Philips Hue bulbs are one of many best methods to present your current lighting fixtures good house capabilities, together with via Apple’s HomeKit platform. The issue with Philips Hue switches is that at any time when a wall gentle change is flipped off, the good lights develop into unresponsive. The Lutron Aurora dimmer is an easy but ingenious method to resolve this downside.
Replace: Since I initially printed this evaluate, I’ve continued so as to add to my Lutron Aurora setup. I can even vouch for his or her long-term reliability. They now play an important function in my good house implementation. I do want they labored past Philips Hue equipment, however aside from that, I’ve only a few gripes.
The perfect long-term resolution is devoted Lutron Caséta switches, however when you’re renting and that’s not an choice, the Lutron Aurora continues to be my go-to suggestion for consumers in the USA the place these flip switches are frequent.
Moreover, it appears to be like like Philips Hue has its personal comparable Lutron Aurora-like accent coming quickly. I’ll be checking it out to see how they evaluate.
The issue
Most of my total home is outfitted with Philips Hue bulbs, together with lamps and fixtures. I’ve slowly been constructing out my HomeKit lighting setup over time, and the flexibility of Philips Hue bulbs has made it simple to keep up the setup, regardless of shifting residences and finally right into a home.
Philips Hue bulbs are additionally extremely helpful for renters: They merely exchange “dumb” bulbs and require no wiring adjustments or some other upgrades that may not be permitted by your landlord.
For me, I’ve develop into completely acquainted with by no means utilizing a bodily gentle change — I do know that all the pieces could be managed with ease, due to the Residence app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, in addition to Siri. I’ve automations setup for particular occasions of day, scenes for issues like work and rest, and automations for leaving and arriving house.
However as anybody with Philips Hue good bulbs has skilled, at any time when a wall gentle change is flipped off, the good lights will go unresponsive. It is because Hue bulbs require the lights to remain within the “on” place always to be managed by way of the Hue app or HomeKit. It’s doubtless not you flipping that gentle change on and off, however reasonably somebody you reside with or company.
Lutron’s Aurora dimmer is designed to resolve that downside.
Lutron Aurora
The Lutron Aurora is an easy accent that’s designed to suit over your current toggle switches. The set up course of is extremely simple, with the round-shaped dimmer snapping over your toggle change. Then, you tighten the bottom with a screwdriver and set up the entrance cowl.
Upon getting the {hardware} put in, you arrange the Aurora’s integration with the Philips Hue app. The Aurora dimmer integrates with Philips Hue via the “Mates of Hue” platform. As you may see within the screenshots beneath, simply select the Lutron Aurora from the “Mates of Hue” record within the Hue app. From there, you may select what occurs when the Lutron Aurora is managed.
Aspect be aware: Every part is managed by way of the Hue app — not the Residence app or the Lutron app. This implies you’ll want to verify your rooms and equipment are in sync between the Residence app and the Hue app. This generally is a painstaking course of, nevertheless it’s value it ultimately.
You’ll be able to pair the Lutron Aurora to a number of equipment, which implies one change doesn’t have to regulate one set of lights. For instance, I’ve mine set as much as management the overhead fixture in addition to the ground lamp, each of which use Philips Hue bulbs.
This additionally means you don’t essentially have to purchase a number of Lutron Aurora dimmers for every room. For instance, when you’ve got two fixtures or lamps, you may set it up such that one Lutron Aurora controls each of them — and even all the lights within the room.
As soon as the setup course of is full, the Lutron Aurora works largely like a standard gentle change. The Aurora could be pushed like a button to energy equipment on and off or turned to the left or proper to extend or lower accent brightness.
Once more, the profit right here is that you just retain good house management, even when you or another person in your home unintentionally flips the guide gentle change.
There are some limitations. First, the Lutron Aurora solely works with Philips Hue bulbs, so when you’ve got different good bulbs scattered all through your good house setup, it is best to hold that limitation in thoughts. Secondly, Lutron Aurora dimmers solely match over the basic United States “flip” type switches. When you have one other type of wall change, the Lutron Aurora received’t give you the results you want.
Different options
There are different options to giving good house lighting in-wall management. As an illustration, the Lutron Caséta in-wall dimmers (evaluate) exchange the present gentle switches in your home with related switches. Philips Hue additionally sells its personal Good Dimmer Swap, however this doesn’t match over your current switches.
These options supply their very own advantages, such because the Lutron Caséta switches additionally having the ability to management celling followers (evaluate), however neither are as simple and renter-friendly because the Lutron Aurora.
The Lutron Aurora is accessible on Amazon for just below $40. In the event you’re a Philips Hue consumer, that is a straightforward means so as to add some extra comfort to your good house setup, even when it’s extra to learn different members of your family and company than you.
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