I was thinking of expanding my Philips Hue set up but considering this instead because of the price.
I’d settle for just a true 2400K warm white LED.
The limitlessled.com lights are very compelling, mainly because they’re a fifth of the price of the Philips Hue system (2 bulbs + the wifi bridge is $63+s/h). The distributor has released the UDP command set for the wifi controller, which are published here: http://www.limitlessled.com/dev/
I’d assume that it would be relatively easy to call out UDP commands from Vera or to make a plugin…
They look promising, but since they are meant to replace my regular lighting, they will have to perform well in two key areas: light output (40W equiv. minimum) , and quality of white light (warm white, not blue or greenish). I have found very few regular LED bulbs that satisfy these requirements, and I’ve gotten stuck with my fair share of lemons. I went with the Hue lights because they are among the best of white LEDs I’ve seen, and they are adjustable to boot. The color stuff is a nice bonus.
I’d be very interested to hear how these Limitless lights perform as regular lighting.
Cheap enough, and the command structure would be trivial to impl as a plugin.
The biggest problem is that the API s one directional, with no acknowledgment that the command is received, or any way to poll and/or otherwise know that something else has turned on/off the light.
ie. use their native phone app, and Vera would get out of sync.
There are a bunch of other Light Link (ZLL) compatible bulbs coming to market (like the OSRAM Ultra iQ) so the prices for standard stuff should come down over the coming months for things that work with Hue
Hi intveltr, here are some pics showing comparison of light performance. We have done a lot of work to keep the LED running very cool, with high lighting performance… I think LED as a technology has crossed a major milestone this year, that makes them perform quite well for regular lighting brightness. they aren’t 150W equiv by any means. but 60W equiv, yes definitely. How bright is bright enough, probably quite subjective for different households. Its a good start nonetheless… we have actual customer feedback on our homepage, everyone does mention that the brightness is OK.
www.limitlessled.com/images/LimitlessLED_Bright_7.5W_LED_light_bulb.jpg
www.limitlessled.com/images/LimitlessLED_Brightest_Wireless_SmartBulb_LUX_TESTING.jpg
adjustable Warm White to Cool White LimitlessLED wireless Light Bulbs - equivalent to a 60W light of 820 Lumens.
Color RGB LimitlessLED wireless Light Bulbs - equivalent to a 50W light of 600 Lumens.
Cheers,
-Hamish
LimitlessLED.
Hamish,
What are the color temps and CRI ratings on each bulb? I’ve tried a few different ones from vendors using the Warm/Cool designations, and they vary a lot in their defns.
Any chance of moving to a bidi (queriable or evented) API?
[quote=“guessed, post:7, topic:174653”]Hamish,
What are the color temps and CRI ratings on each bulb? I’ve tried a few different ones from vendors using the Warm/Cool designations, and they vary a lot in their defns.
Any chance of moving to a bidi (queriable or evented) API?[/quote]
The cool white/warm white is in the same single bulb and anywhere in between, so the color temp is fully adjustable… you can choose your favorite color temp from the warmest white, to the coolest white. Its personal preference what you set your bulb to, I prefer the setting about 85% cool white… just a hint of warm white. Others prefer full warm white.
Cheers,
-Hamish.
LimitlessLED
…and the actual Color temp range?
Eg. 3000K, 3500K or something closer to incandescent like 2700K
@guessed, Yeah, the warm white to cool white range is fully adjustable using the iphone/android software or remote from 3000-6500K. Our testing results show the Color Temperature ranges right from 3000K all the way through to 6500K. On the remote, Left adjusts the color temp to warm white and to the Right adjusts the color temp to cool white, and anywhere in between.
Color Rendering Index (CRI): 80.
Warm White/Cool White Color Temp: 3000-6500K.
-Hamish.
LimitlessLED.
It took me some time to work out what Voltage/Frequency range of these devices work over and eventually found this “LimitlessLED Lightbulbs are certified worldwide and tested on all Voltages 90V-260V and 50-60Hz.” It may be useful to include this in the specifications in the shopping cart along with the Wattage and Lumens. Can I pick them up or have Australia Post send them to me?
