The Best Automations for Smart Lights

The best automations for smart lights: It is is better than ever. There are a lots of smart lights and bulbs for every possible location or outlet. All with additional features that can be controlled with an app on your mobile device. But what exactly are you supposed to do with it? Smart lamps are one of the most useful smart devices on the market today. They offer a wide variety of options to use to automate lights inside and outside your home.

Components

Whether you want the plug-and-play simplicity of smart bulbs or a more complete system with replacement switches, optimizing your lighting adds a layer of convenience balanced with safety. Let’s be honest. If your house seems unoccupied when you’re having cocktails on the beach on vacation, you’re likely to come back with a huge headache and an expensive insurance claim. With smart lighting, you can schedule your lights to turn on and off while you sip a cocktail on the beach. Today we will assume that you have already decided that smart lights can make your life easier . You may be wondering how to control this smart light once installed. We’ll walk you through 5 different ways to support those Philips Hue or LIFX lights so you can go about your business with as little information as possible.

• traditional switch
• Keyboard
• Mobile phone
• Voice activation
• SevenHugs Smart Remote

Intelligent System Compatability

Although the smart home industry isn’t exactly the Wild West it used to be, there isn’t a single central device that you can use to control all your other devices. But there are some common devices, called “smart home hubs,” that try to do just that.

Establish a “good night” routine

If you have a voice assistant, you have the option to set up smart home routines. Moreover a collection of smart device actions. That will be activated with a single voice command. For Alexa, for example, you can literally set up an “Alexa, good night” routine that will easily turn off all the smart lights in your home, or set a particular bulb to a dim setting to act as a night light or other function. For more information on creating Alexa routines,

Routines aren’t just about saying goodnight at home. But we’ve found this to be one of the most useful ways to tie smart lighting into a routine. You can also set up morning routines that will turn on specific lights as you get ready for your day. It can also be an effective way to encourage your children to wake up!

Setting daily schedules

Using your smart light app, it’s easy to schedule your lights to turn on at specific times of day and turn off again; every smart app should have this capability. It’s useful if you want to save some time turning all the lights in your house on and off (especially if you have a predictable schedule), but homeowners may especially appreciate this option when they’re on vacation. Scheduled light activity makes it seem like the house is still occupied even though everyone is gone.

Attach lights to a motion sensor

It’s a common tactic in offices around the world, but you can also reap the benefits at home with products like the Philips Hue indoor motion sensor for smart lights. This allows you to place a motion sensor in a key location in your home and connect it to a smart light bulb so that the light bulb automatically turns on when someone approaches.

This is a very useful setting for areas where it is difficult to fumble for the light switch. When it is very dark, or when your hands are often full. Think of basement stairs, closets and pantries, garages and other places. You can also use this method on your porch. If you don’t already have a smart security camera, as it will alert you when someone approaches.

Slow lighting

One of the most popular ways to use this timed brightness and dimming is to simulate sunrise and sunset throughout your home, which can appreciate your circadian rhythms (looks cool, too). Or you can create a lighting timer that acts as a visual alarm when you want to take a nap.

The Best Automations for smart Lights Inside and Outside Your Home

The Best Automations for Smart Lights : there are many solutions to control almost all the lights around and in your home using your smartphone or smart controllers like Alexa or Google Home. It doesn’t have to cost a fortune either.

If you want to convert your entire home, you can do it cheaply by buying a hub and adding compatible smart light bulbs over time. Or you can just use Wi-Fi enabled devices and swap out your light bulbs for smart bulbs one room at a time. Which option you choose simply depends on how quickly you want to automate your home lighting and how much you’re willing to spend.

Ways to Control Smart Lighting

Traditional Switch

The Best Automations for Smart Lights : We’ll start by controlling your smart bulbs using an existing switch and using this method has several built-in benefits… All you’ll need to get started is one smart bulb or multiple bulbs depending on your usage planned. This translates to by far the cheapest and easiest way to get started if you’re not sold on the idea of ​​a connected home and want to test the waters first.

We would rate this by stating that it is just the cheapest way to start. If you intend to purchase multiple bulbs to cover your entire home. If you want this kind of coverage, smart bulbs are by no means the most cost-effective solution. Another key benefit of using smart bulbs is how you can control your lighting using the traditional switch when you want to take manual control or some of the other methods we’ll describe below. As with all smart home technology, the best examples are highly versatile and give you maximum choice when it comes to home automation control.

