Alexa, Hue bridge and HA? What's your set up

Configuration
1

So I just got my HA up and running, I currently have all my hue bulbs running through my hue bridge which is working with Alexa, I have a few ZigBee switches set up in Alexa and I have some wifi plugs that work with Alexa. I want to know the simplest configuration that will have all my devices are in one place but still allow for voice controls, mainly to appease the wife. Your thoughts.

2

I would (in fact I did) buy a ZigBee coordinator, move all your hue stuff into ZHA or ZigBee2MQTT, dump the hue hub, connect HA to Alexa (via Nabu Casa).

Job done.

1 Like
3

Integrate all devices into Home Assistant.
Expose the entities from within HA to Alexa.
You can do this by Nabu Casa Cloud or through a Alexa Smart Home Skill that you set up yourself.

4

How much of a pain is it to remove all the lights from the hue hub and add them with zha? Also I have some older hue bulbs do you know if older bulbs were ZigBee compatible?

5

As far as I know, all the hue bulbs are ZigBee.

As for pain: this would depend on how many bulbs you have and how often those bulbs are referenced in automations, groups etc.

However, you can keep the hue hub up and running whilst you transition to ZHA. So, you can make the move in manageable stages: maybe one room at a time.

6

Is there an advantage in having all devices “in one place”?

I have my Hue lights connected to HA throug the Hue Bridge - which is absolutely bullet proof by the way - and I can still do whatever I like with the lights directly form HA, or Alexa, the HUE app or some hardware switches.

Hue bridge is an extra box, but it also gives you a bit of redundancy if HA or Alexa are down for whatever reason.

7

This is how I am setup too and it works well.

Hue is connected to HomeKit and Alexa directly through the Hue skill and HomeKit integration and then its also integrated into HA as well. Can’t think of any reason why it would be advantageous to have it all running through HA (Alexa > Hue > HA > HomeKit).

8

I’m an “Alexa” user that’s new to HA, so here come the rookie questions.
I currently have some 20+ Hue bulbs in my “Alexa” environment with NO hub (I assume they are BT connecting to Alexa). This has worked great, plug them in and Alexa finds them…simple.
When I started HA for the first time I was impressed. HA located, my Irobot, my NAS and several other item. However, it only located 1 bulb. The one bulb it located was a Hue/ZigBee(I have no ZigBee hub). The one ZigBee bulb seems to work perfectly with both HA and Alexa at the same time without any type of hub.
All that to ask this question: Is there any real advantage to adding a HUB for the other Hue bulbs VS slowly replace them with Hue/ZigBee’s and avoid adding a hub to the environment? (Yes, I’m aware that adding a hub is cheaper than replacing the bulbs…lol)

9

I started with a hub and have kept it ever since.

In my opinion the biggest advantages are:

  1. Redundancy - if Alexa, HA or whatever else you are using is not working, HUE with a bridge will continue to work as if nothing happened.

  2. Reliabiltiy - my HUE has never once done something it wasn’t supposed to do (in now 12 years of operation).

  3. The bridge is dirt cheap and you stow it away somewhere in a cabinet - after that you can forget about it for the next 10 years.

10

Thanks Frank,
I never had any reason to get a bridge given the lights worked directly with Alexa. Honestly, I’ve had no problems with the current setup. HA has now intrigued me and by working directly with the ZigBee light it looks like a good redundancy for Alexa without adding any new hardware(hub). I’m not at all against the hub if it brings new features to the mix…I guess that’s something I will have to explore further.

1 Like