Every year, more and more people are choosing Smart lighting solutions for their homes.
Not only does it enhance your home’s comfort, beauty and functionality, it can also save you money and bring you peace of mind, both when you’re at home and while you’re away.
In fact, Smart lighting offers greater control than ever. Did you know that you can manage both your indoor and outdoor lighting systems remotely through your mobile device?
Village Media spoke to Ashleigh from Heritage Home Hardware in Sault Ste. Marie about some of the reasons for this increase in popularity and why it might be worth your while to make the switch.
To begin, think about what you want to achieve. It might be reducing energy or hydro costs, enhancing security or gaining convenience—perhaps all three. Your reasons could, it turns out, influence which solution to choose for your home.
Advantages
There are so many benefits. Smart lighting allows you to control your lights using voice commands, create schedules and routines, and set timers. You can even integrate it with other Smart home features.
The following are just a few of the key advantages to adopting this technology.
Improved security
When you’re away, Smart lighting can help make it look as though someone is home.
When you use it to turn on lights randomly, it is a strong deterrent to any would-be burglars. You can use outdoor Smart lights, which are triggered by motion sensors, without any need for wiring. You can even link them to a video doorbell.
Convenience
If you’re already using a voice assistant such as Google Home, Alexa or Apple HomeKit, you can also operate your Smart lights through them. Use motion sensors to turn lights on and off automatically whenever you enter or leave a room. You can even use a single command to turn all of your lights off at night and then back on again in the morning.
Save energy
You can lower your hydro costs by switching from older incandescent bulbs to the more energy-efficient Smart LED bulbs. Most have a lifespan of between 15,000 and 25,000 hours, which, if you’re using them eight hours a day, can add up to 5 to 10 years.
Since you can easily switch them off from your mobile device, you no longer need to worry if you forget to turn the lights off after leaving home. The motion sensor feature can also help; it ensures the lights are not left on in rooms that are empty.
Ambience
Use Smart lighting to create the right atmosphere for a specific activity, whether it’s for reading, working, gaming, watching a movie or hosting a dinner party. You can set the lights in your living room to dim when the TV is turned on or to create an immersive home theatre or gaming environment.
A quick tap or voice command can also change the tone in any room or outdoor area. Set the right vibe by changing the colour or brightness to highlight different décor features.
Health and well-being
If you don’t like being woken up by a jarring alarm clock, set your Smart lights instead. You’ll get a much gentler wake-up call where the amount of light in your bedroom gradually increases.
It has been shown that synchronizing your lights to the colour of the sun can help you feel more energized during the day, as well as more restful and relaxed through dusk and the early evening hours.
Choosing a smart lighting protocol
All types of Smart lighting require a wireless protocol in order to enable their connected features. Many lights and bulbs don’t need a hub and can connect directly to Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, which is an advantage if you don’t want to commit to one particular brand.
Bluetooth Smart lights are a good choice for any areas where the Wi-Fi may be limited, as long as you remember that you won’t be able to control your lights when you go out of range.
Go with a hub if you plan to add a lot of Smart lights to your home. It helps ensure that your lights stay connected and is less taxing on your Wi-Fi. Two of the most popular hub-based protocols are Zigbee and Z-Wave.
Smart bulbs
The easiest way to get started with Smart lighting is to replace a regular light bulb with a Smart bulb. The Smart bulb alone turns a regular lamp into a Smart lamp that you can now control either with your voice or via an app. There are a few different types you may want to consider.
White Smart bulbs
These are available in “soft white” or “warm white”. Unlike regular white bulbs, most have a dimming function that makes them incredibly versatile. You can even experiment and have a bit of fun: tunable whites or full-colour options let you play with a wide range of colours.
Tunable Smart white bulbs
If you’d like to have control over the tone of your lighting, tunable white bulbs let you change the colour temperature from warm to cool and back again. Not only is this great in terms of aesthetics, it can be quite practical, especially if you use your lighting at different times of the day or to perform different tasks.
It’s best to set the temp to cool in the afternoon and warmer for the evening. These bulbs are also an excellent option if you’re not sure which tone of white will look the best in a particular space.
Colour-changing Smart bulbs
You’re bound to have fun with these bulbs—they offer a range of tunable whites along with millions of custom colours. They’re flexible too, in that all of your Smart lights can remain one colour or you can arrange them in a pre-set colour scheme across multiple bulbs.
Another cool feature is that you can set the lights to be static or dynamic; with dynamic, your lights will cycle through all of the colours in a given scheme. You can even adjust the transition speed, from a slow morphing effect to super-fast.
Smart bulbs vs. Smart switches
Smart bulbs do have one drawback: once you turn the physical switch off, the bulb loses power. With no power, you can no longer control it. There are, however, some good work-arounds in the form of voice control, sensors and automated routines. You could also install a few wall-mounted wireless remote controls; these basically turn your Smart bulbs into wireless light switches.
You might decide that the best course of action is to install Smart switches. These will not turn off when you flip the switch off; they remain powered and will continue to accept commands and run automations. Older Smart switches didn’t work with Smart bulbs, but the newer ones do.
Advantages of the Smart switch:
- You will not need multiple Smart bulbs
- You can control an entire circuit by turning your old lights into Smart lights
- These are ideal for recessed ceiling lighting, multi-bulb fixtures and lights that are located in hard-to-reach places
- Works well for outdoor lights that are controlled by indoor switches
Advantages of the Smart bulb:
- It can include colour control options
- It can support individual bulb-dimming features
- They are less expensive than Smart switches
- No hardwiring required
Smart outlets
Smart outlets, also called Smart plugs, can be another great addition to your Smart lighting system. Smart plugs can be controlled with your mobile device or through Smart Home assistants like Alexa, Siri and Google Home.
There are three formats to choose from:
- Plug-in Smart outlets – These simply plug into your wall outlets and are quite cost-effective. The exposed socket on the back lets you plug in any kind of light you want.
- In-wall Smart outlets – Use these to replace your existing wall outlets for a neater, more seamless finish.
- Outdoor Smart outlets – Remotely power your outdoor entertaining lights with these, as well as your security lights and Christmas lights.
For more Smart lighting solutions, indoors and out, visit Heritage Home Hardware or call 705-759-5101.