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Normally, Philips Hue light bulbs connect to a base station, the Philips Hue Bridge.
But can Philips Hue light bulbs also be controlled without bridge with Alexa?
Yes!
With the Philips Hue Dimmer Switch you can control up to 10 Philips Hue bulbs and the two Alexa devices Echo Plus and Echo Show even have a built-in Zigbee Hub. This allows the bulbs to be connected directly to the Echo device and controlled with Alexa!
Here is an overview of the three best ways to control Philips Hue bulbs without Hue Bridge with Alexa:
| Name | Philips Hue Dimmer Switch | Amazon Echo Plus | Amazon Echo Show |
|---|---|---|---|
| Image |   * |   * |   * |
| Philips Hue compatibility? | Yes, but only 10 bulbs per switch | Yes - Built-in ZigBee Hub | Yes - Built-in ZigBee Hub |
| Controllable via Alexa? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Link |
Table of Contents
Philips Hue Dimmer Switch
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With the Philips Hue Dimmer Switch* you can bypass the Hue Bridge completely if you can do without a few features.
With the dimmer you don’t need the bridge, the app or your smartphone to operate the smart light bulbs. And yet you can use alexa to operate them.
Installation and operation couldn’t be easier. All you have to do is screw in the light bulb, turn on the light switch, insert the batteries into the remote control of the Dimmer Switch and you’re ready to go. It takes less than a minute until you can use your light bulb with the Dimmer Switch!
Which Features are missing from the Dimmer Switch?
If the functions of the Dimmer Switch are enough for you, you don’t need the Hue Bridge at all. But there are a few things you have to do without…
You can only connect up to 10 light bulbs to a Dimmer Switch
A single Dimmer Switch can only control up to 10 light bulbs. Normally this shouldn’t be a problem as you are unlikely to have more than 10 Philips Hue bulbs in one room. Only in the living room could you reach this limit.
If you want to equip your entire house with Philips Hue smart light bulbs, you will need to install a separate Dimmer Switch for each room. So you can’t turn off all the lights in your house at the same time at the push of a button.
In the already mentioned practical bundle of Dimmer Switch and Hue bulb, the two devices are already tuned to each other. If you want to connect more light bulbs to the Dimmer Switch, just screw in the LED light bulb and hold the Dimmer Switch next to it while pressing the “on” button until the LED light in the upper left corner turns green. The light bulb then flashes briefly to confirm the connection. Repeat this procedure for each light bulb you want to connect to this switch.
You can also connect Philips Hue light bulbs to more than one switch. For example, you can connect the light bulbs in your living room not only with the Dimmer Switch in your living room, but also with the one on the upper floor. So you can still operate your light bulbs from another place in the house.
Colored light bulbs cannot change color
One of the best features of Philips Hue White & Color light bulbs* is their wide range of colors (16 million!) that these light bulbs can take.
The disadvantage of the Dimmer Switch is unfortunately that it can only switch these coloured light bulbs on and off and dim them. You can’t change the color over the switches.
If you still plan to equip your house with Philips Hue light bulbs and operate them with the Dimmer Switch, you should only buy the white light bulbs* and stay away from the colored, more expensive ones, because you can’t enjoy their potential anyway.
Advantages and Disadvantages: Philips Hue Dimmer Switch
Pros:
- Cheaper than Hue Bridge
- Good introduction to the Philips Hue System
- Practical design: switch can be removed and used as a remote control
Cons:
- Only 10 bulbs per switch
- Cannot change the color of colored light bulbs
- No schedules, scenes, etc.
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Amazon Echo Plus
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With an Amazon Echo Plus* you can save the Hue Bridge, as it has its own integrated ZigBee hub. This allows you to connect all your Philips Hue bulbs to the Echo Plus and control them via Alexa.
An Echo Plus is a real Smart Home Hub and smart speaker in one!
You can connect and control all your Smart Home devices with it and Alexa – and the Philips Hue light bulbs are no exception.
However, some of the features of the Philips Hue system are not available to you. This includes, for example, the geofencing feature, sleep routines and synchronization with music or video.
If smart lighting should be your introduction to the smart home topic, just as it was with me then, you should consider anyway buying a smart speaker as one of the first things. And the Echo Plus is one of the best choices! So you kill two birds with one stone by equipping your Smart Home with the perfect base station and voice assistant and at the same time get the chance to try out the Philips Hue system.
And if you already have an Echo Plus, you can try out Philips Hue without having to buy a complete system.
Echo Plus Performance and Hue Skill
Just like the other Echo devices from Amazon, the Echo Plus makes use of Amazon’s smart voice assistant Alexa.
The Amazon Echo Plus has 7 standalone microphones that understand your voice commands clearly even in noisy environments. Paired with the powerful AI from Alexa, the Echo Plus understands you as good as ever.
Just like other smart speakers, you can use it to start music, ask about the weather, search the web, or control your Smart Home devices. And the Echo Plus can do this especially well, as it has a built-in ZigBee Hub with which many Smart Home devices are compatible. Philips Hue light bulbs are compatible as well.
With the Alexa Skill System you can download and use specific commands for different Smart Home systems. For Philips Hue there is the Hue Skill with many practical voice commands.
In terms of audio quality, the Echo Plus is far superior to its smaller counterparts such as the Echo Dot*, Echo Spot* or just the normal Echo*. It really has premium sound quality, making listening to music a pleasure.
It also has the ability to merge with another echo to form a stereo system. And if that’s still not enough for you, you can add lots of bass with the Echo Sub*!
