Smart Bulbs

kah22

With my renovations almost complete I’m turning my attention to lighting, in particular smart bulbs.

My room is large, two rooms knocked into one giving me two ceiling lights each run of a different switch. I have a number of plug sockets scattered around the room and my intention would be to use the likes of standard lamps, or lamps on furniture to help create mood. I can see how this might be achieved using the correct type of smart bulb.  However smart bulbs are not cheap to buy and it seems to me that the first bulb you buy could tie you into that manufacturer’s system.  Every manufacturer seems to have their own app., am I right in thinking this is the case ?

Those of you who have went down this road, have you any advice to offer, any warning signs you’d flag up? For those of you who got it wrong first time around what was your initial mistake and was it easy fixed?

As always thanks for any advice

Kevin

es5595

I use Hive, mainly because I’d already got the hub with the heating/hot water. I’ve got smart bulbs in my kitchen and bedside lamp, and downstairs a hive plug with a lamp attached. 

I really like Hive, it’s easy to use, no subscription, I can use the app or use it with Alexa, and it now integrated with Apple home (although I’ve not done this yet). 

I also have LED lighting behind my bookshelves and Nanoleaf light panels as a “feature” in the dining room. They have independent apps and ecosystems, but all integrate with Alexa, so when I say “turn off downstairs lights” everything goes off. 

debitcardmayhem

Well I had a bad experience with my lights I thought this would work

Sadly Mrs DCM could have saved me money initially by installing this cheaper one instead

I am happy to flick the switch , but her version works better for her and the lights are alway on .... at least I have led bulbs

Sorry Kevin couldn't resist.

Personally you can end up spending more on a tech solution than the perceived problem warrants , but then I am a tight old git.

flashg67

I kind of fell into the 'trap' you mention but  found that many smart devices use the 'smart life' app. This almost became irrelevant for me - once set up, I linked all the bulbs to my google mini speaker. So, for example, i can ask google to 'turn lights on'  and all the associated lights turn on, or I can ask for each one to turn on separately or control their brigtness. Sounds complicated, but once I'd got past the setting up, they've worked flawlessly so far, and these were cheapish smart bulbs from Amazon. 
As pointed out though, its a convenient ,but maybe not costs effective way of turning lights on/off! I've found it addictive and now have some smart sockets so I can, say, turn the electric blanket on before bed

RumRat

I have a few different brands of smart bulb around, but I avoided Phillips hue as I achieved the same for less. 
As you want, my lighting is from various lamps as opposed to a central light, all the bulbs are linked via Google home, so they all work together or individually. I've even forgotten which brand is in which light and turning on what's wanted by voice is just second nature now. I think a couple of them were less than a tenner from eBay, bought as an experiment, but, are still doing the job over a year later.
So, it doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg to get started.

Takmon

kah22 said:

With my renovations almost complete I’m turning my attention to lighting, in particular smart bulbs.

My room is large, two rooms knocked into one giving me two ceiling lights each run of a different switch. I have a number of plug sockets scattered around the room and my intention would be to use the likes of standard lamps, or lamps on furniture to help create mood. I can see how this might be achieved using the correct type of smart bulb.  However smart bulbs are not cheap to buy and it seems to me that the first bulb you buy could tie you into that manufacturer’s system.  Every manufacturer seems to have their own app., am I right in thinking this is the case ?

Those of you who have went down this road, have you any advice to offer, any warning signs you’d flag up? For those of you who got it wrong first time around what was your initial mistake and was it easy fixed?

As always thanks for any advice

Kevin

The big flaw with smart bulbs is that if some one turns of the light switch then you have to manually turn on the switch before you can use it again.

Instead of bulbs i just replaced all my light switches with smart switches so it doesn't matter what bulbs i use or if someone wants to turn the switch on or off manually both methods work. The switches are also cheaper and i paid around £10 each for Sonoff ones and i've have been using them all over my house for 2 years now without any issues.  

RumRat

Takmon said:

kah22 said:

With my renovations almost complete I’m turning my attention to lighting, in particular smart bulbs.

