bulbs like Hue/LiFX/Trådfri for additional mood lighting, lamps etc.

Do they do all the same things?

i.e. Sunrise waking, dimming, scheduled on/off?

Have you considered smart switches rather than bulbs?

Will keep costs down if you have a lot of bulbs and you won't have issues with people using the switch to switch it off killing the power to the smart bulb stopping it working.

Also another issue with smart bulbs is that after a power outage they come back on at full brightness when the power is restored which can be a pain if it happens at silly o'clock in the morning.

 

My advice would be smart switches like LightwaveRF for the main light in each room and then maybe smart bulbs like Hue/LiFX. for additional mood lighting, lamps etc.

The LiFX I have seen and played with, save previous 'setting' even after power loss (remove from fitting, put in another room, turn on, setting remembered)

Do they do all the same things?

i.e. Sunrise waking, dimming, scheduled on/off?

If you're referring to LightwaveRF then yes they do.

---------- Post added 05-09-2017 at 21:31 ----------

The LiFX I have seen and played with, save previous 'setting' even after power loss (remove from fitting, put in another room, turn on, setting remembered)

Well if they do they are the first to do so.

I believe (I could be wrong) that all smart bulbs have to be able to be switched on manually in case of an emergency or network failure during dark hours if the only source of light in a room. To abide by this they are all designed to be turned on to at least 80% (don't know the exact figure but sure I read 80 somewhere) light output by turning the switch off then back on. A power outage can and usually does emulate this.

LiFX possibly could have perhaps installed some form of timer that returns the bulb to previous state if power doesn't return within a certain time period. Would make sense.

If they did all the sizes of bulbs I need that would work.

But I need an E14 golf ball for the bedroom as a candle wouldn't fit in the shade.

http://www.lightinthebox.com/e14-to-e27-led-bulbs-socket-adapter_p493126.html?currency=GBP&litb_from=paid_adwords_shopping&country_code=uk&utm_source=google_shopping&utm_medium=cpc&adword_mt=&adword_ct=200770336468&adword_kw=&adword_pos=1o1&adword_pl=&adword_net=g&adword_tar=&adw_src_id=3516490533_857974065_42956475989_aud-346682122756:pla-324781319906&gclid=Cj0KCQjwub7NBRDJARIsAP7wlT8CRLElAQyDv-kEl9R4XEzQ0KRODdzX4gnJTKfINpJbT5-caqpUNvcaAgsZEALw_wcB

Ikea bulbs don't yet work with anything other than the ikea hub and remote controls. They DO plan to work with google home in the future.

---------- Post added 06-09-2017 at 11:57 ----------

Have you considered smart switches rather than bulbs?

Will keep costs down if you have a lot of bulbs and you won't have issues with people using the switch to switch it off killing the power to the smart bulb stopping it working.

Also another issue with smart bulbs is that after a power outage they come back on at full brightness when the power is restored which can be a pain if it happens at silly o'clock in the morning.

 

My advice would be smart switches like LightwaveRF for the main light in each room and then maybe smart bulbs like Hue/LiFX/Trådfri for additional mood lighting, lamps etc.

lightwaveRF is dead IMO and also doesn't integrate with google home or amazon alexa AFAIK.

Edit - I have some hue bulbs and a single z-wave controller, they all integrate with samsung smart things and through that can be controlled by google home or amazon alexa. I haven't set up my google home yet to see this in action.

lightwaveRF is dead IMO and also doesn't integrate with google home or amazon alexa AFAIK.

It's far from dead and works with both Amazon Alexa and Google Home. And also IFTTT.

And the new range due out October 3rd will also be HomeKit enabled. It will also work on the same frequency as zwave, whether it will be compatible remains to be seen.

Ikea bulbs don't yet work with anything other than the ikea hub and remote controls.

IKEA bulbs are compatible with the Hue bridge as they both use the same ZigBee protocol. You just need the Trådfri bridge to be able to update the bulb firmware to make them compatible. So should be Smartthings compatible if Hue is.