If you haven’t already bought into the idea of installing smart home products, choosing smart bulbs is an easy first step to get your feet wet. Although it sounds complicated, smart bulbs are very easy to install and use. The very basic purpose of having smart lights is to be able to control your lights through your phone or through a voice activated hub such as the Google Home or the Amazon Echo – Black.
There are two ways to gain remote control over your lights:
- You can buy a smart switch and you your existing lights. This is generally a cheaper option if you have multiple ceiling lights in your space. Rather than buying smart bulbs for each light, you can just replace the switches that control all your lights and continue to use your existing bulbs. The switch consists of two parts, the actual light switch and the hub that connects to your wifi. Both very simple and easy to install.
Related video:
You can by a smart switch here: LUTRON PD-6WCL-WH Caseta Wireless In-Wall Smart Dimmer Switch, White, Works with Amazon Alexa
Related articles: Why Google Home is better than Amazon Echo
2. You can buy Smart Light Bulbs. This option can get very costly, depending on the type of bulbs you buy. The benefit of being smart bulbs it that the feature list is much longer. It all starts with the ability to turn your lights on or off via your phone or a smart speaker. From there, the list can expand to include controlling the brightness, adjusting the color temperature (a cool blue/white light to a warm yellow), and changing the light to any color in the rainbow.
Outside of color and brightness, most smart bulbs will have additional options for creating scenes or setting schedules. Scenes are pre-existing or custom settings of color and brightness that you can easily select—making it a snap to change your room from a bright white light to a soothing dim blue that’s easier on the eyes. Schedules are exactly what it sounds like. You can set your bulbs to automatically adjust based on time of day, alarms in the morning, or even changes in your location, such as turning lights off/on as you leave or come home from work.