Global Smart Home Trend – Part III (Smart Lighting)
While this 3rd article will discuss smart lighting, we have to mention smart home control apps as well.
Smart Home Control App
Smart devices have their own associated phone app – which is used to control them.
Most apps are proprietary to the manufacturer.
Not many manufacturers plan for integration with other manufacturers. It’s not the purpose of a smart home to have a different app for every device!
It’s crucial that you start off building your smart home on a platform that offers you the widest compatibility with devices possible.
At Gensix we have chosen a platform that is independent of manufacturers. The platform supports hundreds of different global brands, and integrates with all the major smart speakers.
Based off this platform, you can now build the entire smart home.
So now let’s get onto the point of this article.
Smart Home Lighting
The first option requires no change at all to the existing home equipment.
We connect a bridge to your router and install smart lightbulbs. The bulbs can be controlled by smart speakers, phone app or remote control.
Smart lighting gives you the ability to;
- Dim your lights,
- Change the colors,
- Set up scenes (mood) for each area,
- Create schedules to turn lights on and off automatically, (at home, away from home, when waking up, and when going to bed)
- Control your lights remotely.
- Responsibly utilize resources and save energy costs.
- Integrate lights with sensors for increased home safety value.
The one downside of this solution is that the light switches have to remain, switched on – all the time.
Smart Switches
If you have a lot of lights, or the light sockets are not standard ( Some sockets may not be designed to accommodate smart bulbs) , an alternative solution is to replace the light switches with smart switches. Smart Switches can prove an economical way to make the whole lighting system smart, without having to replace a large number of bulbs. Smart switches will work with the lighting that is already connected to the existing switches.
A smart light switch will provide all the options offered by smart bulbs (dimming is dependent on the existing light functions) – you can operate the lights manually as well.
Smart Plugs
A third option is to install smart plugs. Smart plugs are suitable for lights and lamps that need to be plugged in. The plug will allow you to control the light in the same way as smart bulbs.
Smart Light Bulbs will easily smarten up your homes lighting. If your home is not wired with a third C wire, then Smart Bulbs or plugs will save a lot of additional wiring. If you have non standard light sockets or would like some additional convenience then you can fit smart switches.
As you can see, it’s pretty simple to smarten you whole homes lighting system.
