Smart light bulbs questions

[lucysmam]

How on Earth do you connect them to your Wi-Fi??

Are they all dimmable; or just certain ones?

Does anyone know if you can get ones that change colours?

I'm scrolling Amazon looking at them; I think the girls would appreciate the novelty of them to go with their Alexa's for Christmas (would find them in town) but I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking at!

Almost forgot as well; do they last a good while? Since they're quite pricey for light bulbs!

We have Philips Hue lights, the novelty's worn off a bit now, we've had them for coming up to 2 years now.

They connect to their WiFi with the Philips Hue Bridge, we can then control them via our phones, change the colours / dim.

You can also get apps so they will change colours in time with music via Spotify app, so the kids can have a disco

I have hive and have their lightbulbs.
My ones are dimmable. We have a hive box which goes through the WiFi it's a hub.
You can get colour changing ones but I think that's Phillips although you can buy just WiFi bulbs I assume you'd just get a little box maybe with it

I've found colour changing ones, so that answers one question

@covetingthepreciousthings we have a pair of plug in disco light things upstairs! I get sick of unpacking my drawer of randomness to find it when dd2 wants it out . The ability to do that without me finding it then plugging it in would be marvellous.

www.argos.co.uk/product/7422478

I think these are what we have.

I have mine linked to my Alexa, but it isn't dimmable. I love it.

Wifi plug is connected to the lamp.

You can also download a Thunder app, so you can have your own lightning show, as well as a Halloween one to have spooky lights and sounds

I still don't get how they know it's your wi-fi to connect to it, and then to your Alexa as well . That's baffling me a bit!

I may have battery operated Halloween lights upstairs too Maybe I need one down here too!

The Philips hue bridge plugs in to your router.

We've got coloured bulbs all over the house. I can't imagine not having them.

I set them to go off when I leave the house, turn on when I'm driving down the road. At a certain time at night they dim, at about midnight they all turn off apart from the hall light that just goes to a low orange glow. They're all set to a blueish white for the day so it's a natural light.

It's also nice being able to turn them on and off even when we're abroad. Puts of potential burglers.

Mine also flash red when Liverpool score and blue the the Patriots score

We also have a tv setting so just hit a button on my watch to dim all the lights, bloody brilliant. Also works through Alexa so I can change them with my voice.

I still don't get how they know it's your wi-fi to connect to it

I know when you connect them for the first time, on your phone on the HUE app it tells you that you have 60 seconds to press the button on the 'bridge' (which is plugged in to your modem (?), so you have to dash across the house to press the button before it times out. I think that must be how it knows which is yours.

I bought some cheap(ish) ones from Amazon for my wall lights in the living room, they were £20 for a two pack. They're not coloured but I can dim them. They were easy to set up, just download the app and follow the instructions. Alexa found them as new devices and now I can tell her to turn them on or to dim all or just one of them. You can also program them to automatically turn on (at a set time or at sunset) and off again.

I love them.

I have my hue bulbs linked to my Alexa (no bridge) mine are dimable. Was a bit of a faff to connect them but great now they work.

Oooh, sort of like using the sync button on xbox and controller??

We have lifx bulbs. They are quite expensive but you don't need a hub to go with it. We've had them for over 4 years. The app that they come with is really good and they work well with Alexa.