At the end of last year, I wrote a blog about our new kitchen here. At the other end of our kitchen is an open plan dining area which was redecorated at the same time. The finishing touch was to replace the dining room lamp, which I didn’t mind but my partner did. We’ve really struggled to find something both of us like and after visiting too many shops, and ordering and returning 3-4 online lights I’d pretty much given up. I then got an e-mail from her suggesting a futuristic looking Philips Hue model, which I’d not even considered considering how much she moans about the Hue GU10’s in the lounge that can only be turned on and off using Alexa! I had to check she was’s joking, but apparently not, so another was ordered online pretty safe in the knowledge that Amazon would take it back without any problems if it didn’t fit in.
In typical Amazon fashion, it arrived the next day in a huge cardboard box. I was actually surprised how big the Philips box was inside, and still wasn’t sure how it might look, but given it would integrate nicely with my other Philips Hue bulbs I was very open-minded. It was surprisingly easy to install, and removing the old and fitting the new probably took less than an hour after I’d thought through the best approach. The trickiest bit was installing the metal fixing plate so I could use the hole already in the ceiling to hide most of the cable as we didn’t want it hanging down too far. I’m 6’4″ so didn’t want to be banging my head on it everytime I sat down for dinner! Once sorted, it actually looks OK although I think it would have been better it Philips has used a white power cable. The reason it’s actually going back to Amazon is the small metal artefact that’s rolling around in the sealed light unit!
It will only be going back once Amazon has sent a replacement, and I’m hoping I’ll be able to switch over the metal fitting plate making the switch over relatively simple. I’m also hoping to fix some white tubing around the black power cord at the same time. It works wonderfully with the Philips Hue Hub and therefore Alexa, and the supplied Philips Hue Switch is also very good and has been configured to work both the Lounge (6xGU10) and Dining Room lights. Hopefully, the next one doesn’t have any loose parts inside!
Not the greatest pictures taken on my phone, but they give you the idea. Surprised quite how much my partner likes it, given it’s UFO looks and voice controls. Pretty sure if I’d have suggested it, we’d still be looking…
Turns out, the small ‘artefact’ inside the light was a small piece of wire cable. The replacement arrived with a similar problem (a small piece of sticky tape), at which point I realised that it was possible to remove and replace the white shade. Wire removed and all is good 🙂