Hello,
I have 8 Philips Hue bulbs and 3 Philips Hue light strips that are connected to my Philips Hue Bridge. I recently purchased 3 Blue series 2-in-1 switches to control these bulbs (1 switch:4 bulbs, 1 switch:4 bulbs, 1 switch:3 light strips.)
I want to retain utilization of the Hue app. I want the switches to control my hue bulbs on/off, dim them, and have preset scenes (scene button and multi click)
What is my best option to set these up? What hardware and software do I need to utilize?
SmartThings, Hubitat or Home Assistant are the most popular options for tying things together.
All 3 of those allow you to integrate Hue via the Hue bridge.
Just be aware that you won’t be able to use zigbee direct-binding to connect a Blue to Hue lights if those Hue lights stay on your Hue bridge. But you can absolutely still set up rules-based coordination between any Blue and any Hue lights using any of those 3 systems.
Thank you for the response. Are there any How-tos on setup?
How-to’s would vary by platform, so first step would be deciding on what system you want to use to tie things together (Home Assistant, ST, Hubitat, etc) - I’d start there.
One thing to consider when choosing any such system is ease-of-entry or “how fast can I be up & running”… But ease there can come at the cost of overall system robustness & long-term capability - I’m not saying that’s a direct correlation, but it’s something to consider as you’re making your choice.
SmartThings is a common place to start (been around a long time etc), and may very well serve your needs well if your setup will remain pretty simple. Home Assistant has a steeper learning curve and many more hardware setup options (HA hardware is DIY), but it’s the most powerful & widely capable overall option. Hubitat is somewhere in between. There are other options too (eg Homey), but the “big 3” are HA, ST and Hubitat – each has a strong community of users to lean on for support.
Good luck!
I have the same question using home assistant, Philips Hue bulbs and blue switches.
I want to keep using the Philips Hue hub and its features. I was getting a little confused about binding bulbs to switches. You are basically saying that it should not be done if you’re using a Philips Hue hub?
If you choose not to use the bindings, how would you set up the hue bulbs to work with the blue switches controlling scenes in home assistant?
To do zigbee direct binding, both ends (bulb[s] and switch in this case) must be on the same controller – doesn’t matter if that’s Home Asst, Hubitat, ST or whatever else.
Since Blues cannot be added to a Hue bridge, bulbs on a Hue bridge cannot be bound to a Blue - the bulbs would have to be moved to the same controller the Blue is on.
But binding certainly isn’t a requirement – in a well-built system (i.e. strong meshes), most folks wouldn’t be able to really tell the response-time difference between bound vs non-bound. The main advantage to binding is still having working lights when the controller is down, but that’s (hopefully!) not a very common scenario.
That makes sense, thanks.
So now my challenge will be building all the scenes and creating automations for even the simple things like single press up and down?
That is true - no way around it. I’d start small with the basics to get those covered and that’ll help you get familiar with the overall process (for your controller/environment), and then just gradually get fancier as time & braincells permit.
Lol, thanks from one c130 guy to another
Used to jump out of those … Air Force was driving … 
I drove… Lol
Right on! Ah, I do miss doing drops at good ol’ Fryar and Sicily and the myriad of so many other DZs… Good times, good times!