I’m pretty firmly entrenched in thePhilips Hue lighting ecosystem; over the years, my collection’s grown to include lights in every room of my home. When I moved from an apartment into a house in late 2022, though, I was dismayed to see just how expensive Hue’s bespoke outdoor lighting is: fixtures like the company’s Econic Outdoor Wall Light go for a searing $170 apiece and require some elbow grease to install. Fortunately, I found a much easier and cheaper alternative.
Hue’s bulbs work most anywhere standard LEDs do
Smart lightbulbs can survive outdoors as long as they stay dry
Hue’s outdoor products are tested to be weather-resistant. That Econic light, for example, is IP44 rated, which means it can take splashes from any direction. Indoor Hue lights, of course, aren’t IP rated at all. But it occurred to me that the lights in my house’s outdoor fixtures when we moved in, four in total, weren’t made for outdoor use, either. They were just regular LEDs.
Given Hue’s regular A19 bulbs have pretty wide rated operating limits — between -4 and 113 degrees Fahrenheit and anywhere from five to 95 percent humidity — and that at leasta few peopleonline have reportedsuccesssticking the things in outdoor fixtures, I figured I’d give it a go.
I live in Ohio, and in the time my outdoor light fixtures have had standard Hue lights in them, we’ve run the gamut of their operating limits: we’ve hit that -4 degree floor more than once in winter, and I don’t doubt the temperature inside the fixtures exceeded 113 degrees when the outdoor temperature climbed into the 90s on sunny summer days. But as I write this, more than a year into using the lights this way, I’ve had no problems to speak of.
I feel like I’m getting away with something
We’ve got two White and Color Ambiance bulbs at the front door that are set up to turn on before it gets dark and turn off when we go to bed. They’re normally set to white, but the color-changing functionality adds a lot of value: we use the bulbs as extremely low-effort outdoor holiday decorations (red and green for Christmas, orange and purple for Halloween, et cetera) and to guide first-time visitors and delivery drivers to our house (“look for the one with pink lights”).
In the backyard, there are two standard White Ambiance bulbs, plus aHue Smart Plugin a covered GFCI outlet, controlling a long string of bulbs that wraps around the inside of our fence. These lights all turn on automatically around sunset and turn off later in the evening after we’re in for the night. I’m impressed that the Hue hub can reach the farthest light out back; there are two walls and a good hundred feet of space separating the devices, but the bulbs are all still responsive.
Remote control and routine-based scheduling for all these outdoor lights are conveniences I’d have a hard time giving up at this point, and I feel like I’m getting away with something getting this experience without paying for Hue’s extra-pricey dedicated outdoor lights. If you’re keen to try something similar with your own lights, though, there are a few things to keep in mind.
This probably voided my lights' warranties
Don’t use any bulbs outdoors that you can’t afford to lose
The warranty implications for using standard Hue lights in outdoor light fixtures aren’t entirely clear, but my findings aren’t positive. While Hue actually doesn’t outright say its standard bulbs are only fit for indoor use, the company’s two-year warranty against defects “does not cover devices subject to accident, neglect, abuse, misuse or acts of God.”
A customer service rep I asked about this told me that using the products I have outdoors qualifies as “misuse,” even though proper use is never explicitly defined asinside a building. Hue’s warranty doesn’t cover accidental damage in any context, so using the bulbs outdoors doesn’t change anything there. But if a light Hue doesn’t specifically advertise as intended for outdoor use happens to malfunction while being used in an outdoor setting, it’s likely you won’t be able to get a replacement under warranty.
It’s likely you won’t be able to get a replacement under warranty
Another disclaimer that might be obvious but bears saying outright: Hue’s products without adequate official IP ratings are not meant to survive contact with water. The smart bulbs and smart plug I’m using outdoors are all sheltered from rain and snow (just like regular, dumb bulbs and plugs in the same spots would be), so they only have temperature and humidity to contend with. But if you try to keep lights like theSigne Floor Lampor Hue’s indoor light strips on your patio, they’ll get ruined. Don’t do that.
Philips Hue Gradient Signe Floor Lamp review
Please don’t try to use this one outside
There are no guarantees in outdoor smart lighting
This isn’t an intended use case, so be smart about it
There are plenty ofgood outdoor smart lightsto choose from, but don’t write off “indoor” smart bulbs as a potential solution for your outdoor smart lighting needs. Just be smart about it: before you stick regular Hue bulbs in every outdoor fixture on your property, consider a one-bulb trial run over a period with some inclement weather, ideally with a bulb that’s already out of warranty.
I can’t guarantee it’ll work for you, but in the year-plus I’ve been using standard Philips Hue kit in outdoor settings, I haven’t had a single issue, and discourse online seems to echo my experience. If you’ve got any extra smart bulbs around, it might be worth a shot.
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