Hi everyone. I've been noticing that I have a problem using hue lights. As everyone I use to turn my lights off with the wall switch so there is no longer way to time it back on with my iOS device. Do you know any work around for that? Is really annoying to have this half usability on an expensive light system. I've been thinking maybe changing the wall switch but not very sure what options do I have.
I have 3 wired switches for the recessed lighting in my living room for different logical zones or groupings of lights. We keep all 3 switches ON all the time. I have a Philips Hue Tap (round w/4 buttons) on a side table in the living room that I use to switch scenes or physically shut off the living room lights. Philips also sells a dimmer switch that runs on a watch battery where you can set different scenes (by pressing the ON button multiple times), and have fine-grain control of the brightness of any scene. Personally I feel the dimmer switch is more useful than the Tap switch, but the Tap switch is easier to understand for guests/novices. You could use 3M adhesive strips to mount the dimmer switch plate next to your physical switch for an easy transition.
The other part of the solution are scenes and automation. I have a "good night" scene which I typically trigger just before getting into bed that shuts off all the Hue lights in the house (living room, both children's bedrooms). I have a schedule setup through IFTTT to turn on the living room lights at sunset, and to turn off all the lights at 1AM, the latter serves as a backstop in case we're not home or I forget to turn off the lights with the good night scene. If you want to turn on the lights as you walk into the room but don't have a smart switch, you could always flip the physical switch OFF then ON and the lights will be on at 100%. I personally find 100% too bright and keep the lights typically around 50%.
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