Philips Hue's personal wireless lighting system is a great way to make your smart light bulbs smart, but wouldn't it be great if it could talk to your lights? You know, say something like "Howdy there, if it's not too much trouble, could you turn on the lights?" Well, thanks to Amazon Echo and Alexa, you can!
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Today I'm going to show you the best voice commands for Hue and Alexa, though many of these commands will also work with Google Home. Google Home Review Google Home is a smart speaker with a personal assistant, and it comes from a company that literally knows everything. The $130 Google device answers questions, controls your smart home and plays music. Should you buy one? Read More o siri do more with siri using new iOS 7 commands siri do more with siri using new siri commands with iOS 7 If you find yourself groping your iPhone to make a simple phone call, launch an app, set a reminder or wake-up alarm, then you're probably not using Siri enough. Read More
Controlling your Philips Hue Lights is quite easy with Alexa. You'll need at least one Hue bulb, a second-generation Hue bridge (the one with the rounded corners), and an Amazon Echo Amazon Echo Review and Giveaway Amazon Echo Review and Giveaway Amazon Echo offers a unique integration between voice recognition, personal assistant, home automation controls, and audio playback features for $179.99. Does Echo break on new ground or can you do better somewhere else? Read more.
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Finally, you'll need to set up your Echo to talk to your lights. You can do this by enabling the Hue skill in the Alexa app and following the on-screen instructions. If you've never installed skills on your Echo before, then our guide to essential Echo skills did you just buy an Amazon Echo? Download these 15 essential Alexa skills! Just bought an echo from amazon? Download these 15 essential Alexa skills! Alexa, the virtual assistant that powers Amazon's Echo line of speakers, is getting smarter every day thanks to a growing number of skills. Here are 15 skills everyone should be enabling as soon as they unpack their... Read More There we explain how to set skills, as well as some ideas to get you started.
Once set up, controlling Philips Hue with your voice is Really easy. Like any voice command for Echo, you'll need to start by using the wake word “Alexa” or an alternative wake word. Once the device starts listening, you can command your echo to control the lights.
The most basic voice commands for your smart light bulbs are On and Off . Tell Alexa to turn the lights on or off and she will obey. Alexa can get confused if you have more than one or two bulbs, or if you have set rooms for your bulbs. After commanding Alexa to turn on the lights, she can reply something like this:
If this happens, Alexa has been confused. You've told her to turn on the lights, but she's not sure which exact one lights you mean There are three solutions here:
Well done! You've successfully nailed the basics. While turning the lights on or off is cool, it's not exactly amazing, right? She has successfully replicated the basic functions of her light switch, the entire smart home kit alone cost her a bundle! Well fear not, because the combination of Hue and Echo is capable of much more advanced lighting tricks.
Now that you know the basics, let's look at some advanced commands.
This is a simple command. Tell Alexa to dim or brighten the lights. Like the commands above, remember to be specific about which lights in particular.
Instead of saying “lights off” with Alexa selecting an arbitrary amount, you can specify the brightness as a percentage.
Philips Hue comes with several scenes already set up for you, or you can create your own scenes with specific rooms, colors or themes.
Commanding Alexa to set a scene is another easy command. Simply specify the name of the scene along with the lights or scenes to set.
If you don't already have a scene scheduled, you can tell Alexa to change the lights to a specific color.
You are not limited to just the basics. You can specify a tone or a style, such as warm , bright , or calm , Although these commands are better expressed with Hue mood bulbs rather than the basic white models.
Just like the brightness commands above, you can command Alexa to make the lights warmer or cooler. It is not necessary to specify a color.
Now that you can converse with your bulbs via Alexa (don't forget to say thanks... gosh, try that), it's like living in a Star Trek spacecraft. The next stage though, is totally awesome.
Using Some IFTTT Home Automation Recipes 10 Of The Best IFTTT Recipes For Smart Home Automation 10 Of The Best IFTTT Recipes For Smart Home Automation The Right IFTTT Recipes For Your Smart Home Can Save You Time, Effort and energy. Here are ten of our favorites to get you started. Read More I want to yell “Alexa, Red Alert” (or maybe "Black Alert" if you've been watching Star Trek:Discovery) and the lights instantly turn red, maybe even Netflix starts playing a series? There's a recipe for that.!
Here are some other Alexa and Hue specific IFTTT commands you can install and try right now:
All of these things are totally possible and require nothing more than your imagination and your smart home kit.
What are your favorite voice commands for Hue and Alexa? Do you even use voice commands? Let us know in the comments below!
