Pair with multiple devices

[mrquincle]

Hi,

It is possible to pair with a dimmer switch besides the phone. I would assume that the phone searcher for the lamp as a peripheral. However, the lamp itself might consider the dimmer switch to be a peripheral.

Hue Bulbs are just able to pair once. If you attempt to pair one more time eq. you want to pair with another controller, you have to do a factory reset! To do so you need a Philips remote. Hopefully there is another way doing it.

I think together with Mic92/hue-ble-ctl#1 and https://github.com/CFoltin/DecodePhilipsHueBluetoothProtocol we might figure this out fast.

1. First, we've to wireshark in a cage of faraday (I've way too many Bluetooth LE devices here) what the dimmer switch is sending out on long pressing it.
2. We've to do this several times to see how this exchange changes over time.
3. It might be possible to do just a repeat attack, who knows.
4. If not, I'll have to fetch my JTAG and see what's in the dimmer switch. Did anyone already open it up?

I don't know if these are also the Bluetooth dimmer switches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxnqW0XV2ZQ. They can be paired "with each other", which is an interesting feature. I'll have to buy a second set in that case.

To have a trusted connection is of course much better for the customers (security-wise) than having them to run those bulbs in factory reset mode to be able to use third-party apps.

From https://developers.meethue.com/forum/t/hue-bluetooth-documentation/6144/11 I understand we won't get any support from Philips/Signify itself, so we're on our own to make their products work on a larger scale. :-) If this changes, it would be great of course!

[Mic92]

Does this mean you can only pair a bulb with one phone at the time? I think I was able to pair multiple devices with the lamp.

[Mic92]

I still have not figured out how the color encoding works.

[Mic92]

What I noticed is that I have to turn off/turn on the light, if I want to pair it with the app. Only then the iOS app popups the pairing dialog. Maybe this is the trick.

[mrquincle]

Yes, for me I think it was power cycling my laptop that actually solved the problem. It's still finicky, the bluez stack or the stuff on top of it. Yesterday I got a mechanical keyboard with Bluetooth and I had to do the same.

What I saw was that there is also direct local support for Alexa for the bulbs. This is very remarkable because I thought it was not available yet. Apparently the following is now in developer preview: https://developer.amazon.com/frustration-free-setup/getting-started states Bluetooth simple setup (BSS). Here is some more information: https://developer.amazon.com/docs/frustration-free-setup/understanding-ffs.html. I don't know if that's what has been used, but it's likely.

[CFoltin]

Hi,

AFAIK, the dimmer switch uses zigbee as a protocol and not bluetooth. This is very different.

HTH, Chris

[mrquincle]

Ah, so they use dual stack ZigBee and Bluetooth LE on the bulbs? That's possible as well.

Local support through Alexa is likely not to be ZigBee though.

[CFoltin]

Hm, I'm not an expert, but I think that alexa support is done via a central smart home server ("hue bridge"), which itself uses zigbee. But, no guarantee ;-)

[mrquincle]

Hi, that's definitely not the case, see https://www2.meethue.com/en-us/works-with/amazon-alexa. It has a completely different setup procedure for Bluetooth bulbs versus bridge-controlled devices. See also https://www2.meethue.com/en-us/support/friends-of-hue#How_do_I_connect_my_Hue_lights_to_Alexa and many more other user instructions. The only alternative would be that the Echo devices secretly also support ZigBee, but that would be very unlikely.

Anyway, this means that it's definitely possible to have multiple Bluetooth connections towards a light bulb.

I will have to verify if the dimmer switch is indeed ZigBee only. I will buy another set before I open this one up. It is indeed likely given https://www.the-ambient.com/reviews/philips-hue-bluetooth-review-1695 indicates that it's indeed a dual Bluetooth / ZigBee stack in the recent bulbs. At https://0xfred.wordpress.com/2017/01/01/philips-hue-lbw010-teardown/ it shows an Atmel SAM21R21E18A rather than the previous ATMega2564. I'll have to check if that's the one in this bulb as well.