ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Thanks to Henrik at B&O, we now know how to create a custom string to control Philips Hue lighting with MLGW. The connection method is Ethernet. For IP, you enter the IP address of the your Philips Hue bridge. For IP port, you enter 80. For "type" you select "Output command."
To turn off all lights, use the following command (replacing "jeffcragen" with your own API key. See the Philips Hue API to see how to create an API key if you don't already have one.):
PUT /api/jeffcragen/groups/0/action HTTP/1.1\0D\0AContent-Length: 13\0D\0AContent-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\0D\0A\0D\0A{\"on\": false}
To turn on all lights to the last used setting, use the following command:
PUT /api/jeffcragen/groups/0/action HTTP/1.1\0D\0AContent-Length: 12\0D\0AContent-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\0D\0A\0D\0A{\"on\": true}
To turn on a specific light (such as bulb #6), use the following command:
PUT /api/jeffcragen/lights/6/state HTTP/1.1\0D\0AContent-Length: 12\0D\0AContent-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\0D\0A\0D\0A{\"on\": true}
To turn off a specific light (such as bulb #6), use the following command:
PUT /api/jeffcragen/lights/6/state HTTP/1.1\0D\0AContent-Length: 13\0D\0AContent-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\0D\0A\0D\0A{\"on\": false}
Instead of using on true or false, you can also set the hue, brightness, and saturation. (See the official Philips Hue api to see how to set these value). Note that the Content-Length must be changed to correspond to how many characters you have between the { and }, that is the value of the JSON data.
So far, I can only set all lights on or off or control single individual lights. I haven't been able to figure out how to put multiple specific lights in a single command line yet. Philips Hue should be able to allow us to create Groups and Scenes in the future (which would make this much easier), but they haven't documented that yet in the API.
4 beolab 5, beolab 9, beolab 10, beolab 5000, beolab 8000 mk2, beolab 6002, beolab 3500, beovision 7 55 mk2, 2 beovision 11 46 mk4, beotime, beosound ouverture, beosound essence, beoplay A8, beomaster 900 RG de luxe and the collection continues...
We have Henrik at B&O to thank for his generosity of time to make this work. Efforts like this keep my faith in B&O as a company very different from others.
If anyone needs any help with this, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Since yesterday, I've been able to create basic "scenes" of making the lights all one color, such as all blue, green, violet, grey, etc. These actually aren't true scenes but just general control of all the lights at once. I still haven't been able to create true scenes that have different colors and brightness assigned to individual lamps. From the Philips Hue documentation, it sounds like a future feature of the API will be to allow up to 16 groups and a limited number of scenes that we can preset and control with a simple command. I think that now the ball is in Philips's court, and I'll just have to wait for Philips to develop the API further.
Tonight I will make a macro to dim the lights when implementing "Cinema On" and to turn the lights back up when implementing "Cinema Off." I see in the Philips Hue API that there can be an adjustment to control the transition time so that the effect is gradual and not just an abrupt on or off.
https
Here is an example:
And another:
Fantastic . I was looking forward to using the Hue but the adapter fr the hub blew up in my hand and wiped out one side of th power socket ! Mine was the first sale and first return the shop had dealt with .
I still love the concept.
Beo Century ,Beoplay V1, Beocenter 6, Ex-Beolit 12, Beotime , A8. Beolit 15 , Form 2i , Beolab 2000, Beoplay A3.Beosound 1
I was at a B&O dealer this week and spoke with someone from the corporate office. When I mentioned the Philips Hue lights, he chuckled and said that Henrik has them all over his testing work area and has been excitedly bringing people at B&O corporate into his office to see them and to see what they can do with the MLGW. I suspect we'll be seeing greater integration in the future.
They have introduced Phillips Hue to BeoLink Gateway 1.1.0 , but I didn't hear nothing of any new software for the MasterLink getaway. I have checked the Internet mlgw,bang-olufsen.dk
Awesome! I am planning to get one.
Beoworld app with direct photo upload and emoticons.
beojeff:Controlling the Philips Hue is not quite as simple as adding a driver. This is simply because the possibilities of control are so vast - including control of specific lamps as well as pre-set lighting scenes. If anyone needs help, I would be happy to help with the custom strings.
I closely watched the BeoLink Gateway training video and did not see the Philips Hue in the list of supported systems. If the Philips Hue has indeed been added since the training video, I would be very interested in seeing a screenshot of the setup page. It would seem likely to have simple control such as all on/off or to control individual lamps. However, the true beauty comes from controlling the light scenes, which requires finding the assigned numeric values and inserting them in the command of the MLGW/BLGW.
w5bno123:I was thinking of experimenting with a Philips Hue system at home as it appears to be an economical way of adding LED lighting control without much effort, is this the case and is it any good? Opinions welcome before I purchase!