Smart Home Functionality – ZigBee Hub
A strong selling point for the Echo Plus – especially in combination with Philips Hue – is the built-in ZigBee Hub. This allows you to connect a whole range of Smart Home devices to your Alexa system and control them via voice command.
In addition to Philips Hue light bulbs, the Echo Plus is compatible to most security cameras, thermostats, robotic vacuum cleaners, mowing robots and much more.
Because Alexa is so dominant in the smart home market, most manufacturers already design their smart home devices to communicate with most Alexa devices without the ZigBee Hub. But there are still many Smart Home products, like Philips Hue, that only run through ZigBee.
Advantages and Disadvantages: Amazon Echo Plus
Pros:
- Built-in ZigBee hub allows integration of Philips Hue
- Can be operated via Alexa
- Many more ingenious features
- Smart hub for your smart home
Cons:
- Not all features of the Hue Bridge available
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Amazon Echo Show
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Starting with the second generation, the Echo Show* also has a built-in ZigBee hub. This means that you can connect your Philips Hue light bulbs to the Amazon Echo Show as well as to the Echo Plus and control them with Alexa via voice commands.
The Echo Show is the ingenious video Smart Home device from Amazon. Not only can you use it to control your Smart Home devices and talk to Alexa, but you can also watch videos in excellent quality and even have it help you cook in the kitchen.
As with the Echo Plus, you can control the Philips Hue bulbs with Alexa without the Hue Bridge, but not with all the features of the Hue Bridge.
If you already have an Echo Show or are thinking of buying one anyway, you now know that you can test the Hue light bulbs with it without having to buy a whole set with bridge.
The Big Screen
The large screen of the Echo Show has a resolution of 1280 x 800, but since you’re not just looking frontally at the Echo Show like you’re looking at a TV, because you’re moving around in the room while it’s showing you, it’s also important that it delivers a good picture from different angles. This is exactly what it does without mirroring or becoming blurred.
Like modern smartphones, the Echo Show has a light sensor and adjusts its brightness to the environment. But you can still adjust the brightness manually with a slider. You can also adjust what is on the start screen of the Echo Show via the settings.
Echo Show and Alexa
In spite of the large touch screen, you will most likely operate the Echo Show by voice command. The Echo Show uses the same smart assistant Alexa from Amazon as all other Echo devices.
So you not only get a ZigBee Smart Home Hub to manage and control all your Smart Home devices, but also a smart speaker and a smart video device.
With the ZigBee Smart Home Hub, you can control your other Smart Home devices such as heating systems, security cameras or even your smart lighting, just like with the Echo Plus. Connecting such devices to the ECHO Show is child’s play. You can easily add them in the Alexa app from your smartphone.
Thanks to the Echo Show screen, you can take advantage of certain features of visual Smart Home devices such as smart doorbells or surveillance cameras. So you can display their live feed on the Echo Show.
Echo Show is a really ingenious Smart Home device with many practical skills. It can, for example, help you in the kitchen and show you recipes on his large screen and read out the individual steps to you. The process is even interactive – you can tell Alexa to read the last step again or jump to the next point.
Sound Quality
If you want to use the Echo Show to play music, the built-in bass will surprise you. It is really very strong and can play even the hardest tracks wonderfully.
And if that’s still not enough for you, you can still get the Echo Sub* and integrate it into your Echo system.
The Echo Show can easily fill an entire room with first-class sound. You won’t have any disadvantages watching YouTube videos or movies with the Echo Show compared to watching them on a PC or television.
Advantages and Disadvantages: Amazon Echo Show
Pros:
- Can operate Philips Hue light bulbs via Alexa using the built-in ZigBee Hub.
- Huge screen
- Excellent sound quality with good bass
- Practical skills, e.g. for cooking
Cons:
- Not all features of the Hue Bridge available
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When it Makes Sense to Buy the Hue Bridge
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If you plan to equip your house with several Philips Hue light bulbs, in most cases it makes the most sense to buy the Hue Bridge in a bundle*. It’s really not expensive and gives you the full range of features that the Philips Hue system offers.
You can program different atmospheres, control the light from your smartphone, and create schedules to automate the light at predetermined times.
In my opinion the Hue Bridge is worth buying once you have made the decision to buy a Philips Hue bulb!
Cheap Hue Bundles with Bridge
The Philips Hue Bridge will become an essential part of your Philips Hue system as soon as you own a few more of these smart light bulbs or want to access the features of the Hue Bridge.
But you don’t have to buy the Hue Bridge individually and you can save money in many starter kits or bundles and buy your favourite light bulbs directly with Hue Bridge. No matter which package or bundle you choose, the Bridge is always the same and compatible with all other Philips Hue products.
Bottom Line
After this article you should know how to use your Philips Hue bulbs with Alexa without the Philips Hue Bridge.
Especially if you have an Alexa device with a ZigBee Hub, you can start right away and try out Philips Hue light bulbs. And if you don’t want to invest a lot of money directly into a complete bundle of Philips Hue and are more into switches anyway, the Dimmer Switch is already perfect for you!
Have fun with your smart light bulbs!
| Name | Philips Hue Dimmer Switch | Amazon Echo Plus | Amazon Echo Show |
|---|---|---|---|
| Image | * | * | * |
| Philips Hue compatibility? | Yes, but only 10 bulbs per switch | Yes - Built-in ZigBee Hub | Yes - Built-in ZigBee Hub |
| Controllable via Alexa? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Link |
Attention: When installing electronic equipment, please be sure to observe the manufacturer’s safety instructions. You have to take care of your own safety. The information on this site only helps you to learn.
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