Alarm (by @julianhochgesang on Unsplash)
With Philips Hue Routines you are able to automate your lighting. To do this, you have various options, for example turning them on depending on the time of day. Or as soon as the Hue app notices that you are coming home. In this article, I’ll give you the 4 most useful tips for setting up Hue Routines.
TL;DR;
- Turn on your lights when you get home
- Adjust the lamps to your rhythm
- Turn the lights on at sunset
- Setup your own timers
Tip 1: Turn on your lights when you get home
With Philips Hue routines, you’ll never come home to a dark house again. In addition, you will have the option to automatically switch them back off when you leave. You can give the app permission to see your location and pass it on to your Hue system. For example, you can set the light to turn off when you leave the street. Or have your Philips Hue lamps switch on as soon as you enter the neighborhood. So you never have to search for the light switch when you come home in the evening. To learn how to setup Geo-Fencing you can read this article.
Tip 2: Adjust the lamps to your rhythm
Wake up fresh and fruity in the morning and fall asleep faster in the evening. Philips Hue Routines can help you with that. Indicate in the app that you want to wake up in the morning with bright white light. In addition, set that you want warm light in the evening, which dims further and further. Then set the time you wake up and go to bed. The lamps do the rest by themselves. So you don’t just have to look at it.
Tip 3: Turn the lights on at sunset
Link your Hue lights to sunrise and sunset with this routine. This makes it so that your light will only turn on when it’s dark outside. This will save you money as well because the light is never on for too long. Because the app knows when the sun goes down, you don’t have to do anything about it. Everything is automatic. Combine this routine with a timer to turn off the lights when it’s bedtime.
Tip 4: Setup your own timers
With the timers from Philips Hue, you can create your own Routines. For example, you can let the lamps switch on at a certain time in a color of your choice. This way you don’t have to change the lighting yourself when you watch TV in the evening. You also flash the lights as a reminder to get your popcorn from the microwave. That way you don’t forget anything. In addition, you can have your lights switched on after a certain time. Even when you are not at home. That deters burglars as it seems as if you are there.
I hope you liked these tricks if you didn’t know them yet. If you rather try something a bit more complex I highly recommend checking out my programming guide for the Philips Hue API v2.
