Hue Lights discussion

It may have. In my case, I first restarted the plugin and saw the message recur after a while so then power cycled the hub. It hasn't happened since.

Hmm... Okay. Well, I'm glad that's fixed it (for now, and hopefully for good). Those hubs basically run an embedded version of Linux and who knows what Philips does to them remotely when signed into the meethue.com service. Maybe something related to that caused high resource utilization on the hub that prevented timely responses to the plugin requests. Nearly impossible to tell though.

It may have. In my case, I first restarted the plugin and saw the message recur after a while so then power cycled the hub. It hasn't happened since.

Hmm... Okay. Well, I'm glad that's fixed it (for now, and hopefully for good). Those hubs basically run an embedded version of Linux and who knows what Philips does to them remotely when signed into the meethue.com service. Maybe something related to that caused high resource utilization on the hub that prevented timely responses to the plugin requests. Nearly impossible to tell though.

The only thing that should have affected the hue bridge is the addition of an Amazon Echo Dot that we got for Christmas. While we weren't doing anything with the lights via Alexa it's possible there was stuff going on under the covers. So far it hasn't recurred and even when it was happening the lights were working properly through your plugin. So it remains a minor mystery for me but one which so far hasn't been a problem.

Hi -

Great plugin - thank you! I am running into an issue of conflicting brightness levels when controlling a Hue Lightbulb via Indigo 7 vs. another Hue controller app such as Hue for IOS. When I turn the device On and Off from Indigo, the last known brightness is maintained. When I turn on from Indigo, adjust via the Hue app, wait for the brightness update to reflect in Indigo, turn off the device from Indigo and then turn the device back on from Indigo, the brightness prior to the change (or even some random brightness level) is used.

I am actually trying to troubleshoot a large issue - 2 keypadlincs with synchronized buttons controlling a single Hue device. Trying to keep the KPL in sync when changes are made via an external app has been the challenge. I've got it almost all worked out, except when turning on from an external app. Indigo sees the Hue device come on and sends updates for the KPL to update button state. The buttons come on, but shortly thereafter the Hue device goes to 100% brightness . . . Troubleshooting this and breaking down to the basics led me to the problem above which I suspect is somehow related.

Happy to provide any necessary debugging data.

Thanks for any pointers or tips!

Version 1.4.9 Posted

• Fixed a bug that didn’t save brightness levels of lights for later recall if using the Turn On built-in Indigo function.

I love having this plug in, however recently I have noticed that many devices are not talking with Indigo and additionally these devices are showing disconnected. However if I go to the Hue Application on my phone I can connect to them. Some of these are part of my original hue purchase and getting old. But I am struggling with the fact that I have the latest hub, the latest software, and your latest plug in and I am still not able to connect lights, and quite often when I send a command to set a scene, it takes two or three tries to make it turn off. Its become rather discouraging. I have tried adding delays for each command send because of your guidance on too many commands to fast to the hub. But still challenged. I know I am at the top end of the number of lights for a controller. Hue suggests having more than 1 controller but that is not possible from what I can tell with the plug. Still hoping to find a light in the darkness.

Reloading plugin "Hue Lights 1.4.9"
Stopping plugin "Hue Lights 1.4.9" (pid 10927)
Stopped plugin "Hue Lights 1.4.9"
Starting plugin "Hue Lights 1.4.9" (pid 10982)
Started plugin "Hue Lights 1.4.9"
Hue Lights Loaded 49 lights.
Hue Lights Loaded 8 groups.

Hi @jphauck.

The "disconnected" indicator next to Hue Lights devices in Indigo is a direct result of what the Hue hub is telling the plugin about the light's connection. If the hub thinks the might not be reachable (one of the parameters associated with each light on the Hue hub) the plugin changes the device status to "disconnected", though it's not technically disconnected and may still work.

In all cases I've seen, if you see this "disconnected" status often, it's due to radio frequency interference or range issues. The ZigBee protocol used by the Hue system communicates with devices on the same 2.4 GHz band used by 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi access points, cordless phones and Bluetooth. If you live in an area with lots of people nearby using Wi-Fi, or you have lots of Wi-Fi gear in the house, all of those interfere with ZigBee to a degree. The more devices using that band, the more interference there will be. Additionally, microwave ovens and fluorescent light fixtures near any 2.4 GHz device can interfere with that device. A possible solution might be to change the ZigBee channel used by the Hue system. This can be done in the Hue app within the settings for the Hue hub. If you have a dual band router in your house that works on the 5.4 GHz band (802.11a/ac), switch as many devices as possible to use the 5.4 GHz band instead of the 2.4 GHz band. Adding another hub almost certainly won't fix the problem.

