Hi all. I recently bought a Philips hue smart plug to control a lamp.
I quite quickly realized that it was more complex than I thought.
Not only did I need to install the DIYHue add-on to simulate a Hue bridge, I also needed to download the Philips Hue app, or some 3rd party app called Hue essentials, to connect the smart plug (via the DIYHue bridge add-on?) to the home assistant?
I don’t want to install any app from Philips.
Also it didn’t work.
Isnt there a way to simply control a bulb or plug from the home assistant, running on a Raspberry pi, without having to install any corporate bullshit?
Sorry for the swearing. Im just frustrated that this all turned out to be so complex.
You can buy a zigbee USB dongle and use the ZHA integration to control (most?) Philips Hue products. I can at least confirm their light bulbs and motion sensors work. You add them like any other zigbee device.
Thirdreality might be a better fit than Hue if you’re using HA, as they advertise HA compatibility right on the product page. I started home automation with Hue bulbs right after they first came out, so my HA setup was very much brown field.
This is the zigbee dongle I use. It came in a 2-pack for some reason.