While $60 USD might seem like a lot for an LED light bulb, you get a great amount of control with the system. Unlike conventional lightening systems that only let you turn on/off or dim white light, the Philips Hue gives you control over the color and saturation from the bulb as well. It really is just as easy as screwing the bulb in and then setting up your light scenes using the iOS or Android app. Before I get the system, I thought that I would miss having the convenience of the standard on/off light switch. This is not the case. While you must keep the light switch on in order for the lights to work, you CAN still use the light switch. Flipping the switch off turns off the light and then flipping the switch back on turns the light back on at full white light. This can be useful in you need to quickly turn the lights on without an iOS or Android device. However, Philips now has a programmable wall switch, too.
The way that you create light scenes is very simple. On the iOS or Android app you store photos. You can drag a point marker to any point on that photo to have the corresponding lamp match that color and brightness.
In addition to the control you get, the fact that you do NOT need to hire a professional installer for any changes is a huge benefit! Most other lighting systems are closed off to any changes by the homeowner and require you to pay huge fees to a professional installer for any changes. Furthermore, the professional installers that I've talked to have no understanding of Bang & Olufsen.
If you have either a MLGW or BLGW, you can very easily make the Philips Hue light system a part of your B&O system. You can easily call up light scenes using the LIGHT or CONTROL commands and digits (or also the color buttons) on your Beo4 remote. You can also program those light scenes into your Beo6 and have color images on the Beo6 that represent what those light scenes would be.
beojeff:While $60 USD might seem like a lot for an LED light bulb, you get a great amount of control with the system. Unlike conventional lightening systems that only let you turn on/off or dim white light, the Philips Hue gives you control over the color and saturation from the bulb as well. It really is just as easy as screwing the bulb in and then setting up your light scenes using the iOS or Android app. Before I get the system, I thought that I would miss having the convenience of the standard on/off light switch. This is not the case. While you must keep the light switch on in order for the lights to work, you CAN still use the light switch. Flipping the switch off turns off the light and then flipping the switch back on turns the light back on at full white light. This can be useful in you need to quickly turn the lights on without an iOS or Android device. However, Philips now has a programmable wall switch, too. The way that you create light scenes is very simple. On the iOS or Android app you store photos. You can drag a point marker to any point on that photo to have the corresponding lamp match that color and brightness. In addition to the control you get, the fact that you do NOT need to hire a professional installer for any changes is a huge benefit! Most other lighting systems are closed off to any changes by the homeowner and require you to pay huge fees to a professional installer for any changes. Furthermore, the professional installers that I've talked to have no understanding of Bang & Olufsen. If you have either a MLGW or BLGW, you can very easily make the Philips Hue light system a part of your B&O system. You can easily call up light scenes using the LIGHT or CONTROL commands and digits (or also the color buttons) on your Beo4 remote. You can also program those light scenes into your Beo6 and have color images on the Beo6 that represent what those light scenes would be.
w5bno123: beojeff: While $60 USD might seem like a lot for an LED light bulb, you get a great amount of control with the system. Unlike conventional lightening systems that only let you turn on/off or dim white light, the Philips Hue gives you control over the color and saturation from the bulb as well. It really is just as easy as screwing the bulb in and then setting up your light scenes using the iOS or Android app. Before I get the system, I thought that I would miss having the convenience of the standard on/off light switch. This is not the case. While you must keep the light switch on in order for the lights to work, you CAN still use the light switch. Flipping the switch off turns off the light and then flipping the switch back on turns the light back on at full white light. This can be useful in you need to quickly turn the lights on without an iOS or Android device. However, Philips now has a programmable wall switch, too. The way that you create light scenes is very simple. On the iOS or Android app you store photos. You can drag a point marker to any point on that photo to have the corresponding lamp match that color and brightness. In addition to the control you get, the fact that you do NOT need to hire a professional installer for any changes is a huge benefit! Most other lighting systems are closed off to any changes by the homeowner and require you to pay huge fees to a professional installer for any changes. Furthermore, the professional installers that I've talked to have no understanding of Bang & Olufsen. If you have either a MLGW or BLGW, you can very easily make the Philips Hue light system a part of your B&O system. You can easily call up light scenes using the LIGHT or CONTROL commands and digits (or also the color buttons) on your Beo4 remote. You can also program those light scenes into your Beo6 and have color images on the Beo6 that represent what those light scenes would be. Hi Beojeff Many thanks for your comprehensive reply, it's answered a few of my questions. I have a KNX system in the showroom which is very good and stable but a pain if it needs reprogramming. For home and convenience I love the idea of plugging in a lightbulb and being able to control the lights easily. One quick question, do you still use the light switch as on/off or do you leave it always on and control with iOS app or Hue controller? Thanks in advance Stuart
