I am a dabbler in home automation and thinking about starting to get into lighting. I have heard mostly good things about the Philip Hue line and wanted to see what peoples thoughts are about it.
Our main current automation are a large number of Google Smart Speaker and Arlo video doorbells. Everything is working now on the Google ecosystem which I think Philip Hue will connect with. Our house is 100 years old which means that our possibilities to automate are lower than a new home since we have very few overhead lights, power outlets are at a premium (we have lots of power strips running through the house).
We are thinking about doing smart bulbs in some lamps which we can leave on and a chandalier. I think the biggest issue will leaving things always powered on.
I would really recommend fixing the wiring before investing any money in home automation.
Don’t build advanced sensitive low voltage systems on top of shaky high voltage systems that can melt and destroy them. Not having enough outlets because of old shoddy wiring is inconvenient when you can’t plug stuff in and waste time running extension cords, it’s expensive because you end up buying that much copper to run extension cords, it’s expensive because shoddy wiring can easily fry electronics, and it’s tragic and expensive when it burns your house down.
We want to upgrade the electrical but you are talking about a couple of grand if not more to replace everything. It is on our to do list.
Yes, I know, do that, or save to do it sooner, or see if you can get low interest financing to do it.
There’s a difference between ‘oh this house’s outlets are mounted lower than code says these days’, and ‘most of the house is missing a core safety wire that’s been part of the code for 50 years’.