My room is large, two rooms knocked into one giving me two ceiling lights each run of a different switch. I have a number of plug sockets scattered around the room and my intention would be to use the likes of standard lamps, or lamps on furniture to help create mood. I can see how this might be achieved using the correct type of smart bulb.  However smart bulbs are not cheap to buy and it seems to me that the first bulb you buy could tie you into that manufacturer’s system.  Every manufacturer seems to have their own app., am I right in thinking this is the case ?

Those of you who have went down this road, have you any advice to offer, any warning signs you’d flag up? For those of you who got it wrong first time around what was your initial mistake and was it easy fixed?

As always thanks for any advice

Kevin

The big flaw with smart bulbs is that if some one turns of the light switch then you have to manually turn on the switch before you can use it again.

Instead of bulbs i just replaced all my light switches with smart switches so it doesn't matter what bulbs i use or if someone wants to turn the switch on or off manually both methods work. The switches are also cheaper and i paid around £10 each for Sonoff ones and i've have been using them all over my house for 2 years now without any issues.  

This is only the case if you use your main room light. If using an array of lamps with mains plugs, this isn't a problem. Unless of course you have one of those fanatics in the house that turns off everything attached to the mains at bedtime...

kah22

Takmon said:

The big flaw with smart bulbs is that if some one turns of the light switch then you have to manually turn on the switch before you can use it again.

Instead of bulbs i just replaced all my light switches with smart switches so it doesn't matter what bulbs i use or if someone wants to turn the switch on or off manually both methods work. The switches are also cheaper and i paid around £10 each for Sonoff ones and i've have been using them all over my house for 2 years now without any issues.  

Yes I have thought of switches.  Am I correct in thinking that they turn standard bulbs into smart bulbs ?

Takmon

kah22 said:

Takmon said:

The big flaw with smart bulbs is that if some one turns of the light switch then you have to manually turn on the switch before you can use it again.

Instead of bulbs i just replaced all my light switches with smart switches so it doesn't matter what bulbs i use or if someone wants to turn the switch on or off manually both methods work. The switches are also cheaper and i paid around £10 each for Sonoff ones and i've have been using them all over my house for 2 years now without any issues.  

Yes I have thought of switches.  Am I correct in thinking that they turn standard bulbs into smart bulbs ?

Yes i simply changes the switches and kept the existing bulbs and light fittings and the switches turn them on and off but also connect to Wi-Fi to control them remotely. 

kah22

Takmon said:

Yes i simply changes the switches and kept the existing bulbs and light fittings and the switches turn them on and off but also connect to Wi-Fi to control them remotely. 

Do Smart Switches and Smart Plugs do the same thing, or is the Switch ‘Smarter’ than the Plug ?  I have a D-link plug in my bedroom, controls an oil filed radiator and it might be a starting point

Kevin

Takmon

kah22 said:

Takmon said:

Yes i simply changes the switches and kept the existing bulbs and light fittings and the switches turn them on and off but also connect to Wi-Fi to control them remotely. 

Do Smart Switches and Smart Plugs do the same thing, or is the Switch ‘Smarter’ than the Plug ?  I have a D-link plug in my bedroom, controls an oil filed radiator and it might be a starting point

Kevin

The smart switches actually replace the switches currently in the wall so are a neat and tidy way to implement smart lighting. But essentially it's just a switch that can turn on and off via the internet and the smart bit is how you set it up to work with devices such as Alexa and get it to turn on and off depending on any other number of things. 
But yea they basically work the same as a smart plug because that is also a just a plug that can be turned on and off via the internet. 

If you use the website IFTTT then you can have all kinds of clever routines setup. You could have certain lights turn on when it rains, light's turn on and off when it's dark, you could have one light that when turned on also turns on any number of other smart devices, you can have notifications sent to your phone or any other device when certain switches are turned on and off, you could have lights that only stay on for a certain amount of time when turned on. The possibilities are almost endless with smart devices.