A Beginner’s Guide For Smart Lighting
Do you want adorable and affordable lighting at your home with a little effort? Indeed smart lighting is the best option.
Many people find it difficult to get out of bed at night to turn off the lights. And they wish there were a system that would allow them to control the lights while staying in bed.
Sure, this is possible with smart lights.
Smart lights work on wireless technology that makes them different from traditional lights. You can not just only turn them on or off, you can also play with the different colors and scenes with just one tap or through voice command.
Let’s discuss what is smart lighting, how these lights work and how can you take advantage of them.
What Is Smart Lighting?
Smart lighting gives you a chance to illuminate your spaces differently and get rid of boring lights. Although their physical appearance resembles regular light bulbs, you can enjoy many features with smart lights that can never be done with regular lights.
With smart lights, no longer necessary for the need of physical switches to turn the lights on or off. They have built-in technology and can be controlled wirelessly via Bluetooth or WiFi. That means you only need to connect them to your smartphone and can control them from everywhere.
Moreover, they have some advanced features that make them the most attractive among users. These lights come in a variety of color ranges, and brightness levels so that you can create different lighting effects according to your mood or requirements. You can set schedules or routines in which you want to turn the bulbs on or off.
Benefits Of Smart Lighting
Smart lights are more popular because they are more beneficial than other lighting. Although they are expensive to buy, these lights are energy efficient and have a longer life span than traditional lights, which saves on electricity bills and maintenance.
Smart lights have some advanced features that make them unique and prominent.
Let’s discuss the features of smart lights and how they are more beneficial than traditional lights.
1. Remote control
Smart lights don’t need to be controlled by the wall switches. They are wirelessly connected to your smartphones or voice assistants via Bluetooth or Wifi. After that, you can easily control them from a single tap or a voice command.
Additionally, many other controls are available for the lights beyond just turning them on and off, such as brightness adjustments, color changing, and creating different lighting effects.
Even if you are away from home, you can still control lights if they are connected to a Wi-Fi network.
2. Energy Efficient
Smart lights contain LED bulbs, which are energy-saving light bulbs and use less power ultimately saving on electricity bills.
When there is no one in the room, smart bulbs automatically turn off and lower the brightness of light when needed. This results in less energy consumption.
3. Longer life-span
Smart lights last longer than traditional lights giving an extra benefit of saving cost. While purchasing, you can find them more expensive than traditional lights. But they save you for the long term because smart lights are more durable than other lights and require minimal maintenance which effectively saves you money.
4. Convenience
Convenience means doing something with minimal effort.
In traditional lights, you need to control them manually through physical wall switches that need some effort to move your body towards the switch and then press buttons to control the lights.
Smart lights allow you to control from anywhere. They not only save your energy but also save a lot of time. To turn lights on/off or adjust the brightness, no manual operations are required.
No matter where you are, you can easily control your lights from your smart devices. You can adjust the brightness and change the color of the lights according to your mood.
Moreover, you can set the schedules of lighting. That automatically turns the lights on/off according to the time you have set.
5. Security
Smart lights are important to enhance the security of the house. Smart lights have motion detective sensors that trigger the lights to turn on when they detect any motion in the room.
Also, some smart lights send notifications to the owner when they detect any unusual activity. So, for security, outdoor smart lights contribute more.
For security purposes, you can also use PIR security lights that have built-in cameras and 2-way audio communication.
Choosing the Right Smart Lighting System
Choosing the right smart light for your home is quite simple and easy. All you need is to consider your requirements and lifestyle.
Types of Smart Lighting Products
Smart lights are of different types. Different smart lighting products are available in the market. So, you have to decide which is the right product for you. Here is the list of various smart lights and their usage, which makes it simpler to choose which is the right type to light the specific location.
Strip Lights
LED strip lights are flexible, adhesive-backed strips that you can easily stick wherever you want. LED strip lights are more popular because they are inexpensive, energy-efficient, and reused.
You can easily hang LED strip lights without damaging walls. Furthermore, after some time you can remove strip lights easily without ripping off the paint and install them in another place. Strip lights are available in a variety of color ranges and brightness levels. They can be controlled remotely via smartphones or voice assistance.
These are the perfect choice for parties, decorations, and light-up the dark corners of the house. These are not only for indoor use, you can also use strip lights outdoors for better lighting at night.
Smart Bulbs
Smart bulbs are the most easiest and straightforward way of making your home smart. You can replace your traditional bulbs with smart bulbs and control them remotely with your smart gadgets ( smartphones, voice assistants, or smart speakers).
Smart bulbs also come in a wide range of colors and are dimmable. Moreover, they also have built-in motion sensors and automatically turn on the lights when detect any motion around. So, they are also better for the security of your house.
