MelI do not mind connecting the Philips Hue Bridge to my router with a LAN cable. Since I use my Fritz!Box and Netgear Orbi together, I have enough connections anyway. Nevertheless, it would be more useful to at least have the choice between the two connection options.
At the moment, we can only speculate why Signify did not enable a WiFi function in the bridge. This may be due to the interference that can occur in the 2.4 GHz network. This band is not only used by WiFi but also by wireless standard ZigBee, by which Hue lamps communicate with each other.
What you need for the conversion of the Hue Bridge
A pretty good guide on how to enable the WiFi functionality of the Hue Bridge can be found on this German-speaking website. The list of required material is not that extensive:
- Torx screwdriver
- UART-to-USB converter e.g. FT232R 3.3V
- six-pin header (or three individual pins)
- three plug-in cables to connect GND/TX/RX to the converter
- Cable to bridge or paper clip
- old network cable to build the loopback connector
- MobaXterm (Terminal/SSH program)
You can read about the necessary steps in the linked instruction. On the website, everything is described in detail and understandable, so that I do not need to add anything to it.
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Fabian