Everything You Need to Know About Smart Lights for Your Home
Smart lights let you control a bulb remotely via an app on your phone, through a smart speaker or even past talking to them. You tin program when the lights go on and off, change a bulb's colour likewise equally find your own artistic uses. Here are a few things to consider when choosing which smart lights are right for y'all.
The Skinny on Smart Lights
Smart lights let y'all control a bulb remotely via an app on your telephone, through a smart speaker or even by talking to them. You can plan when the lights go on and off, change a bulb'due south colour equally well as notice your own creative uses (more on this later). Here are a few things to consider when choosing which smart lights are right for you. You can add a smart light to any low-cal fixture or lamp. It actually is as easy equally irresolute a lightbulb: Unscrew the old one; spiral in the new. Plus, check out these 15 cool tech gadgets that volition turn your home into a smart firm.
Hub vs. Hubless
Some smart lights require a hub, which is a device that plugs into your router. A hub like the one shown connects other lightbulbs, allowing you to interact with them from your mobile device and/or smart speaker.
So, how exercise you lot know which lights are compatible with hubs? When you lot're shopping for lights, look for the words "Zigbee" and "Z-Moving ridge." These are names for the protocols/languages that smart devices use to communicate. Leaders in the hub marketplace are Samsung SmartThings, Wink and Amazon Echo. Prices range from $50 to $200. Z-Moving ridge and Zigbee protocols are both capable of creating mesh networks (which allow signals to hop from device to device, extending range) and tin can operate over a significantly longer range than Wi-Fi.
Hubless bulbs don't crave whatever actress hardware or devices. They're cheaper than a seedling with a hub. These bulbs connect via your Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Wi-Fi bulbs are more reliable and don't require a user to be within Bluetooth range (approximately 30 ft.) to control the lite. Wi-Fi smart lights crave no boosted hardware; they employ your existing router to connect to the internet. If you're interested in dipping your toe into the smart lite market, a couple of Wi-Fi bulbs may be the best way to go.
White vs. Color-Changing
Some people may be happy with just the power to dim or turn lights on or off from their phone, while others may want more. Colour-changing lights can exist used like typical lightbulbs—to set the mood during a romantic dinner or even as a notification system (see below). Plus, these are the 100 home tech products we all went gaga over this year.
Make Smart Lights Smarter
- Want to know if you'll need an umbrella today? Tell the smart light located by the forepart door to turn blue at a sure time if rain is in the forecast.
- Practise you sometimes miss important emails? Program a smart calorie-free at your desk to blink red if you get an email from your boss.
- Desire your lights to turn on automatically when you lot arrive home? Configure them to turn on when you outset connect to your dwelling house Wi-Fi.
- Want to get into the team spirit with some mood lighting? Tell your lights to change to the colour of your favorite sports team when a new game starts.
- Desire to know when the price of ane of your stocks rises? Brand your lights plow green when you're making money.
- Want to exist the first to know of a zombie outbreak? Prepare your light to flash when the CDC sends out an warning about a deadly virus.
All these and more than are possible by pairing your color-changing smart lights with a free third-political party service called IFTTT (ifttt.com). The sky's the limit for what you lot can make your smart lights exercise for you lot; all you need is a niggling imagination.
Our Favorite Smart Lights
HUBLESS:
A. White: Kasa Smart Wi-Fi LED Lightbulb, $twenty
B. Multicolor: LIFX Multicolor Smart Wi-Fi LED Lightbulb, $50
HUB REQUIRED:
C. White: Sengled Smart LED Lightbulb, $40 for iv (hub non included)
D. Multicolor: Philips Hue Starter Kit, $100 (includes hub and two bulbs)
Looking for the best and most useful home tech to fill out your wish list or find techy gift ideas for others? These 36 smart home products are but what you lot're looking for.
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Source: https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/everything-you-need-to-know-about-smart-lights-for-your-home/
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