Sonos One / Philips Hue

Sonos One can control hue lights. I already tested it out and can confirm this. It can't seem to enable lighting Scenes, though.

The verbiage to use scenes is different then it is for other controls of Hue lights.

Try this: "Alexa, turn on [scene name] in [room name]" Example that works in my house: "Alexa turn on red candle(scene) in living room(room).

Sonos One can control hue lights. I already tested it out and can confirm this. It can't seem to enable lighting Scenes, though.

The verbiage to use scenes is different then it is for other controls of Hue lights.

Try this: "Alexa, turn on [scene name] in [room name]" Example that works in my house: "Alexa turn on red candle(scene) in living room(room).

I will try it tonight and update this reply with my results. Thanks!

I've found that setting scenes only works if the light is off when you give the command. If the light is already on, Alexa will affirm the command, but nothing will change. You can direct a color change once the light is on ("Alexa, set [light/room name] to red", but a scene change doesn't seem to work.

Mike,

Just to add my understanding about Philips hue bulbs and the Alexa integration.

A colour like 'Red', 'Green' or 'Blue' etc is not a scene, but more of a 'state' for a room or individual bulb. Their Brightness is also a 'state' These can normally be set from either an 'on or off' starting position.

So if the lights are either on or off, the following should work:

“Alexa, Set Bob's Light to Red” ... individual bulb
“Alexa, Set the Lounge Lights to Red”... entire room

“Alexa, Set Bob's Light to 50%” ... individual bulb
“Alexa, Set the Lounge Lights to 50%”... entire room

These states are 'set' rather than 'turned on'.

Scenes however like “Tropical Twighlight” only apply to rooms and not the individual bulbs and you can’t ever 'set' a scene for a bulb, nor 'set' a scene for a room in either an on/off state... but you can “turn on” a scene for a room from both an on or off state.

So if the lounge lights are on/off to begin with you cannot say this:
“Alexa, set the lounge to Savanna Sunset” (scene)
Nor can you say this ever for an individual bulb ...
“Alexa, set Bob's Light to Savanna Sunset”

But you can always say this for a room from an on or off starting position:
“Alexa, turn on Savanna Sunset in the Lounge”

So my understanding is that the 'state' (colour and brightness) of the bulbs or rooms are 'set' in place ...but room scenes are only ever 'turned on' ...and (importantly) a colour is not a scene.

A bit confusing, but that’s my understanding at this moment in time, but I am relatively new to this Smart Home stuff.

Mike,

Just to add my understanding about Philips hue bulbs and the Alexa integration.

A colour like 'Red', 'Green' or 'Blue' etc is not a scene, but more of a 'state' for a room or individual bulb. Their Brightness is also a 'state' These can normally be set from either an 'on or off' starting position.

So if the lights are either on or off, the following should work:

“Alexa, Set Bob's Light to Red” ... individual bulb
“Alexa, Set the Lounge Lights to Red”... entire room

“Alexa, Set Bob's Light to 50%” ... individual bulb
“Alexa, Set the Lounge Lights to 50%”... entire room

These states are 'set' rather than 'turned on'.

Scenes however like “Tropical Twighlight” only apply to rooms and not the individual bulbs and you can’t ever 'set' a scene for a bulb, nor 'set' a scene for a room in either an on/off state... but you can “turn on” a scene for a room from both an on or off state.

So if the lounge lights are on/off to begin with you cannot say this:
“Alexa, set the lounge to Savanna Sunset” (scene)
Nor can you say this ever for an individual bulb ...
“Alexa, set Bob's Light to Savanna Sunset”

But you can always say this for a room from an on or off starting position:
“Alexa, turn on Savanna Sunset in the Lounge”

So my understanding is that the 'state' (colour and brightness) of the bulbs or rooms are 'set' in place ...but room scenes are only ever 'turned on' ...and (importantly) a colour is not a scene.

A bit confusing, but that’s my understanding at this moment in time, but I am relatively new to this Smart Home stuff.


I can confirm this works! Just finished testing it out. So, it looks like it requires you to say it a certain way in order to get Scenes to work. Thanks for posting this, Ken!

ZurkeyDurkey,

You are welcome.

I quickly learned that you cannot 'set' a scene, you can only 'turn on' on a scene .. I assume this is a restriction imposed by Alexa at the moment, but perhaps things will eventually change to address these issues.

I was also initially confused by my thinking that the colour of bulbs and rooms were a scene... but once I realised that colour was not a scene but a 'state' similar to brightness, it all made a bit more sense.

So in Summary...

Scenes are available in rooms only and have to be 'turned on'.
Whereas....
Colour and Brightness 'states' are available to individual bulbs or to rooms and have to be 'set'

You are right that the wording of things is still very important at the moment, but I suspect that Alexa will continue to develop and become a lot smarter over time and these current 'rules & conventions' will eventually become far more flexible as the Amazon voice-control technology improves/develops.