There is one thing that always bothers me about Philips Hue, and that is the really thick power supply units. This may not be a problem when used alone on a wall socket, but with power strips at the latest, the space problems really start. Especially if you want to place several Lightstrips or table lamps such as the Hue Play Lightbar or Hue Gradient Signe in a corner of the room.
At the beginning of January, Philips Hue announced a USB-C cable for its Hue Secure cameras, which is due to go on sale in March. Available in two different colors, it will make the classic plug-in power supply with the permanently connected cable superfluous and provide more flexibility. It’s just a shame that the launch is limited to three meters and that shorter cables are not also available.
19.99 euros is quite a lot for a “simple” USB-C cable that is fitted with suitable contacts for the Hue Secure cameras at the other end. But I’ll be honest: if such a cable were also available for Lightstrips or table lamps from Philips Hue, I would certainly be prepared to pay this price.
Is such a thing even possible?
Now I’m not an electrical engineer. According to the power supply, the Hue Secure lamps run on 12 volts and up to 2 amps, so the output can be up to 24 watts. This is a value that all Philips Hue light strips and table lamps can manage with. According to the power supply unit, these are powered with up to 24 volts and 0.83 amps. These are also values that can be covered by USB-C.
In principle, however, it seems to be possible, as this Reddit post proves. There, a resourceful inventor has taken apart his Philips Hue Play Lightbar and fitted it with a USB-C cable for the power supply.
And somehow Signify, the manufacturer of Philips Hue, is doing it itself. A WiZ table lamp equipped with a USB-C port was launched some time ago. The WiZ Portrait even makes do with just 5 volts and a maximum of 2 amps, so that it can even be supplied with a USB-A power supply unit. However, with a maximum of 10 watts, the brightness is also somewhat limited, so Philips Hue could be a little more modern here…
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Most Hue stuff with a power brick is expecting 24V input. Unfortunately, the USB-PD spec does not include 24V, only 20V and 28V. Some products (including the one in the Reddit post) can evidently function with 20V, so you can make it work, just at lower brightness. The Hue stuff is not really designed to work on any other input voltage, since its bundled with a PSU that is supposed to handle all that.
Also, support of either of these voltages is optional and many USB-C bricks do not support it. Worse, it’s often very difficult to figure out what voltage profiles a USB-C bricks does support, since they’re usually only listed by max total wattage. For example, a brick may advertise itself as “45W” so you’d think it could easily handle a 20W light. But then you discover it only goes up to 15V, and that 45W is at 15V 3A. That won’t work for powering a 24V Zigbee controller and its LEDs.