Control Philips Living Colors using PC

Question

is there a way (hardware/software-combination) that I can use to control one or more "Philips Living Colors" lamps using a PC - e.g. a USB-stick that acts as the "remote". This way i could control the lamp through software (e.g. a web-app - over iPhone / remotely) or even create what Philips builds into some of their TVs and calls "ambilight" (graphics driver detecting the main color to control the lamp).

I guess this is more like a hardware than a software question - but I couldn't find anything about this online and I'm sure not to be the first to have come up with this idea right when I unpacked my LivingColors lamp yesterday ;)

Answer 1

There are two version of the LivingColors lamp, the Gen1 lamp can be controlled with a small kit, as far as i know the Gen2 can not be controlled with 3rd party products.

There is an Arduino shield that can control the Gen1 lamps, the article describing this is in Dutch. In short : the shield, and by extension the lamp, can be controlled by serial-over-USB. Google translate may help :

The hardware : http://www.knutsel.org/2010/04/11/assembling-the-cc2500-arduino-shield/

The link to the software is at the end of the post. (I can only post one link.)

There is a schema and software, enough information to build your own controller for Gen1 lamps.

Some remarks:

1. I am the a author of these posts.
2. The shields are sold as a kit in the Netherlands and Belgium (hence the dutch blog post).
3. The Gen2 uses IEEE802.15.4 (it says so in the manual) and is said to use encrypted Zigbee. Zigbee and encrypted Zigbee use IEEE802.15.4.
4. I should probably make a better translation of the posts.

[ 11 April 2010 edit : made translations of the blogposts in English and changed the links here ]

Answer 2

LivingColors uses an implementation of 802.15.4, the ‘ZigBee’ mesh-network wireless protocol designed for consumer appliances.

The second-gen LivingColors lamps can be persuaded to talk to the Philips Hue wireless bridge and integrate with a Hue setup. Much anecdotal information about how this is done can be had here:

http://www.everyhue.com/?page_id=38#/discussion/7/hue-and-living-colors

... for your purposes, integrating with Hue is your best bet, as the bridge exposes (as of yet, unofficially) a comprehensive RESTful JSON API, which is easily scripted — one of the better resources on using this API can be found here:

http://rsmck.co.uk/hue

I personally have had a good deal of fun doing what you are trying to do, with the Hue bridge and LivingColors lamps. Good luck!

Answer 3

I would too be interested by controlling my Living Colors from a computer, through a 2.4Ghz USB transmitter (mainly just for fun ;)

I have two Living Colors, a "Generation 1" and a "Generation 2", and the bad news is that the remote hardware and (maybe) the protocol have been totally modified by Philips in the process (probably to add the "fading effects" of the second generation). So it's even more complicated now, such a transmitter would have to deal with the 2 protocols.

Another link about what's inside the official controller (in addition to the Elektor article given above) :

• Gen 1 : http://www.knutsel.org/2009/01/01/livingcolors-1st-generation/
• Gen 2 : http://www.knutsel.org/2009/12/01/philips-redesigns-livingcolors-breaks-compatibility/
• Elektor (reverse engeneering of the procotol : http://www.ideetron.nl/Livcol/UK2008110661.pdf