Smart Fixtures
Smart fixtures are advanced fixtures with smart technology into it. They have sensors that collect data and respond according to it. If you replace your existing fixtures with smart features you can enjoy a lot of features such as remote control, dimming, color changing, and scene setting.
You just need to connect your light fixture to your home’s WiFi and then you have much control over your lights.
Smart Light Switches
Smart light switches are the advanced version of the wall switches. If you replace all your traditional wall switches with smart switches, you can easily connect them with your smartphone and control all the lights of your house with a single tap.
Rather than just turning the lights on and off, you can dim the lights and schedule the lights. The other advantage of smart switches is that you can control your lights from everywhere even if you are miles away from your home.
Remember that if you already have smart bulbs in your home, you don’t require smart switches. If you have smart switches, you don’t require smart bulbs.
Key Features To Consider
After deciding which type of smart lighting you need, you need to consider some key features to buy the right product for you.
Compatibility
If you have already a smart home ecosystem such as Amazon Echo or Alexa, make sure that the new product you are buying is compatible with those smart gadgets.
Connectivity
Smart gadgets are Bluetooth-supported or WiFi-supported. The Bluetooth-supported devices have very limited range such as 30 feet. So you can control them only if you are within the range. The WiFi-supported devices are connected to the cellular network and then can be controlled through smartphones or voice assistants.
Brightness And Color Options
Smart lights come in a variety of colors. Before buying make sure the color options that suit your mood. Some lights are available in only white, warm white, and cold white colors while others have multiple colors. So, check this at the time of purchase. Also, most of the bulbs are dimmable. So, buy the dimmable one if you love to use it.
Cost:
Cost and budget is one of the important factors to consider while buying any of the products. Smart products from different manufacturers have different prices. So, choose the one that suits your pocket.
How To Set Up Smart Lighting?
Once you have bought your required smart light product, you can easily install them. Their installation is quite simple as you install regular bulbs, fixtures, or switches.
Before installation, you must know what should be required for the installation. It’s not all about instruments. You don’t require any special instrument to install smart lights.
But you need a fast internet connection for your smart lights an appropriate voice assistant ( Amazon Echo or Alexa) and a hub if needed. If you have all the necessary things then start the installation.
Let’s discuss how you can install different smart lights.
Smart bulbs are simple to install. You don’t need any additional material to install them. Simply, remove the existing light bulbs and put the smart bulb in the same lighting fixture. After the installation install the required app on your smartphone and connect it. After that, you can control all the functions of the bulb easily.
To install the Smart fixtures and Smart switches, you need to replace your existing fixture and wall switch with the smart one. If you are not an expert in this work you can hire someone who can do it for you. After the successful installation, you can connect them to your smartphones via the app. Make sure that you download the app provided by the manufacturer. Otherwise, you can’t connect it with your smart gadgets.
Can smart lights work without the internet?
Bluetooth-supported smart lights can easily work without WiFi. you need to install the app suggested or provided by the manufacturer. You can check the app from the manufacturer’s instructions.
After the installation of an app, you can connect your lights to your smartphone via Bluetooth.
It’s okay to control the lights via Bluetooth. You can control all the features of your lights. But their control is limited. Bluetooth-connected lights can be controlled within a short range. The range of Bluetooth is approximately 30 feet. That means you have no control over lights if you are out of range.
If you have WiFi-supported smart lights, then you can easily control your lights from every corner of the world.
Can Smart Bulbs Be Fitted Into Any Fixture?
Yes, smart bulbs can be fitted and work fine with regular fixtures.
If you want to replace your regular bulbs with smart bulbs, you don’t need to replace the fixture too.
Just screw the smart bulb in your existing fixture as you screw the regular bulbs. And you have done. You can enjoy your smart lighting without too much effort.
Smart bulbs don’t require smart fixtures and smart switches for proper functioning. Don’t overlap smart gadgets. For smart lighting, you can use any one form of smart bulb, fixture, or switch.
Home’s Security With Smart Lights
Smart lights enhance the security of the house.
Smart lights have motion sensors inside. Whenever someone wants to enter your house at night, these lights can easily detect the motion and turn on automatically to notify you that someone is trying to enter your house.
Moreover, some smart bulbs have small cameras inside that are the best for security if you use outdoor spaces.
Furthermore, if you are away from home or enjoying holidays in some other city, you can still turn lights on/off so to save your house from strangers.
As smart lights have so many advantages to improve the security of your house, they can also be hacked to spy on you ( paste link here). You should be aware of it and take caution for your safety.
Conclusion
Smart lighting is the way to illuminate the lighting of your house with the latest technology. Smart lights make life easier and more comfortable. They are energy-efficient, secure, and can be controlled remotely via smart gadgets. They have many advanced features such as dimmable, wide color ranges, and automation.
However, initial settlements may be higher as such lights are expensive and require an internet connection. But they save for the long term by their efficiency and durability.