However, if you need to add more Hue devices and a second hub, see the instructions at viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17362 on how to use a second copy of the plugin to control a second hub.

Version 1.5.0 Posted

• Added limited Hue Scene support with a Recall Hue Scene action which can activate any scene stored on the Hue hub.
• Added tool tips to all Hue Lights controlled Indigo UI windows.
• Fixed automated plugin version checking that wasn’t comparing current and latest versions correctly.
• Improved Hue Groups device setup dialog so you can see a list of all the lights in the selected group from within the device setup window.

Version 1.5.1 Posted

• Added a Recall Hue Scene menu item to Plugins -> Hue Lights menu to easily recall a Hue scene from the Indigo GUI without having to create an Action Group or trigger action.
• Fixed a UI bug in the Recall Hue Scene action settings window that prevented the Lights Affected list from being populated on initial action creation.

Is there any chance you'll add the Hue motion sensor in the plugin? I am mainly running on a Z-wave config in my system but recently expanded to add Hue devices. The motion sensor is a great little device since it is pretty cheap and easy to install with the included magnet.

Thanks!
Rob

Do a search in this thread, pretty sure it's been asked before and if I remember correctly it wasn't possible.

Do a search in this thread, pretty sure it's been asked before and if I remember correctly it wasn't possible.

I did do a search but could find anything, might be I am working the search function wrong.

I read about the Hue API and it seems like the motion sensor is specified in the Hue API (https://developers.meethue.com/content/ ... ion-sensor):

A ZLLPresence with state attributes for presence, and lastupdated. As documented.
A ZLLLightLevel with state attributes for lightlevel, dark, daylight, and lastupdated. As documented.
A CLIPGenericStatus. OK makes sense; probably used in combination with the rules cretaed by the app.
A ZLLTemperature, with state attributes for temperature. and lastupdated. That's a bonus. which wasn't advertised. The temperature attribute seems to reflect my room temperature!

There is also a homebridge github set-up for sensors to be exposed in the "Home"-app:

https://github.com/ebaauw/homebridge-hue

Hope it's possible to get these to work with Indigo.

Rob

Hi Rob.

Adding support for sensors is possible, but isn't possible with the level of real-time response Indigo users are used to. Yes, the Hue API exposes all the sensors connected to the Hue bridge (a.k.a. hub), but lacks support for any kind of push notification system, so any 3rd party application (such as the Hue Lights plugin) has to constantly check the status of every connected sensor to see if anything has changed. Because the Hue bridge limits how often you can send commands to it, you have to wait at least a few seconds between each update request, possibly more if you're at the 50 device limit. That level of delay is not as useful for motion activated actions commonly used in Indigo (like turning on lights). It might be helpful for security events, but not for real-time actions. Having said that, there is some underlying code already put into the plugin that does allow for sensor state queries, but a good deal more work is needed to make it work, even for slow response sensor updating. I may add something later, but it's a fairly low priority since I have no hardware to test with (no Hue motion sensors or switches), so making that kind of addition, reliably, is difficult. The Hue Lights plugin is on GitHub so anyone can contribute. If I don't get to it first, maybe someone else will work on adding that support.

Thanks for the great answer. I did some readup yesterday and it seems like everyone's struggling with the lag in the bridge.

I'll send the motion sensors back and stick to zwave sensors.

Again, thanks for a great plugin!

Rob

Version 1.5.2 Posted

• Added support for another Hue White ambiance bulb (BR13 model).

Hello Nathan,

Today we received the 2 new Philips Hue white and color ambiance E14 candles.
(there is color and a white version).
I'm sorry to say but at this moment the HUE plugin are not supporting them.
(Only with a HUE group, so for the time being we could make a workaround).

For info:
http://www2.meethue.com/en-gb/products/

Thanks for all the support and your luminous plugin!

Kind regards,

John