For those interested in home automation, among the most common entry points is smart lighting. Simplicity is key, which is why plug-and-play smart lighting options are widely popular. However, if you want more options, in-depth smart lighting systems provide additional capabilities with a heightened level of security. To begin your journey towards making your home a smart home, it suggests that you get a smart light bulb. These lights are like conventional bulbs, and you can control smart bulb from your phone in your existing appliances.
It may also be set to a timer, configuration, and level brightness and can be enabled and disabled using your voice.
The greatest smart light bulbs will be something you often use, which will tell you how other smart household accessories can fit in your life when you start with smart home technology. To get the most out of your exceptional features, you will need a strong Internet connection. You may add more to other rooms around your home once you are happy with the first light bulb. Or dig even deeper into the smart lighting realm.
Today, we will suppose that you have chosen to make your life easier and safer for both smart lights. What you could wonder is how this smart lighting can be controlled once it is installed. We will take care of the Philips Hue or LIFX Lights through multiple approaches so that you get as little input as you can.
Traditional switch
You can start managing your smart light bulbs via an existing switch, with various built-in advantages. Depending on your intended purpose, all you need to do is utilize a smart light bulb or numerous bulbs. Linked homes are highly cost-effective and straightforward to start with if you are not committed to the idea of a connected house or are just trying things out. To elaborate, we would only recommend this if it is the cheapest way to begin.
If you plan to buy many bulbs to cover your complete home, be sure to purchase long-lasting light bulbs. A smart bulb is not the most cost-effective option when it comes to having this level of coverage.
After all, we are all different, and perhaps your oldest relative is not that keen on Alexa, while you may appreciate voice control. Instead of the usual manual technique, you can use replacement switches. Switches are an excellent fit for people who prefer manual control coupled with some extra intelligence. But they require less overall expenditure than scoping out your entire house with new smart bulbs.
Keypad
Insteon is one of the real OG’s of the home automation scene, introduced back in 2005. Before significant IT firms joined in, they were pioneers of smart home technology. And suppose you want a unique technique of controls, not only your lighting but also other Insteon devices.
In that case, you have several remarkable keypads which allow you to control your lighting system robustly and multi-functionally. These keypads are available in white, ivory, or light almond to match the décor.
Insteon On / Off Keypad is the six-button format and may be controlled with several techniques by five different devices or clusters of devices.
By tapping and switching the switch itself, you may initiate light scenes quickly throughout your smart home. Including the Insteon Hub allows you to also access remote control and voice control.
But you need an enabled device if you want to utilize Alexa or Google Assistant. By investing in a hub, you may combine smart gadgets from thermostats to WiFi cameras and much more with your lighting.
The Insteon dimmer keyboard comes in 2 variations; 6 buttons and eight buttons.
They both work in the same manner. Other than that, you may handle five devices or group devices with the model of the six buttons, while up to 8 devices can be controlled with the version of the eight buttons. You may use your keypad, remote control on your mobile phones, and voice commands to control your lights. As long as you can use these keypads to reduce the brightness levels, you will also get even more adaptable power than an on / off switch.
The greatest linked homes are individually adapted to each step, so how can you change your light by introducing a little personality?
You may change those pedestrian letters with something a little more descriptive. Insteon provides a fully custom keypad with gravure buttons. Choosing a tiny keypad with a 4-scene or 8-scene layout lets you change your lighting via keypad. You can fulfill everything without walking to the wall. This works nicely for someone who does not want a smartphone control, is very technically knowledgeable but doesn’t want to continue to go up and down to turn on and off the lights.
Mobile phone – control smart bulbs with smartphone
Control lights with the phone app are the most popular and consistent technique for controlling your smart home’s lighting. Whether you need smart light bulbs, smart switches, or smart outlets, you may use just a free app and remote phone to control all light types.
Since almost every one of us is always on hand with our phones, it is probably one of the most convenient control options. It is perhaps the first thing you think about when smart household technology comes into your thoughts.
Philips Hue provides a wide variety of phone configurable lighting, divided into three major types; White, White Ambiance, and White and Color Ambiance.
You will have to invest in a central hub with smart lighting if you want broader remote control. Philips Hue Bridge is compatible with both HomeKit and Zigbee, it provides a great deal of light, but all you need to know is that it allows you to connect up to 50 Hue lights and control using the responsive application. Avoiding the piles of remotes while using your phone with your smart home is a benefit of the modern-day.
If you are thinking about controlling your home lights with your phone, don’t worry about it.
Everything you need is a single application, and most smart light applications are easy to operate. The ability to create scenes and routines is also an essential advantage of the control in application. In your smart home, you can also combine your lights with other devices.
Also, as if it were not all motivation enough, as indicated above, you are given the security dimension by remote access to your lighting. Whether you are using the Away mode or just thinking about controlling lights away from home, more than depending on a camera or a video door box may be achieved by ramping up security in your connected house.
Voice activation
Smart houses must incorporate digital assistants and voice control, as well as lighting. Whether you use an Echo device and support Alexa’s services or prefer using Google Assistant, there has not been a better moment to make voice orders dim or turn off lights so you won’t have to lift your finger.
One of the main advantages of sound activated light bulb is that you can make your technology function along with the voice-controlled led lights so that you do not just keep the light on but regulate the temperature and get your coffee maker to work. The configuration of your smart lights is device-specific with Alexa or Google Assistant. Consequently, we do not have complete knowledge of each variant.
However, all you have to do is set up your smart light in your digital assistants. And then you will be ready to roll through your ecosystem. You can combine your lights to control them independently upstairs or downstairs. Moreover, you can manage light clusters or certain rooms with voice commands. You can use Philips hue voice control using Google Assistant, Alexa, and Apple HomeKit. Get more details on which smart lights work with Google Home and Assistant.
Voice control lights without internet
Without an internet connection, you can use voice control. Two kinds of voice control are available: cloud-based voicing and built-in voice control. The internet is required for cloud-based voice control but not for embedded voice control.
A cloud-based voice control uses the cloud to run, as the name suggests. This format has some advantages. The primary thing is that your device does not take a lot of space. You could use your voice control for everything on your phone since you use cloud-based voice control. It would be preferable, however, to use cloud-based voice control with an Internet connection.
The second technique to establish your voice control is to use embedded voice control. This means that the voice control is installed on your device immediately. In contrast to cloud-based voice control, an embedded voice control takes a considerable amount of storage on your device.
SevenHugs Smart Remote to Control Smart Bulbs
This wonderful SevenHugs smart remote has the greatest value applied. And you may use it for your smart lighting and much more in your connected home. This device met its Kickstarter funding target in just 10 minutes. In short, with Bluetooth, WiFi, and infrared functionality, you can operate several devices from this universal remote touchscreen. The device performs all for you after you have installed it. But the main sales feature of the device is that everything you have to do, whether this is your Philips Hue lighting or your smart TV, is directed towards the device of interest. It allows you to perform adjustments on the fly.
Although it is excellent to introduce your children to smart home technology early, it makes perfect sense to ease it if they are too young to get rid of a smartphone. Likewise, the SevenHugs remote is not much of a jump forward, mentally from a conventional distance control, if you have older family members or anyone not especially interested in technology. The UI is excellent on this remote system, which gives you fun to change the color of your Hue lights on the borders. A glass display certainly does not offer you anything through tactile feedback as the only significant disadvantage of this remote.
Wrapping Up…
If you wish to implement and use smart lighting, you have various control options available to you. Use any or all of these techniques, and you will find that your life will get easier when you automate more of the tedious processes at home
