Here’s How Smart Lighting Can Benefit Your Home

The popularity of Smart Lighting is increasing every year. Offering greater control than ever, Smart Lighting allows you to manage your indoor and outdoor lighting systems remotely through your mobile device. If you’re thinking about adding Smart Lighting to your home, you need to think about what you want to achieve. Is it more convenience, enhanced security, reduced energy or hydro costs? Perhaps it’s a combination of all these and other objectives. Either way, there’s a Smart Lighting solution for your home.

Smart Lighting Advantages

Adding Smart Lighting to your home has many benefits. You can set timers for your lights, create schedules and routines, and control your lights using voice commands. You can also integrate your Smart Lighting with other Smart Home features. Here’s some of the key advantages Smart Lighting can bring to your home.

Security

You can set your Smart lights to turn on randomly while you’re away to make it look as though someone is home. This is a strong deterrent to any would-be burglars. Outdoor Smart lights can be triggered by motion sensors without the need for any wiring. You can even link them to a video doorbell. Perhaps most importantly, you never have to come home to a dark house again.

Convenience

You can operate your Smart lights through voice assistants such as Alexa, Google Home, or Apple HomeKit. Motion sensors can turn lights on and off automatically whenever you enter or leave a room. At night a single command can turn all your lights off, then back on again in the morning.

Energy Saving

Smart LED bulbs are much more energy efficient than older incandescent bulbs, so you’ll lower your hydro costs. Most Smart LED bulbs have a lifespan of 15,000 to 25,000 hours, which adds up to 5 or 10 years if you’re using them eight hours a day. If you forget to turn off the lights after leaving home, you can easily switch them off from your mobile device. The motion sensor feature can also ensure lights are not left on in empty rooms.

Ambience

You can set your Smart lighting to enhance different activities such as working, reading, or watching a movie. The lights in your living room can be set to dim when you turn on your TV, or to create an immersive home theatre or gaming environment. You can also change the tone in any room or outdoor area with a quick tap or voice command. That includes changing colour or brightness to accent different décor features, or setting the right vibe for a dinner party.

Health & Well-Being

Instead of a jarring alarm, you can set your Smart lights to gradually increase in the morning for a gentler wake-up call. It’s also been shown that syncing your lights to the colour of the sun can help you feel more energized during the day, and more restful through dusk and early evening.

Choosing a Smart Lighting Protocol

All Smart Lighting requires a wireless protocol to enable their Smart, connected features. Many Smart bulbs and lights can connect directly to Wi-Fi or Bluetooth without a hub. This is an advantage if you don't want to commit to a single brand. Bluetooth Smart lights are great for areas where Wi-Fi is limited, but remember you can't control your lights when you're out of range. If you’re planning on adding a lot of Smart lights to your home, you may want to go with a hub. It’s less taxing on your Wi-Fi and helps ensure your lights will stay connected. Zigbee and Z-Wave are two of the most popular hub-based protocols.

Smart Bulbs

Replacing a regular light bulb with a Smart bulb is the easiest way to get started with Smart Lighting. It turns a regular lamp into a Smart lamp you can control via app or voice. Here’s some different types of Smart bulbs to consider.

White Smart Bulbs

White smart bulbs are available in either "soft white" or “warm white” varieties. Most have a dimming function, which puts them ahead of regular white bulbs. If you want a little more excitement and versatility, you should look at tunable whites or full-colour options.

Tunable Smart White Bulbs

Tunable white bulbs let you change the colour temperature from warm to cool. This comes in handy for performing different tasks or at different times of day. You can set the temp to cool in the afternoon, and warmer for the evening. It's also a great option if you're not sure which tone of white will look best in a given space.

Colour-Changing Smart Bulbs

These versatile bulbs offer a range of tunable whites along with millions of custom colours. From deep, rich reds to soft, calming blues the sky is pretty much the limit. All the Smart lights can remain one colour, or they can be arranged in a pre-set colour scheme across multiple bulbs. You can also set the lights to static or dynamic, so your lights cycle through all the colours in a given scheme. The transition speed can also be adjusted, from a slow morphing effect to super-fast and frenetic.

Smart Bulbs vs. Smart Switches

One drawback of Smart bulbs is that once you turn the physical switch off the bulb loses power and you have no control. Sensors, voice control and automated routines are all good work-arounds. You can also install wall-mounted wireless remote controls which essentially turn your Smart bulbs into wireless light switches. However, your best solution may be to install Smart switches. Unlike Smart bulbs, Smart switches don’t turn off when you flip the switch off. They remain powered and continue to run automations and accept commands. Also, older Smart switches didn't work with Smart bulbs, but newer switches have a built-in support feature that allows you to turn your switch on and off while still supplying the needed amount of electricity to the bulb. Here's a few more points to consider:

Smart Switch Advantages:

Can replace the need for multiple Smart bulbs
Control an entire circuit by turning your old lights into Smart lights
Ideal for recessed ceiling lighting, multi-bulb fixtures, and lights in hard-to-reach places
Ideal for outdoor lights controlled by indoor switches

Smart Bulb Advantages:

Can include colour control options
Can support individual bulb dimming features
Less expensive than smart switches
No hardwiring required

Smart Outlets

Smart outlets, also called Smart plugs, can be a great addition to your Smart Lighting system. Similar to Smart switches, Smart plugs can be controlled with your mobile device, or through Smart Home assistants like Alexa, Siri and Google Home. Here’s three formats to consider:

Plug-in Smart outlets are cost-effective and simply plug into your wall outlets: the exposed socket on the back lets you plug in any type of light you want
In-wall Smart outlets replace your existing wall outlets for a neater, more seamless finish
Outdoor Smart Outlets can remotely power your outdoor entertaining lights, security lights, and Christmas lights

Smart Lighting is a great place to start creating your Smart Home. In addition to enhancing your home’s comfort, beauty and functionality, it can also save you money and give you more peace-of-mind both at home and while you’re away.