beojeff: While $60 USD might seem like a lot for an LED light bulb, you get a great amount of control with the system. Unlike conventional lightening systems that only let you turn on/off or dim white light, the Philips Hue gives you control over the color and saturation from the bulb as well. It really is just as easy as screwing the bulb in and then setting up your light scenes using the iOS or Android app. Before I get the system, I thought that I would miss having the convenience of the standard on/off light switch. This is not the case. While you must keep the light switch on in order for the lights to work, you CAN still use the light switch. Flipping the switch off turns off the light and then flipping the switch back on turns the light back on at full white light. This can be useful in you need to quickly turn the lights on without an iOS or Android device. However, Philips now has a programmable wall switch, too. The way that you create light scenes is very simple. On the iOS or Android app you store photos. You can drag a point marker to any point on that photo to have the corresponding lamp match that color and brightness. In addition to the control you get, the fact that you do NOT need to hire a professional installer for any changes is a huge benefit! Most other lighting systems are closed off to any changes by the homeowner and require you to pay huge fees to a professional installer for any changes. Furthermore, the professional installers that I've talked to have no understanding of Bang & Olufsen. If you have either a MLGW or BLGW, you can very easily make the Philips Hue light system a part of your B&O system. You can easily call up light scenes using the LIGHT or CONTROL commands and digits (or also the color buttons) on your Beo4 remote. You can also program those light scenes into your Beo6 and have color images on the Beo6 that represent what those light scenes would be.
Hi Beojeff
Many thanks for your comprehensive reply, it's answered a few of my questions. I have a KNX system in the showroom which is very good and stable but a pain if it needs reprogramming. For home and convenience I love the idea of plugging in a lightbulb and being able to control the lights easily. One quick question, do you still use the light switch as on/off or do you leave it always on and control with iOS app or Hue controller?
Thanks in advance
Stuart
Hi Stuart,
I always leave the light switches on. If you turn the light switch off, it will turn off the Hue bulb. If you turn the switch back on, it will restore the Hue bulb to full white light (rather than its last state). After an off/on cycle, you would need to use the Hue iOS App (or any of the many third party apps), the Hue Tap wall switch, or the Beo4 or Beo6 to change the color or to dim the bulb. In short, you just always leave the light switch on. The Hue Tap wall switches are extremely easy to program. You just use your iOS app to program them. They connect to the Hue bridge by wifi and require no hardwiring. They actually run off of the kinetic energy created from the physical act of pushing the buttons. I have Hue Tap wall switches next to all of my light switches. When I leave home, I push the Hue Tap button to turn everything off. When I come home, I use one of the other 3 Hue Tap buttons to select one of the 3 predefined scenes that I chose. For general use, I use the Beo4 or Beo6. When I wake up in the morning, I grab the Beo6 on the nightstand and select one of the dozen light scenes that I have programmed to the Beo6. For example, "Tahitian Sunset" or "Autumn Dawn." The integration becomes seamless with my B&O system.
I would love to know more about KNX and be able to integrate it into my system! KNX is pretty much nonexistent in the U.S. It looks like there are some BEAUTIFUL wall switches available for KNX. With the MLGW, you could easily program the MLGW to use the buttons of the KNX wall switch as a trigger to activate Philips Hue light scenes. The KNX wall switches would look so much more "B&O" than the white plastic Hue Tap wall switches. Perhaps if you integrate Philips Hue we could share knowledge with each other.
For anyone else using the Philips Hue with the MLGW, I have successfully written the command lines to increase or decrease the brightness of the lights.
To increase the brightness of all the lights, the command would be something like this:
Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE PUT /api/username/groups/0/action HTTP/1.1\0D\0AContent-Length: 12\0D\0AContent-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\0D\0A\0D\0A{\"bri\": +25}
To decrease the brightness of all the lights, the command would be something like this:
Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE PUT /api/username/groups/0/action HTTP/1.1\0D\0AContent-Length: 12\0D\0AContent-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\0D\0A\0D\0A{\"bri\": -25}
The value of "25" can be replaced with any value between 0 and 255. Note that 0 is not the same as "off" but rather will still generate a slight brightness. If you replace the value "25" with a single digit value, you need to replace the length from "12" to "11." If you use a triple digit, you need to replace the length from "12" to "13."
