Philips Hue bulbs are some of the best new lights you can get your hands on for your smart home. Areas such as your dining room, living room, and even outdoor areas can benefit from Philips Hue lights. Not every bulb can provide natural, aesthetically pleasing lighting to a room as they can. However, you may have a problem with the lights sometimes, and you can’t cause that to make you go crazy. Several Hue devices have issues where the Hue Bridge connection, the Hue app, and other problems are concerned. Luckily, it’s not hard to fix most of the issues with these products. Using the information below, you can get each problem sorted out in no time.
Preliminary Checks on the Bridge Lights
Before you get started with Philips Hue troubleshooting on the app, it’s best to check that the lights are turned on at the main switch. Additionally, you want to make sure that power is traveling to the bulbs. It’s also a good idea to check on the lights on the Hue Bridge. The lights on the Bridge should be a solid blue. Any flashing could indicate that an issue is present. Here’s a breakdown of each light in of the set:
- Power light – The first of the lights is for power, and it should maintain its consistent blue color. If there’s any deviation, check that the main power is on and that the adapter plug connection is secure.
- Network light – Once you connect to the home network, this light should also turn a solid blue. When it is, you can communicate with the light bulbs.
- Internet light – When this light is a solid blue color, the Hue Bridge is connected to the internet. Once it is, you can control your Hue lights remotely. Note, however, that it does not need to be connected to the internet when you use the Bridge at home.
- Sync button light – This button has a ring of light surrounding it. When you push it, apps can connect to your Bridge. Only an app that you add manually can connect successfully.
Note that there is no way to turn off any of the lights on Hue Bridges. Therefore, they usually are on unless there’s some issue with the system. Depending on your Bridge position, seeing the lights may be a bit inconvenient. If you don’t want to see them, you may have to make do with covering them. Wire tape can work for this purpose.
Although you may find this crazy, be sure that you have Philips Hue bulbs. Philips started operating years ago, and it has been known to make several bulb types over the years. Therefore, some of them may confuse you. For example, Philips LED lights bear many similarities to Philips Hue bulbs. You don’t want to be one of those people who tears your hair out because your new bulb is the wrong one.
Hue Light Unreachable
Sometimes you may notice that a Hue bulb wont connect to the app. It could be one light bulb, or it could be several of them that are unreachable. If your bulb setup has an inconvenient range, you may have this issue. The hub cannot be too far away, or the lights may not work. Note that the Bridge positioning can also come into play here. If you find your Hue lights unreachable, you a few options.
Unreachable Philips Hue Lights Before or During Configuration
Start by reducing the distance between the hub and the Philips Hue light to get the configuration done. Once you’re done, you can put the bulb where you want it.
Alternatively, you can use the serial number of the bulb. If you wish to go this route, begin by opening the Philips Hue app. Go to “settings” next, and choose the “add serial number” option. Note that each bulb has the six-digit code on its right side. Once you put in the serial number on the app and click on “OK,” it should start working seamlessly, as it is then connected to the Philips Hue Bridge.
Unreachable Philips Hue Lights After Configuration
The Philips Hue app can report disconnected Hue light bulbs after configuration. Unreachable Hue lights can be an issue even after you add them to the app. In this case, there are a couple of things you need to check out.
First, the bulbs that are having the issue need to be powered on. It may seem like a simple fix, but you can save yourself from many issues by taking a simple route. If you’re using hard-wired light switches instead of a Philips Hue one, make sure they’re on.
Another critical factor is how far away your bulbs are from each other. You may think Hue Bridges are the only source of a signal for your smart lights, but that’s not the case. Thanks to the ZigBee protocol, the bulbs can receive signals from each other too. So, if you’ve noticed that you can’t exercise control over one stubborn smart bulb, try moving it a little closer to its counterparts.
Interference with the lights may also come from the channel being used. Zigbee channel interference can only be tackled from the Philips Hue app. From the “settings” area, select “Hue Bridges,” and tap the ‘i’ icon to choose your Bridge. Then tap on “Zigbee channel change.” Ensure that you turn all your Philips Hue lights are on, after which you tap the “Change channel” button. Within 30 seconds, the alteration should be complete.
The lights should all return to an online state in the Philips Hue app. If not, turn them off and on again using the main power supply. There should no longer be an issue that makes your lights unreachable.
Why Wont My Hue Bridge Connect to My Lights?
If your Philips Hue Bridge won’t connect to your bulbs, don’t panic. A Philips Hue Bridge can have its fair share of connection issues, and your device may seemingly refuse to connect. Hue Bridge lights can help you to diagnose this. See if all the lights have the solid blue color discussed above. If so, then there’s no need to worry about your network connection. as it’s in order. Note that you also need to ensure that the Bridge is connected to the same network as your device that the Philips Hue app resides on.
Having more than one wireless network, such as a 2. 4ghz and a 5ghz network, could also be a problem to the app or Bridge. Connect to each one from the Hue app, and then try to find the Philips Hue Bridge from the settings pane again.
No Internet Connection on Your Philips Hue Bridge
The first thing to check here is your network cable. The system isn’t going to work if it isn’t securely connected to your Philips Hue Bridge and your router. Of course, your router needs to be working effectively. If the cables are secure and you see no change, check the router to see if it has any issues.
If there is no issue with the router, you may need to reboot the Bridge or use another network cable. Note that a Philips Hue Bridge doesn’t need an internet connection to work in your home once it’s on the home network. However, if you are far away from home and want to use geofencing on the Hue app for your lights, the connection needs to be working.
