Over the years, smart technology has advanced to levels where you can control all your home’s functions at the touch of a button. Even the simplest items like light bulbs have joined this bandwagon and have made life simpler than it has ever been. Smart light bulbs now have numerous functions that are not only intended to make life simpler, but also more fun. While they are more expensive as compared to your regular bulbs, their benefits will surely be worth your investment. Here, we discuss the 5 main reasons why you need to incorporate them into your smart home for lighting purposes.
Cost Effectiveness
Smart light bulbs have a couple ways of ensuring you save on electric bills. First, those that come with motion sensors installed can be programmed to only switch on whenever you walk into the room, and switch off when you leave. This ensures that unnecessary energy is not consumed when no one is in the room to use it. The second energy saving property is the ability to control it remotely. This means that if you are already at work and you remember that you forgot to switch off some lights, you can simply pull out your smartphone and switch them off at the touch of a button. Even better is the fact that its app stores and analyses data related to user behavior. It will show you the lights that are used most or least, so you can know where you are overusing the bulb and know how to reduce consumption. This way, you will have your electric bills reduce substantially.
Ease of Control
For those days when you are too exhausted to walk to the light switch, the smart bulb will be your savior. Rather than having to switch on all lights manually, which is really challenging for big houses, smart bulbs can be controlled from their control hub or smart devices including smartphones, tablets, desktop computers and even laptops. Most of them are compatible with the Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant home automation apps, making adjustability even easier and faster as you can do it remotely. Via its hub or app, you can control brightness, schedule when they can turn on or off, adjust lighting color and even activate or deactivate motion sensors. For the best remote sensing, the smart bulb must be WiFi enabled or Bluetooth enabled.
Mood and Specific Needs Sensing
Lighting is responsible for setting a particular mood for your home. For instance, a blue color will bring a cool aura to the home while a yellow color will add some warmth to the room. A smart bulb can actually help you when it comes to this. Setting the lights to golden yellow or orange will warm up the room’s feel while a light blue, purple or green color will give it a cooler feel. Some of the smart bulb brands can be set to replicate a sunrise or sunset setting. For parties, you can easily match the color of the light to match the party’s theme, such as red for Christmas and black for Halloween. With the carefully thought out temperature and light settings, your general mood, sleep and relaxation will be improved.
Better Security
When you think about security, the first thing you would consider are doorknobs and alarms. Apparently, smart bulbs can also be used to secure our homes. For instance, bulbs that have motion sensors can be installed next to security CCTV cameras so that when an intruder walks into the area, the light turns on and the CCTV camera captures their photograph. These light bulbs can also be connected to the home’s security systems such that when an intruder is detected, the lights and alarms will turn on simultaneously, thus alerting the homeowner or security personnel. Some of these bulbs can even be programmed to change the color and intensity of the light whenever they sense the movement of a burglar. For example, they could turn red and blink while the alarms are sounded, which will frighten the invader away. Another simple method used by people to scare away intruders when away from home is switching the lights on at the time when they are often awake, and off for the period when they are often asleep. This way, everyone will be made to believe that you are inside the house, which scares off some intruders.
Ease of Installation
Installation of smart bulbs is quite easy as they fit into the normal bulb holders. You only need to find out if the bulb has the bayonet cap or Edison screw types and buy one that matches your home’s electric bulb holders. After replacing all your ordinary light bulbs with smart models, all you need to have is a control hub or a compatible smart device app. The most common smart bulbs like the Philips Hue and Lifx among others are compatible with the Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings and Apple HomeKit smart home automation apps. With these, you can easily adjust the settings of your bulbs to suit your personal preferences at the comfort of your couch, or even while away from home. Contrary to what most first-time users believe, you don’t need to change your entire electricity wiring for you to install your smart bulbs.
What Should You Know Before Buying a Smart Bulb?
Before you spend your money on smart bulbs, you have to understand if the available features will satisfy your lighting needs, and if the features are really worth investing in. It helps if you know how these bulbs work and how to operate their smartphone apps or control hubs remotely. If you are ever in doubt about how to use them, you should check out the user manuals that come with them, or watch tutorial videos on the internet. With more advanced features such as built-in music speakers being introduced in smart bulbs, having the right one will turn your home around into a peaceful haven where you can relax and get every function set remotely. Your life will also be improved by a great deal and your home will be more secure. With all these advantages, installing smart bulbs in your house is becoming an ever-growing need.