For right now, I am using larger increments with single presses of the "UP" and "DOWN" buttons of the Beo4/Beo6. I might work with smaller increments using continuous presses of the buttons later. However, sending too many commands to the Philips Hue too quickly can cause it to crash.
Note that the developers at Hue advised me that the incremental brightness commands are undocumented and are subject to being changed in the future.
Odd. When I posted the last message on the forum, language that I did not type was added at the beginning of each of the commands. Each command line should begin with PUT, disregard everything in front of the word PUT.
The edit function is not working right now....
Why we don't all of us rights to bang olufsen and ask if that would be kind to introduce Phillips HUE to MLGW.
They have already introduced it to BLGW??the software it's already make, he shouldn't be very big problem .
claudiu : Why we don't all of us rights to bang olufsen and ask if that would be kind to introduce Phillips HUE to MLGW. They have already introduced it to BLGW??the software it's already make, he shouldn't be very big problem .
That would be great if it's possible. I have already been working very closely with the creator of the MLGW and BLGW to create the command lines, which has been very difficult to do. I'm wondering how much built-in control the BLGW really has with the Hue. I would suspect that the control is just at the very basic level - such as turning individual lamps on and off. There are many, many variable of control and possibilities for the Hue that are not simple to have built-in with the BLGW or MLGW. For example, controlling a particular light scene involves looking at what is going on in the Hue bridge to find the 9-digit alpha-numeric value assigned to that light scene.
http://beointegration.com/index.php?site=partners
Have a look at this,HUE is already introduce to Blgw
claudiu : http://beointegration.com/index.php?site=partners Have a look at this,HUE is already introduce to Blgw
Yes. I already saw that. My question still is just how much control the BLGW provides. I would love for someone with a BLGW to take a screenshot of the programming page for the Hue to see what options it provides. As to your suggestion, it certainly does not hurt for more people to contact B&O to let them know that we are interested in Hue with the MLGW. I know that the focus is now on the BLGW, but I agree with you that if the programming is already there, it would be nice for B&O to make that available for the MLGW as well.
What do you guys think about suggesting to open a new Home Automation section on Beoworld?
PhilLondon: What do you guys think about suggesting to open a new Home Automation section on Beoworld?
I LOVE that idea! I remember when we once had a Lintronic forum, which was removed long ago. I think it would be great to have a place where we could all share our ideas and setups for home automation. For example, I had a very difficult time teaching myself how to make custom cables to attach to a Lintronic box to control my projector and projector screen when using the CINEMA control from the BeoSystem 3. I would also like to know more about the other systems, such as Control4, Lutron, etc., that others are using, along with custom strings for fireplaces and other devices.
beojeff:Hi Stuart, I always leave the light switches on. If you turn the light switch off, it will turn off the Hue bulb. If you turn the switch back on, it will restore the Hue bulb to full white light (rather than its last state). After an off/on cycle, you would need to use the Hue iOS App (or any of the many third party apps), the Hue Tap wall switch, or the Beo4 or Beo6 to change the color or to dim the bulb. In short, you just always leave the light switch on. The Hue Tap wall switches are extremely easy to program. You just use your iOS app to program them. They connect to the Hue bridge by wifi and require no hardwiring. They actually run off of the kinetic energy created from the physical act of pushing the buttons. I have Hue Tap wall switches next to all of my light switches. When I leave home, I push the Hue Tap button to turn everything off. When I come home, I use one of the other 3 Hue Tap buttons to select one of the 3 predefined scenes that I chose. For general use, I use the Beo4 or Beo6. When I wake up in the morning, I grab the Beo6 on the nightstand and select one of the dozen light scenes that I have programmed to the Beo6. For example, "Tahitian Sunset" or "Autumn Dawn." The integration becomes seamless with my B&O system. I would love to know more about KNX and be able to integrate it into my system! KNX is pretty much nonexistent in the U.S. It looks like there are some BEAUTIFUL wall switches available for KNX. With the MLGW, you could easily program the MLGW to use the buttons of the KNX wall switch as a trigger to activate Philips Hue light scenes. The KNX wall switches would look so much more "B&O" than the white plastic Hue Tap wall switches. Perhaps if you integrate Philips Hue we could share knowledge with each other.
I got my Beolink Gateway today and, after updating the firmware, I was able to control my Hue lamps with my Beo4, hurray!
PhilLondon: I got my Beolink Gateway today and, after updating the firmware, I was able to control my Hue lamps with my Beo4, hurray!