[quote=“guessed, post:7, topic:174653”]Hamish,
Any chance of moving to a bidi (queriable or evented) API?[/quote]
I’d be very interested to know the answer to this also.
I’d fill my house with these if I knew I could have complete control.
These are available in the UK as easybulb: [url=http://www.easybulb.com/]http://www.easybulb.com/[/url]
There’s only one way to find out how well they work so I’ve ordered a white bulb and WiFi adapter for playtime. ;D I shall report back…
Cool. Let us know how they work out. I’d be interested in color (in practice) and how they respond to traditional light switch control.
ie. do they come on by default when a manual switch is used, do they remember their last color setting when they do.
Was tempted to buy one bulb to cut open and see what circuity had been used inside, but will wait a bit for that.
As luck would have it, I use a spectro-radiometer for work so you shall have an accurate reading of the colo(u)r temperature. Well it will be the correlated color temperature as it isn’t a real black-body…
If it doesn’t remember its last brightness level and colour temperature when switched on and off by a regular switch it will be a big disappointment and may well be a candidate for the cut it open and see how it works branch of engineering. ;D
LOL, too many yrs in the US. Eventually I adapted my spelling 
Heh. I actually like the fact that the Hue lamps revert to a default 100% warm white when powered on. Of course, the ability to set a default color and brightness would be even better 
I must say I am impressed with my first tests. I compared the easybulb White (6W) with a Philips Genie 827 CFL (11W) and a Philips Eco Classic clear energy-saving halogen (42W). All lamps were brand-new. The lamps were mounted in a ceiling holder without shade on a white ceiling in a small window-less room. All three lamps were switched on for five minutes before measurement - really only necessary for the CFL.
Light-level (illuminance) readings were taken with an ISO-Tech ILM350 at 1 metre directly below the lamp in lux (lumens/m[sup]2[/sup]). Chromaticity and CCT (correlated colour temperature) readings were taken with a Photo Research PR650 fitted with CR-650 incident light receiver. Chromaticity co-ordinates (x, y) are to CIE 1931.
I controlled the easybulb with the dedicated remote control. Work on the WiFi bridge is next on the list.
Philips Genie 11W CFL Illuminance = 304 lux, CCT = 2506K, x = 0.402, y = 0.423
Philips 42w ESH Illuminance = 312 lux, CCT = 2540K, x = 0.424, y = 0.414
easybulb White 6W set to Warm Illuminance = 269 lux, CCT = 2736K, x = 0.461, y = 0.417
easybulb White 6W set to Cool Illuminance = 283 lux, CCT = 5051K, x = 0.344, y = 0.359
When set to a mid color temperature (3250), the easybulb will dim from 270 lux to 12 lux - less than 5%. There is also a Nightlight mode which reduces the light to 5 lux. Whilst the Warm setting is a higher CCT than the CFL and ESH it does look warm. Likewise the Cool setting, whilst not meeting the manufacturers spec. of 6500, looks distinctly blue. It just goes to show that eyes tell lies where colour is concerned.
The easybulb retains its last setting of light-level and colour when switched off and on by normal electrical means as well as through the remote. Right now it’s ticking all my boxes. ;D
They do sound great and am very tempted…
From what I saw on the website is that the wifi box acts as another access point… so in order to control any of the bulbs you need to change wifi connection?
First thoughts on the easybulb WiFi Bridge: Oh-oh, this could be a problem…
As delivered, the bridge provides its own access point - using WEP :o - to which you can connect your iGadgets and Android devices. Not too much use to me as I want Vera to have complete control via my normal house network and I certainly don’t want another unsecured SSID lurking about the place.
A call to the local distributor to ask about the IP protocol (“Do what now, sir?”) netted me the following URL and the skies started to clear. www.philippinestuffs.com/milight-wifi-controlled-light-bulbs. It looks like most of the work has been done and fitting-up Vera to send out UDP packets should not be too difficult. It does look as though a remote or iGadget may be useful or possibly essential for assigning lamps to groups (aka zones).
The hand-held remote works over a decent range - around 20 metres - in my house with mostly hollow interior walls. If the WiFi Bridge has similar performance I should only need one.
So my boxes are still ticked. I’ll be back with further findings.