With the rise of LED lighting more and more so called smart light bulbs are available today. These are light bulbs with built-in software that allows you to control your lighting from multiple devices like a mobile app or with a voice command. Let’s check out what smart light bulbs exactly are and if they are beneficial for your home.
How Do Smart Light Bulbs Work?
Smart light bulbs have come a long way in no time. They started as a replacement for traditional light bulbs and turned into a technology that changed the way we interact with our homes.
Investing in smart light bulbs is an excellent first step to turning your home into a smart one. They can be controlled via a phone app, remote, or voice control. That means getting rid of the traditional wall switches.
Smart Hubs
Smart light bulbs work in various ways. For example, you can control them via a smart home hub that connects all your devices.
That way, you send commands through your mobile phone to your hub. Afterward, the hub transfers your orders to the smart lights to control how they work.
WiFi
With the introduction of WiFi, ZigBee, and Bluetooth to home automation systems, you can control smart LED light bulbs without installing a hub.
Smart bulbs that support these features can connect directly to your home WiFi network and receive commands from your smartphone, tablet, or voice.
Adaptive Light Fixtures
Adaptive light fixtures don’t rely on WiFi or smart hubs to work. Instead, they have sensors that detect changes in the surrounding environment and change the lighting accordingly.
For example, they might turn off during the day and gradually increase lighting as the sun goes down. This can save you money on electricity bills.
Benefits of Smart Light Bulbs
Smart bulbs have a lot to offer, from reduced energy consumption to the convenience of controlling your lights from your phone. Here are the benefits of smart light bulbs.
Cost-Effective
You might think of smart light bulbs as a fancy way to customize your lighting at home or office.
However, that’s not their only benefit. One of the most appealing aspects of smart light bulbs is that they can save you money on energy bills.
While they cost more than traditional lights upfront, they consume much less electricity. In addition, they can be programmed to turn off automatically when you’re not home or to dim down when no one is in the room.
Convenience
Smart bulbs make life more convenient.
For example, you can control your lights when you’re not home. If you’re out of town, forgot to turn off a light, or are just not in the mood to get up off the couch, you can control smart light bulbs from your phone.
With a touch of a button, you can also change the atmosphere of any room in your house.
Smart lighting also comes in handy for people with mobility issues, as they won’t have to go from one room to another to ensure their lights are turned off.
Environmentally Safe
Most modern smart light bulbs are LED bulbs, which are environmentally friendly compared to traditional incandescent lights. Besides their excellent energy efficiency, they contain no mercury, making them a safer option.
Smart LED bulbs are an easy way to reduce your carbon footprint as well. By using less energy, you’re helping reduce the power demand and, in turn, lessening your environmental impact.
Improving Sleep
It has been proven by studies that different light colors can affect your alertness, sleeping pattern, and mental sharpness.
For example, blue lights can impact the body’s circadian rhythm leading to sleep disturbances. Conversely, warm colors, like orange, can help you sleep better.
Thanks to smart light bulbs, you can adjust them to block specific wavelengths and increase warm colors at night so you can sleep better.
Features of Smart Light Bulbs
As you can expect, many features are available with most smart light bulbs. The features vary depending on the brand and model.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the most popular features of smart light bulbs.
Voice Activation
Modern smart light bulbs often connect to voice assistant apps like Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Apple HomeKit. You can control your lights using simple voice commands like “Turn off the lights in room number two.”
Scheduling and Automation
This feature allows scheduling your lights to turn on and off automatically at specific times throughout the day. For example, you can plan your lights to be on if you’re on vacation to make it look like the house is occupied.
You can also customize your lights to turn off if no motion is detected in a particular area for a specific period.
Color Changing
Many smart light bulbs come with adjustable color settings, so you can change the house lights’ color as preferred. Furthermore, you can control the color’s temperature and brightness. This feature is excellent for setting the mood in any room.
Do you want to read? You can dim down the lights and select a warm color. Are you having a party? You can use multi-color RGB smart bulbs for an immersive experience.
Scene Settings
Another handy feature of smart lights is that you can control a group of them to work simultaneously to create a personalized scene.
The idea is to adjust the temperature and brightness of different light sets together. That way, you can create a unique environment for your living room, bedroom, or gaming room.
Playing Music
Some fancy smart light bulbs have built-in speakers that connect to your smartphone or tablet.
These lights allow you to sync your music with them, creating a dynamic and immersive atmosphere in any room.
Controlling Smart Light Bulbs
Smart light bulbs receive and send signals using different technologies. Some light bulbs use WiFi or smart hubs, while others rely on Bluetooth. So what’s the difference?
If you’re using smart bulbs that rely on WiFi, you can control them through your smartphone from wherever you are, as long as you have an internet connection. This is handy in case you go outside and don’t remember if you turned off the lights.
Regarding smart bulbs that use Bluetooth to connect to your phone, you can control them when you’re within 50 feet. That’s because Bluetooth has a limited range.
