MelAlmost two years ago, Philips Hue launched the Calla and Lily, its first outdoor lights. I have also used three of them in my garden and have noticed a bit of condensation at one time or another. Depending on the respective weather conditions, this is completely normal. In my case, it was actually only a few drops, which disappeared again with the next sunshine.
Therefore, I was even more surprised by the pictures that Daniel, a Hueblog reader, sent me. In about a year, his Calla base lights have accumulated a lot of water, so that even the luminosity has decreased. But just have a look for yourself, especially on the third picture you can see the amount very well:
“I have already expressed my anger about the Hue Calla in the comments here several times. Now I have come to install the new lights I got from Signify. Just now I have seen how much water has been collected in the Callas in one year. Not in all of them, but one in particular. Unfortunately, Signify refused to comment and just offered a replacement. I will see how the new lights will look like in a year’s time.”
How much water has been collected in your Philips Hue Calla?
First of all, it must be said that Signify usually reacts quickly in warranty cases and sends out new luminaires as replacements without much hassle. However, I do ask myself the question: is this an extreme individual case or are there more Calla outdoor luminaires affected? Have a look in your garden and let me know in the comments.
There is no danger to yourself, at least not with the Calla and other low-voltage lamps. The power supply is only 24 volts, so even if there is a short circuit inside the lamp, nothing worse can happen.
Fabian
I have 3 Hue Calla bollard lights, one has just stopped working. At first it was flickering, it now has a dull glow. It also looks to have a large amount of condensation.
Nearly 2 years on and the same has happened again, build up of conversation and light is now short circuiting. Obviously there must be a design issue with the calla pedestal product. I have 3 pedestals, are there any hue pedestal lights that do not have this problem?
I have about 8 Hue Calla on my garden and this is the third time that i change about 2-3 Calla (8 in total) because the water inside covers the electronic and goes “off and unreachable”
I’m waiting for response from Hue/Signify but every 2-3 years this happens
Is not better to put some holes to drain this water on each calla? To prevent the water that covers electronic circuit?
I currently own 13 Hue Calla outdoor lamps. The oldest was purchased in March 2024, making it about 15 months old. Just five months after that initial purchase—by August 2024—I experienced my first failure: two of the lamps died on the exact same day and became completely unresponsive. Since then, I’ve had to contact Hue support regarding issues with a total of four units—all of which ultimately failed. Three have been replaced so far. The third gave me the most trouble; support initially resisted issuing a replacement, but eventually did so once the lamp fully died.
Most recently, last night a fourth Calla failed. After over six hours of back-and-forth troubleshooting via Facebook Messenger, the conversation ended with this:
“At the moment, we are not finding your item available to replace, so in order to continue with the request, we’ll review this with our specialized team and reach back to you as soon as possible.” “Thank you, we’ll be reaching back to you shortly.”
So now I’m just left waiting to hear back? Interestingly, the Hue Callas are no longer listed on the Philips Hue US website—nor is the just recently announced taller version of the Calla. Hmmm…
As I mentioned to support, this product appears to suffer from a critical defect and should be recalled, with refunds issued. Perhaps the removal from the site suggests that’s exactly what’s happening?
Somehow, I doubt it.