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Reset C by GE Light Bulbs [video]

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Re: Reset C by GE Light Bulbs [video]

#21

Post by awinder »

notatoad wrote: post #9

I have some GE smart lightbulbs and i've never needed to reset them. People seem eager to mock this, but i don't see the problem. it's a (hopefully) rarely used procedure that you wouldn't want to be accidentally triggered, on an item that's very price sensitive. A physical reset button would significantly add to the cost of a part that sells for If anything, be happy that GE has not only engineered a reset procedure…

I originally bought these because you used to be able to pair them with the hue, but Phillips did some firmware update nonsense where it’s technically possible but you need to repair on power interruptions. So I became very aware of this procedure, until I tired of it and now use the bulbs as “dumb bulbs”

Re: Reset C by GE Light Bulbs [video]

#22

Post by jjoonathan »

Labeled Buttons >> Unlabeled Hieroglyphs >> Morse Code Button >> Morse Code Side Channel

Why do I so often find products where the designers have chosen a less usable option even though size constraints would have easily permitted a more usable option? Here it's debatable, but every time I find a desktop app / website that has replaced labeled buttons with hieroglyphs in a hamburger menu I die a little inside.

Also, while this light bulb is bad, I feel like bluetooth earbuds still take the cake for having the worst interfaces. They combine the undiscoverable and difficult-to-actuate morse code button with a slow, obtuse interactive voice menu and bluetooth's unreliability and incompatibility to create a modern interaction hell like no other.

Re: Reset C by GE Light Bulbs [video]

#23

Post by TeMPOraL »

beering wrote: post #20

I don't see why this is so bad. You just have to follow along with the video for ~1 min. and depending on your lighting setup, it allows you to reset many lights at once without getting a ladder or stepstool and physically poking each one.

The person in the video actually doesn't follow the timing precisely, repeatedly turning the bulb off after ~7 - 7.5 seconds. I wonder what tolerances are on timing in the firmware?

Re: Reset C by GE Light Bulbs [video]

#24

Post by alkonaut »

Stop buying smart bulbs. It’s an absolutely horrible idea from beginning to end. What people want is a way to switch a lamp on and off. For that you need a smart switch. For it to work you can’t have a dumb switch in your wall first - because when the dumb switch is in the “off” position, the smart lightbulb doesn’t work!

What do people that buy smart bulbs do, tape their light switches in the “on” position so you can no longer use the most convenient way to switch off? Or do they eventually get a smart switch also thereby removing the need for a smart bulb (yes I know there is things like dimming and rgb, but let’s face it the killer application of smartness is switching).

If someone had pitched the hue to me 20 years ago I would have laughed. But apparently I misjudged what people want - so why are they popular? Has anyone met everyone that said “I switched all my bulbs to smart ones with dumb switches and it’s great”? Sorry for the rant but I just feel that this isn’t what’s stupid about smart bulbs. The idea itself is fundamentally flawed or I completely missed the point.

Re: Reset C by GE Light Bulbs [video]

#26

Post by Hamuko »

alkonaut wrote: post #24

Stop buying smart bulbs. It’s an absolutely horrible idea from beginning to end. What people want is a way to switch a lamp on and off. For that you need a smart switch . For it to work you can’t have a dumb switch in your wall first - because when the dumb switch is in the “off” position, the smart lightbulb doesn’t work! What do people that buy smart bulbs do, tape their light switches in the “on” position so you c…

I have a button on my keyboard (F16) that turns on every smart light in my apartment. I also have a button on my keyboard (F17) that turns on the two lights in my "bedroom" in red colour and then fades them out in five minutes. This allows me to still see around when I turn off the monitor, but doesn't require me to go hit the light switches in the bedroom before and after.

Re: Reset C by GE Light Bulbs [video]

#27

Post by segmondy »

alkonaut wrote: post #24

Stop buying smart bulbs. It’s an absolutely horrible idea from beginning to end. What people want is a way to switch a lamp on and off. For that you need a smart switch . For it to work you can’t have a dumb switch in your wall first - because when the dumb switch is in the “off” position, the smart lightbulb doesn’t work! What do people that buy smart bulbs do, tape their light switches in the “on” position so you c…

I agree, but you can't resell smart switch over and over again. ;)

Re: Reset C by GE Light Bulbs [video]

#28

Post by dx7tnt »

abledon wrote: post #19
fortran77 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People get angry that their submission didn’t get them the worthless internet points and this one did.

when people look over my coworkers shoulder and see his 23K HN point count at the top of his screen, they acknowledge hes calling the shots in code reviews.

Why - because he's got nothing better to do than post on HN all day?

Re: Reset C by GE Light Bulbs [video]

#29

Post by timthorn »

alkonaut wrote: post #24

Stop buying smart bulbs. It’s an absolutely horrible idea from beginning to end. What people want is a way to switch a lamp on and off. For that you need a smart switch . For it to work you can’t have a dumb switch in your wall first - because when the dumb switch is in the “off” position, the smart lightbulb doesn’t work! What do people that buy smart bulbs do, tape their light switches in the “on” position so you c…

This is an almost perfect solution - but they've gone and put a proprietary application protocol on top of Zigbee instead of using a common profile. Nonetheless, very cool smart moving rocker switch:

https://getden.co.uk/products/switch/#1G

Re: Reset C by GE Light Bulbs [video]

#30

Post by TeMPOraL »

alkonaut wrote: post #24

Stop buying smart bulbs. It’s an absolutely horrible idea from beginning to end. What people want is a way to switch a lamp on and off. For that you need a smart switch . For it to work you can’t have a dumb switch in your wall first - because when the dumb switch is in the “off” position, the smart lightbulb doesn’t work! What do people that buy smart bulbs do, tape their light switches in the “on” position so you c…

Fair point. When I bought my Hue lights, this turned out to be an unexpected pain point. Not only did guests routinely used the switch, I myself had a really hard time unlearning the habit of using it.

... and then I realized that using a phone instead of a switch is much less convenient. Because on poweroff, Hue bulbs revert to ugly, warm color (I bought the color ones to have some mood lights), I wrote a script that repeatedly queried the Hue bridge for color values of all bulbs and changed them according to presets I liked whenever it detected that a bulb has default color values. The script ran on always-on Raspberry Pi, which was plugged in solely for that purpose. Unfortunately, in order not to saturate the bridge with API calls, this script polled the bridge only every couple of seconds, which still made the accidental reset annoying.

All in all, my experience with smart lights turned out to be pretty disappointing. You really need a smart switch for them to make sense. An ideal smart switch would be stateful and have an actuator built in, so that its mechanical state always reflects the software state of the bulb. Unfortunately, I've never seen anyone make such switches.

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