That's great news! Could you tell us what type of control you're getting? Is it just control over specific lamps, or do you have control over light scenes (as created on the iOS app) as well? Could you provide a screenshot of the programming page when you get a chance?
Does the BLGW automatically provide a list of the names of your lights under the Resources?
Does it also automatically provide a list of the names of your scenes under the Resources?
If the BLGW does not automatically provide a list of the names of the scenes, it would be very easy for B&O to add this feature.The command to retrieve a list of scenes is similar to that of retrieving a list of lights.
Using your scenes saves much programming time and makes a smoother transition of light changes. This is because the Hue bridge and even the bulbs themselves save your light scenes locally for faster recall.
beojeff:Does the BLGW automatically provide a list of the names of your lights under the Resources?
No, you create your list and name the light bulbs and map them to by number.
beojeff:Does it also automatically provide a list of the names of your scenes under the Resources?
No, there is the notion of groups, but I haven't figured out how that worked. But the transition is rather smooth.
For the moment, I programmed Light+Go (turn Hue on), Light+Stop (turn Hue Off), Light+Red (Turn all of them Red), Light+Blue, Light+Yellow, Light+Green. I will programme more scenes later.
What you can't do is dimming the lights up when you press Light+Up for example, as with a LC2, because there is no command for Dim Up a bit, or Dim down a bit.
Also you cannot have a sequence like Light, Lamp, 1, Go. As the Beolink Gateway doesn't support the notion of mode.
Despite these limitations, I am very happy with it. There may be other ways to access the scenes that I have not discovered. Also I might in parallel use the Strings method, or even hook up a Mac mini to the thing to have better programming possibilities.
PhilLondon: beojeff:Does the BLGW automatically provide a list of the names of your lights under the Resources? No, you create your list and name the light bulbs and map them to by number. beojeff:Does it also automatically provide a list of the names of your scenes under the Resources? No, there is the notion of groups, but I haven't figured out how that worked. But the transition is rather smooth. For the moment, I programmed Light+Go (turn Hue on), Light+Stop (turn Hue Off), Light+Red (Turn all of them Red), Light+Blue, Light+Yellow, Light+Green. I will programme more scenes later. What you can't do is dimming the lights up when you press Light+Up for example, as with a LC2, because there is no command for Dim Up a bit, or Dim down a bit. Also you cannot have a sequence like Light, Lamp, 1, Go. As the Beolink Gateway doesn't support the notion of mode. Despite these limitations, I am very happy with it. There may be other ways to access the scenes that I have not discovered. Also I might in parallel use the Strings method, or even hook up a Mac mini to the thing to have better programming possibilities.
You can find the command strings in one of my earlier posts for how you can dim up or down by whatever increments you specify. I haven't yet figured out how to keep repeating the command by holding down a button continuously. I just do multiple presses of the UP or DOWN arrow until I reach the level that I want.
I've also posted instructions on how to trigger the scenes. It's actually quite easy once you get the hang of it. I would be very happy to help you. This is much easier than programming each and every light into a macro. You really just copy the same command string for each scene and replace the 9 digit value assigned to that scene as found in the bridge.
beojeff:You can find the command strings in one of my earlier posts for how you can dim up or down by whatever increments you specify.
Thanks, I'll try that.
beojeff:I haven't yet figured out how to keep repeating the command by holding down a button continuously. I just do multiple presses of the UP or DOWN arrow until I reach the level that I want.
I found a way!!!
You need 3 macros:
- Macro1: Event = Light, Action = Press, Command = Step Up, in which you increment the light
- Macro2: Event = Light, Action = Continue, Command = Step Up, in which you increment the light (as with previous Macro), and then Fire itself (Macro2), after a delay on 333 Millisecond
- Macro3: Event = Light, Action = Key release, Command = Step Up, in which you cancel Macro2
p.
Excellent, Phil! It's great to see what BeoWorlders can do with teamwork! Thanks!
Today, I ordered an Essence wall remote to program in LIGHT mode. With Phil's macros, I should be able to control the light dimming with the wheel. I plan to use one button to turn off the lights and the other buttons to assign light scenes. This will replace the ugly, plastic Hue Tap.
Phil,
Now that you have the continuous press working, you might want to reduce the increment from 25 to a single digit to have a smoother transition. If you do so, you'll need to reduce the "length" value to 11 instead of 12. If you find it crashing the Hue bridge, it might be because commands are being sent to fast to the Hue bridge. In that case, you would want to use a higher increment value.
beojeff:Today, I ordered an Essence wall remote to program in LIGHT mode
Excellent idea,,,