When a Smart Home Can't Remember Anymore
A story about pushing my Philips Hue Bridge to its limit
I’m a total nerd when it comes to smart home technology. There is just something so satisfying about controlling the lights, door locks, thermostats etc. with an app or maybe even just your voice
But what happens when you start to take your system for granted? No, we certainly don’t want another Donald Duck Instant Millionaire situation on our hands do we?
My story today specifically relates to the world of smart light bulbs. Yes, smart bulbs were really my gateway drug into the world of home automation and smart technology. I recall my first experience fondly.
The early days
I had received a gift card to the Apple store. With most of my computer gear already in good shape, I decided to browse around on the peripherals of the Apple Store. Yep, they had plenty of cool smart home gear that wasn’t made by Apple. At the time, I was living in a fairly tiny apartment that wouldn’t benefit from more elaborate smart home tech. But one thing I could certainly use, was new light bulbs!
After a bit of research, I settled on the original Philips Hue Smart Starter Bundle. It came with three light bulbs and a Hue Bridge to control everything. That was more than enough for my meager needs. I just wanted to play around with some different color bulbs in different lamps around my apartment. The bulbs were certainly far more expensive than standard bulbs, but they looked cool and were more efficient. Better for the earth, better for my electric bill, and they add some futuristic flare to my otherwise old school apartment.
Fast forward a decade and those initial three bulbs have received plenty of new relatives. As I moved into several new apartments and houses since then, my hunger for smart bulbs grew. I felt like I was going back in time if I had even one light fixture that used a bulb that couldn’t be controlled by an app.
While less-expensive competitors emerged, I was far too engrained in the Philips Hue ecosystem to veer off-course. I found myself picking up new bulbs and then dedicated Hue light fixtures wherever I could. Sometimes I’d find second-hand deals or bulk discounts. But my total budget spent on smart lighting continued to rise.
Until one day when I was trying to add a new bulb to Hue Bridge in our new house. It just wouldn’t connect the same way as all the others. I thought that maybe it was just a defective bulb. But after a bit of online sleuthing and some rudimentary math, I realized the real problem. I had hit the mythical limit of Hue bulbs on one Bridge.
Hitting the limit
It was something I had seen on Reddit threads before but never paid close attention to. Some people said that 50 bulbs was the limit for one bridge. Others said it was less about the number of bulbs and more about the size of your home and other factors. Then I read something that said 63 bulbs was the absolute max that could be controlled by one bridge. Ha, what kind of crazy millionaire has the need for 63 bulbs I thought?
Well, I counting things up and realized I was trying to add bulb number 64 to a small lamp in my den and it wasn’t happening. I had somehow hit this barrier that never seemed obtainable. I suppose outfitting a few rooms with 6 recessed lights each will get you there. Throw in a few outdoor lights and some dimmer switches (accessories apparently count against your total too) and there you have it. I reached the max of what my smart light system was capable of.
Who cares right? Boo hoo, just get rid of some smart bulbs to creep back under the limit or add a new bridge to the system. Seems like an easy enough solution. And it is in theory. I was able to pick up another bridge, they are reasonably priced when compared to all of the other items in the Philips Hue line of products.
But then I couldn’t just start fresh with a new bridge. I couldn’t have 63 devices attached to one hub and only one lonely bulb added to the new configuration. I had to go back and remove bulbs from the original bridge and transfer them to the new one. It’s a tedious process. Ideally, I’d want to split the devices evenly on the two bridges. I did my best to group all of them from upstairs in my home to one bridge, and then downstairs and outside would be on the second bridge.
Well, I finally sorted it out. But then there was a new problem. The Google Assistant that I was using to control the Hue system with my voice was only able to speak to one Hue bridge at a time! Argh! Can’t our smart home systems all just get along? I would need to create a separate Google account to control the separate Hue bridge. It’s a task that I have yet to tackle…
Conclusion
This story isn’t meant to be an entitled gripe session about a very first world problem. Instead, I see it as more of a cautionary tale about the benefits and limitations of smart home technology. Smart lights are certainly not a requirement for anyone, but they can be safer, more convenient, more environmentally friendly, and frankly more fun than traditional light bulbs.
But we have to also remember that we’re still in the very early days of smart home technology. We can’t expect everything to work perfectly yet. Different systems may not always speak the same language. It’s still a niche market for nerds and hobbyists like us. We’ve sure come a long way since I bought that first Hue bulb from the Apple Store way back when. Who could have guessed that it would have planted the seeds for me to become a total smart home junkie, haha.
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!
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