The light bulb is perhaps one of the greatest innovations of the 1880s. It revolutionizes how people live and significantly improves the ease with which they can illuminate their houses.
Taking a look forward to the 2000s, you’ll observe design and technological advancements that were previously inconceivable for conventional light bulbs. That is until smart lighting came along and changed everything.
What Is Smart Lighting
Smart lighting is a cutting-edge method of illuminating your home. Moreover, there are two forms of smart lighting, the smart bulb, and the smart switch, both of which can be installed by a certified electrician.
Smart bulbs feature software that links with an app, or other connected devices, allowing you to remotely regulate your lighting. It does away with the requirement for conventional wall switches. Smart bulbs may be plugged into your current light fixtures and used to reduce or change the color and brightness of the light.
Conversely, smart switches may completely replace conventional ones and can also be remote-controlled. By using a smart switch, you’ll not be required to replace any current lighting. However, you would have restricted access to functions like dimming or color change.
What you need to know about smart lighting
Sounds amazing, right? However, before you jump into the smart home hype, you should first familiarize yourself with the ins and outs of smart lighting. Accordingly, here’s a breakdown of everything you should know before committing to smart lighting.
1. You Have To Pick A Platform
Choosing a platform to utilize to operate your smart lights should be your first consideration before making a shift to it. Most platforms have systems and applications that enable you to combine lights and plan their functioning periods. However, there’s a high likelihood you’ll like to upgrade more than your lighting.
If such is the case, you’ll have to look into a more comprehensive home automation platform that can support a large range of devices. Connecting voice assistants to smart lighting is a common technique to achieve this.
Voice assistants offer an excellent command center for your smart home system. It is especially true if you want to install a smart speaker or a smart tv in a strategic location in your house. Moreover, installing lights that your assistant will manage is very easy if you already have one of those. Plus, you’ll be able to use them in conjunction with other smart home devices.
2. You Need A Hub
Smart lights communicate with one another through wireless broadcasts. Moreover, different bulbs do this task in unique ways. Some models have built-in Wi-Fi transmitters or a hub linked directly to your network. It allows you to manage them remotely from anywhere with an internet connection.
Other devices link straight to your phone using Bluetooth transmitters when you’re within a close range. However, those smart lights connected directly to your network are more dependable. Moreover, you don’t need to be within a range to operate the light.
3. Smart Lighting May Help You Get Better Sleep
The human brain is very light-sensitive. It has a significant effect on how people sleep. After a period of darkness, the brain signals that you are sleepy and should rest. Moreover, when the sun rises and the sky becomes brighter, the brain detects this and signals you to awaken.
Smart lights may assist you in hacking your biological clocks by replicating pleasant, leisurely dawn to assist you in getting up in the morning. Smart bulbs are an excellent choice for this purpose since they let you start a personalized transition through a voice command.
Additionally, because these lights can automatically connect with smart home alarms, you may set it then the bulb will gradually transition before it sounds.
4. Some Bulbs Dim Differently
It’s worth mentioning that various smart lights perform somewhat differently in dimming. It’s because the naked eye interprets brightness variations in a logarithmic manner. It means that when objects are extremely bright, a larger reduction in lumens is required to detect an actual change.
Some bulbs make up for this by employing a logarithmic dimming curve. It means that the light goes down a little more quickly in the upper half of the bulb’s dimmable spectrum. Moreover, other bulbs use linear dimming curves. It means they stay close to the dimmable percentage as you change the brightness.
Should You Shift To Smart Lighting?
With so many new smart lighting choices available, you may be enticed to surround your whole home with them. Perhaps you should, as well. There is a slew of advantages to using smart lighting—one of the primary benefits being that they contribute to the convenience of your house. For instance, you may create lighting schedules. You may also have them adapt automatically dependent on external illumination conditions.
