Issues with Alexa and Hue Dimmer Compatibility

[mmorris6]

Hi. I'm wondering if anyone can help please? I have an Amazon Echo Plus and a whole bunch of Philips Hue bulbs. To this point, the set up has been seamless and I've been really impressed with how the Echo Hub has managed these and other devices. The trouble came when I also wanted a switch control for my office smart bulb. I did some research, and the Philips Dimmer seemed to be the best option. - I understood it could be used without the Philips Hub. The issue is that when I set up the dimmer by holding the 'on' button down for 10 seconds next to the office bulb, the bulb then becomes unresponsive in the Alexa app. This also mean that the Echo can't communicate with it. I've reset everything and reinstalled several times, and the same thing happens i.e. the App works fine and then when I add the dimmer to the bulb the communication drops. I tried to set the dimmer up first and then pair the dimmer with the Alexa app and this didn't work either - the buttons on the dimmer then performed the wrong functions and the off button didn't work at all. Any advice would be much welcomed. Ideally, I would like to use the Echo's built in hub rather than spend another £50 on a Philips hub to fix this one issue. Cheers

[renegade600]

what country?

[dragon123]

The dimmer switch can work without a hub, by pairing with the lights directly. This is why you can buy a set of hue light + dimmer without a bridge and it will work out of the box.

If you use a bridge (like echo plus) that light won't be visible there then.

So, it's one or the other.

Basically, you'd be best off buying either a hue starter kit or just a (2nd hand) bridge v 2.0 or 2.1 (doesn't matter which). Plenty of these bridges for sale as ppl buy starter kits and have bridges left over.

With a proper hue bridge you can do soooo much more than with the echo plus.

Plus, using dimmer switches around the house is much easier for visitors.

[mmorris6]

Thanks dragon 123. That's really helpful. So if I understand correctly, without the bridge I can either have the dimmer connected direct to the bulb, or the Echo connected to the bulb, but not both at the same time.

What extra functionality would the bridge give me, other than being able to use the Echo and the Dimmer on the same bulb?

Thanks again

[dragon123]

Thanks dragon 123. That's really helpful. So if I understand correctly, without the bridge I can either have the dimmer connected direct to the bulb, or the Echo connected to the bulb, but not both at the same time.

What extra functionality would the bridge give me, other than being able to use the Echo and the Dimmer on the same bulb?

Thanks again

I don't own a echo plus, so I'm not sure what that can and cannot do by itself. My thinking it is fairly basic, on/off/dim and no color and stuff (?). With the bridge, you can do everything the hue app has to offer (and even way more, if you use 3rd party apps).
So you get to create scenes, set colors, dim lights, program dimmer switches/motion sensors/tap switches, use home&away, wake up/sleep/custom routines, timers, entertainment area and the cool formulas the hue labs comes up with.

With 3rd party apps connected to your bridge you can set lights to music, create a 'haunted house', 'fireworks', 'rain forest' etc, program your dimmer switches for more than the 3 scenes per button, etc etc.

[renegade600]

remember, any suggestions give may or may not work depending on the country you are in.  not all countries have the same features available whether it be hue or alexa. 

[mmorris6]

Fantastic. Thanks for the responses.