After all, we’re all different, and while you appreciate voice control, your elderly parent might not be so sold on Alexa. You can also use replacement switches in the traditional manual way. If you’re looking to change your home’s light switches and upgrade them, check out 6 of the best on/off switches here. If you want manual control with a few extra tricks and less overhead than outfitting your whole house with new smart bulbs, light switches make a lot of sense.

Keyboard

Are you a fan of Instron? If not, you should be, and now we’ll bug you by letting you know about an upcoming sale. More on that later this week… So, released in 2005, Insteon is one of the true OGs of the home automation scene. They were the pioneers of smart home technology before the major tech giants stepped in. And if you want an innovative method of controlling not only your lighting but other Insteon devices in your ecosystem. Moreover they have amazing keyboards that give you robust and versatile control. Instead of talking about generalities, we will give you an overview of what they have to offer. These keyboards are available in white, ivory, or light almond. So you can mix and match them to fit your décor.

 Mobile Phone

Whether you want smart light bulbs, smart switches, or smart plugs, you’ll be able to control all of these lighting variants with just one free app and your phone as a remote. One of the first and best providers of smart lighting, Philips Hue offers a wide selection of phone-controllable lights divided into 3 main types:

• White
• Environment
• White and Color Environment

 Voice Activation

It is impossible to talk about smart homes without considering the role of digital assistants and voice control, and lighting is no exception. Whether you have an Echo device and prefer Alexa services or prefer to use the Google Assistant, there’s never been a better time to issue voice commands to dim or turn off your lights so you don’t have to lift a finger.

One of the main benefits of using voice control for your lights comes from the way you can make your technology work together, meaning that a single command when you walk through the door can not only ensure your lights turn on, but also regulate the temperature and even turn on the coffee Setting up your smart lights with Alexa or Google Assistant is device specific, so we can’t provide a detailed guide for every switch. However, all you need to do is set up your smart light in both your digital assistant app and your own ecosystem, and then you’re good to go.

You can group your lights so you can independently control up or down. You can also control groups of lights or specific rooms through voice commands. So… Having covered the most important basics of smart light control, we said first of all that the fifth method of control would surprise you… And that’s because you might think the days of physical remote control were over with smart technology. . In reality, they are just starting to warm up and are even smarter than ever.

SevenHugs Smart Remote

The Best Automations for Smart Lights ; When we bring you a smart home product, we always go for the versatile kit. Think of playback devices, for example. A Kindle is all very well, but an iPad Mini gives you pretty much everything a Kindle does and more. The same maximum value principle has been applied to this excellent smart remote control from SevenHugs and you will be able to use it for your smart lights but also much more in your connected home.

We at Smart Home love aesthetics and this remote looks great from a design point of view. The form is useless if it does not include the function. Fortunately, the SevenHugs Smart Remote hits the mark on both counts. This device reached its Kickstarter funding goal in just 10 minutes, but what is it? In short, you’ll be able to control multiple devices from this universal touchscreen remote with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and infrared.

The main selling point is that all you have to do is point it at the device in question – be it your Philips Hue lights or your smart TV – and it will automatically recognize that device and take you there so you can make adjustments. While it’s great to introduce your kids to smart home technology early on, if they’re too young to go crazy with a smartphone, this remote control makes a lot of sense to make it easier for them. Similarly, if you have elderly relatives or someone who is not particularly enthusiastic. Technology-wise, the SevenHugs remote is not a psychological breakthrough compared to a regular remote. Here’s what you’ll get in the box with all the necessary guides and instructions:

• smart remote
• charging base
• 3 sensors
• velcro straps

The Best Automations for Smart Lights; Specifications

The UI on this remote is amazing and makes changing the color of the Hue lights fun, and that’s saying something. The only real downside to this remote is that the glass screen obviously doesn’t give you anything in the way of tactile feedback. Depending on the sharpness of your eyesight and the accuracy of your focus, you may find it a joy to use or something to distract you from your movie when all you want to do is turn down the volume a bit. That said, this is more of a TV control issue than smart lights. Let’s face it, you usually don’t have an urgent need to manipulate the brightness of your bulbs when you’re in the middle of another task, so it’s worth mentioning, but that’s not a problem with smart light control. In short, it’s by no means cheap, but the best things in life rarely are. If you’re on a budget and want the smartest remote on the block, check out the SevenHugs Smart Remote and start 2019 in style.