Help with increasing the power of a Philips hue bulb Frankenstein "hack"

[BobK]

What was the signal originally connected to on the Phillips bulb? I can't think of any reason whe they would have a 3.3V signal out of the controller board. Have you neasured it? If the SSR is being energized when the bulb is supposed to be off, I submit that the signal is not what you think it is.

Bob

 

[billyboy12]

What I have connected it to now are the positive and negative metal prongs that were originally connected to the LED board, which as you said before outputs at WAY above 3.3v. Taking another look at the blog I linked to (http://www.instructables.com/id/Control-ANY-Light-With-Philips-Hue/), he doesn't have anything connected to these prongs.

I haven't measured the board myself, but the guy in the blog said after probing around the control board, he found a few spots where a 3.3v volt signal appears when the bulb is set to "on". It seems like THIS is what he has connected to the positive wire leading to the SSR!

It seems like this is where I've gone wrong. But as I said before, my SSR input is rated at 4-32 volts input, which means it won't activate with 3.3v, will it? So how might I be able to bump it up a volt or so to get the SSR to respond?

 

[BobK]

I am still cofused about what you are trying to do. The Hue bulb allows you to change the color and brightness. One SSR is not going to do that. At best, you would get on / off control. Is that what you are expectinng?

Bob

 

[billyboy12]

On/Off control is EXACTLY what I'm expecting! Most of my lights aren't color lights anyway.

 

[BobK]

Oh, okay. If you can find the 3.3V signal, it will probably be able to switch the SSR. 4V is just the minimum that they guarantee will trigger it reliably.

Bob

 

[billyboy12]

Thanks Bob, I'll give that a shot!

On the subject of changing colors and brightness though, do you think that would be possible? For example, for brightness, some kind of "dimmer" SSR-type device that can control the amount of current that it's letting through to the LED control board?

 

[BobK]

It could be done, but not simply. I would have to know what the outputs of the hue bulb board look like, and what the driver for the other LED lamp looks like. Is the original light dimmable? Some are not.

Bob

 

[billyboy12]

You were right, the SSR can indeed work with the 3.3v that the hue board puts out! Everything is working now and I can still control the light with the remote if I want! Thanks for the help! By the way, I've seen that you can get heatsinks for SSRs, would one be necessary for a project like this?

As to your questions, this light actually has built in brightness and color temperature controls via the remote, so it has the functionality of a basic hue bulb. For information and what the hue board looks like, it's over on that blog I mentioned:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Control-ANY-Light-With-Philips-Hue/

As to the ceiling light's board, you can see it in this photo I took (the modification doesn't look like this anymore, since as we found, the output of the hue board was too high):
https://imgur.com/a/OdOTS