Can Philips Hue White LED Smart Bulbs Survive the EXTREME cold outside?!?

Follow on Twitter:

Follow on Instagram:

This video and all of Windy Tech is a production of Windy Software, LLC - Chicago, IL

[ShaneCreates]

I did the same thing a while back when I first got started with smart home stuff. I put a couple of phillips hue bulbs on the front porch and by the garage and automated them for sunset/sunrise. And they are still working too! I don't even think about them. I just thank God it doesn't get that cold here in South Carolina! -22 degrees?! More power to you brother. Here we just deal with extremely hot and humid weather in the summer. But again, the hue bulbs have held up so far!

[HerraMonoTooni]

I have been using one bulb outside for years. It gets -20C to -30C in winter, no problem. I have even used an indoor motion sensor outside for two years. It's still working with the same batteries. Still, I don't recommend doing that because those are indoor equipment.

[Eric-]

I have had two generation A19's outside for about two years now. I live in Syracuse, NY where it gets well below 0 and during the summer 80-90s with very high humidity. Have not had any issues with them.

[myHomeKithome]

Impressive! We'll see how my Hue color bulb reacts to 110 degree summers!

[atschram]

In Alaska here… Thank you for doing this experiment! It’s exactly what I needed!

[sonicneutronic]

I have 2 HUE's outside in Toronto winters, no issues.... and 2 wyze cams outside... no issue.

[Timber]

I have the same A19 (two of them) bulbs outside and one of them failed. Called Philips, and they said they won't honor the warranty if they were placed outside. The failed bulb would only come on dim (dusk to dawn programmed), would not brighten with commands from any device, but would turn off & on via commands and dusk to dawn programming.

[joneslarvell]

I am facing the exact opposite predicament… Philips mentions that if their bulbs are enclosed, like the ones shown in this video, their warranty might be void if they die out due to excessive heat.

I plan on installing a smaller one inside the house, so I am a bit worried that they might die prematurely. In this case however, it seems that the enclosed space around the bulb is actually beneficial, since we are dealing with extremely low temperatures.

Maybe a good rule of thumb would be to use lower lumen bulbs for internal enclosed lights and higher lumen bulbs for external ones that are exposed to cold weather?

In any case, a great video that gives us some real world important feedback regarding the hue ecosystem! 😉

[ludie]

I have been using mine on outside garage for about 2 years with good results. Until June 2021 when Hue updated their app. Have been troubleshooting with Hue. Basically stated the bulbs are not intended for outdoor use.
Now my routine works great for a week or so then won’t shut off at Sunrise. Very frustrating. I live in Ann Arbor, MI.

[lishtvanov]

The question is how long will they last

[dalex]

Thanks for posting this. I have some Hue’s I can try for this. If they don’t work, I can switch to some cheap Costco bulbs.

[nasaspacemanwho]

Thanks dude. I was looking for the same thing. Luckily we don't get this level of cold in the UK. 👍

[trevorstepoo]

I’m glad I do not live in that type of climate. Don’t have to worry about cold weather here in Honolulu. our area stays around 80° in January and 70 at night. I have a bunch of Philips. Hue bulbs there’s no way I can test that result. unless I could test it in my freezer, I think the freezer don’t get that cold.c

[CUAUHTEMOCVEGATORRES]

this light bulbs runs hot as hell, almos reaching 100c° and more, thats why a lot of people is complaining, (me incliuded) of dead bulbs sooner than expected.

[dinoanticoli]

I got Phillips hue Bluetooth bulbs

? Can I use them outside in the cold 🥶 weather ?

[roscomm]

Can you tell me how you got this to work? I tried to do this with 4 Hue garage lights but they lose their connection to the internet and start blinking. Does this happen to you?

[danhammond]

The answer is no. I bought special outdoor LED 100 watt equivalent bulbs for my driveway lights. They have a 5 year warranty. At first they did work. Full bright as soon as you turn them on. Just like an incandescent bulb. Unlike the fluorescent bulb which needs to heat up for almost ten minutes before it reaches full bright. But by the end of the first winter they lost most of the diodes. They had become 25 watt equivalent bulbs.
They did still work and were instant on just not very bright. Our use was maybe on average about 1 hour of use per night. So about after 70 hours of use they lost about 70% of their diodes and became quite dim. Incandescent bulbs have lasted much longer than this in my drive way lights.
I would get about 2 or 3 years of use out of incandescent bulbs. Not even one year from LED bulbs. Florescent do not last long either in extreme cold. In an average winter I get a string of nights about 40 consecutive nights around -20 F with a few nights around -40 F. And that is base temps not wind chill. I did take them all back and get a replacement set of bulbs as I spent about $120 for those bulbs. So far the replacements this year are still working good. But we are only getting started on this winter. They have only been on a few weeks and only a few nights so far have hit -20 F range. Late Jan and Feb is when it gets real cold at night. But I do have a 5 year warranty and I am fully prepared to return these bulbs as often as I have to over the next 5 years to get bulbs that work as advertised. Heck for $120 you would all do the same I am sure.

At the end of the day the incandescent bulb still is king of extremely cold weather operation.

[dancook]

Put it in your oven and see what happened