How to Reset Hue Bridge to Factory Defaults
If you look at the back of your Philips Hue Bridge, a gap is marked with the text “restore factory setting.” You are going to need something as thin and sturdy as a paper clip for the best result. Gently press within the area for about five seconds. Note that this is not going to work if the Bridge is off. Once you release the button, it should be back to normal. Check if you managed to fix it by connecting your lights to the Bridge again.
Reset Hue Bulb
If you want to reset your Hue bulbs for any reason, you can use a Hue dimmer switch. There’s a setup button on the back of the dimmer that you should hold for 15 seconds. The next step is to keep the dimmer close to the Hue bulbs, as you hold the ON and OFF buttons simultaneously. Once done right, the bulb you’re resetting should start flashing. You can connect the light bulbs to a new Philips Hue Bridge once the process is completed.
No Wireless Connection from Amazon Alexa to Philips Hue
It’s no surprise that smart lights, such as the Philips Hue lights, can be integrated with Alexa. Both systems fall under the umbrella of the smart home concept, after all. The chances are that you have an Amazon Echo, and you want to connect the systems via wireless technology.
If you notice the new connection isn’t working, don’t get discouraged. The first order of business is to reset both your Bridge and your Echo. Next, Disable the Philips Hue skill. The plan is to use the Alexa app to reactivate it once you’ve gotten this fix out of the way. From the Alexa app, use the “forgot” option to remove the Bridge from the device list. Renew the connection after a few seconds. Note that wireless connectivity is required here. Both devices should be using the same Wi-Fi network.
Getting Connected to Siri Isn’t Working
Siri is another excellent smart home integration tool, which also has support for Philips Hue lights. Being able to control your lights via your voice is fantastic, but sometimes the system doesn’t work the way you’d like it to. You might notice an issue where the Siri configuration process tells you that it can’t find the Hue Bridge.
Typically, this problem only occurs when you reset the Bridge to factory defaults and configure it again. iOS devices store the configuration initially, and the Hue Bridge doesn’t readily set things up again.
To fix this, you’re going to have to go to the HomeKit area, which you can find in your iOS settings. Swipe left where you see the word “Home,” then select “Remove.” If you proceeded to share your HomeKit configuration with someone in the past, those people are going to be removed from the list. You can go through the Siri pairing process again, and you should be all set afterward.
Hue Bulbs Begin to Buzz or Flicker
Imagine your surprise when you turn on your Philips Hue lights, and they start buzzing and flickering. If you find yourself in this position, there could be a couple of potential causes.
Dimmer Switches and Philips Hue Light Bulbs
Hard-wired third party dimmer switches are the most likely of culprits of flickering lights. You may find that some of them work well with Philips Hue lights, but others can be a pain. Unfortunately, when dimmer switches are the cause, there’s not much you can do to control the situation. Your first option is to change the dimmer on the third party light switch to 100%. Second, you can replace it with a Hue Dimmer Switch from Philips since you get the best integration that way. You could also get rid of the issue by moving away from dimmer switches to regular switches.
Philips Light Bulb Damage
The light bulbs could also be damaged. Smart bulbs such as these tend to be very durable, but there are instances where they stop working as you’d expect. As unlikely as it is, you may even receive new lights that are defective out of the box.
If you turn on an LED light bulb and it begins to flicker, there must be an issue at play, as these lights don’t have filaments. The best way to test is to turn off the light, replace the bulb with another one, and turn it back on. If it works, then the initial bulb is the problem.
Note that your bulb doesn’t necessarily need to be new for you to qualify for a replacement. Philips smart bulbs come with a 3-year warranty under normal use circumstances. The Philips team replaces the lights free of charge if you are eligible.
Not Enough Control Over the Lights
You may want a bit more flexibility with the control level you have over your smart lights. If you want to control color warmth, depth, and choice, all you need to do is find a working third party app that helps. Yeti, for example, is a great choice. Be sure to read the privacy policy of any external app you use, so you understand any risks you’re taking on.
Try a Hue Starter Kit
Consider getting a Philips Hue Starter Kit for your smart home. The kits include the Philips Hue Smart bulbs you need, as well as the Philips Hue Bridge. It’s a complete package to add the fantastic lighting you want in your home.
The Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus
If you want to light areas, such as your kitchen, home theatre, or stairways with accent lighting, look no further than this light strip from Philips. You get scheduling, grouping, and automated control to turn any area you wish into a beautiful display.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are potentially a series of issues you could find yourself dealing with where your Philips Hue bulb layout is concerned. No one wants to buy a set of new lights only to have the bulbs start going haywire when you try to use them. When the Philips Hue Bridge, the Hue app, the light bulbs, and the Wi-Fi network are all working well, it’s an incredible smart home experience. Unfortunately, various issues can pop up, leaving your smart home feeling a little less smart than you would like.
Thankfully, each issue above has a corresponding fix that you can use to control the situation. Whether your Philips Hue lights are unreachable, or the bulbs need a reset, there’s no reason that your smart home to be disrupted. Follow the steps for each of the issues above, and if you still need more assistance, feel free to reach out to the Philips support team. Once everything is in order, you can enjoy maneuvering your hue bulbs, whether you’re home or far away. As a bonus, add Hue outdoor smart lighting to your home for the complete package!
