Smart Bulbs

29 Oct 2022 19:27:03

Trevor Hewson

Apologies if this is seen as off-topic for this forum but I would be aiming to control these devices with my iPhone so thought I might just get away with it.

We have a 3-lamp ceiling fitting in our dining room, currently equipped with dimmable compact fluorescent 20w bulbs, one of which has just failed. Whilst these obsolescent bulbs are still available, I’m thinking of changing to LEDs.

Rather than upgrade the wall mounted dimmer switch, I could remove it altogether and fit smart bulbs, dimmable via an app. Since the dining table is nowadays used more often for craft and hobbies than for eating, it would be good to have the ability to adjust the colour temperature of the lamps to suit - true daylight when Mary is colour matching her fabrics to a warmer white when used as a dining room.

Do any members have experience of this technology? If so, I’d be grateful for any advice, tips or recommendations. Thanks in anticipation,

Trevor

Re: Smart Bulbs

1 Nov 2022 13:01:14

John Ansell

Hi Trevor,

A few years ago we installed Hive heating control. This gave us a control hub and an iOS app to control the heating. Since then we have updated most of our downstairs lights to also be controlled by the Hive hub and app.

We started in the lounge 2 ceiling lights and 2 wall lights. The iOS app allowed me to group the ceiling lights together so they con be controlled as a single light. I also grouped the wall lights.

If you have a multi lamp ceiling fitting it is probably best to control them as a group.

Another thing we do is control the lights with pre-programmed actions. For example, when we sit down to watch TV in the lounge we press a single button on the app to turn off the ceiling lights and turn on the wall lights dimmed.

We have a number of pre-programmed actions: one turns of the TV, hifi and all the downstairs lights when we go to bed. The TV and hifi are turned of at the mains with a smart plug also controlled by the app..

You should be able to control the lights or actions with timers. I have a light outside the front door which comes on a few minutes before sunset and goes off at midnight.

We kept leaving the lights on in the Kitchen now we have a movement sensor to turn them on and off as required.

Although we use Hive lights and plugs there are other products such as Philips Hue that I expect work just as well.

We started with just the lights in the lounge but they are spreading around the house.

John

Re: Smart Bulbs

1 Nov 2022 16:50:27

Richard I

We don’t have smart lamps in our household and the features described above are quite beguiling. however I would want to address the following issues before we did use them…
I assume that you can control the lights from a multitude of iOS devices…if not, and the app is hosted on a mobile phone what happens when the owner is not at home?
If you walk into a darkened room do you have to fumble for your phone, login, open the app and then press a button on the screen to turn the light on? I think it might be better to have a switch on the wall near the door which you use muscle memory to operate! I guess you can probably get a smart light switch for this.
If you have guest staying then you’ll have to teach them how to use the system. (eg We once had someone sleeping in our lounge, it turned out that they had to endure sleeping with the light on because they couldn’t get their heads round the dimmer switch!)
I would also want to be sure that they are secure and not a gateway for hackers to get into your home network. Would they need to have security software updates and if so how long would support be available?

Re: Smart Bulbs

2 Nov 2022 08:37:06

Trevor Hewson

Thanks John & Richard - nice to have an enthusiast and a sceptic view in the interests of balance :)

At the moment I'm grappling with a more prosaic problem - having ordered Wiz Tunable White bulbs, Currys have supplied Warm White instead. It looks like they have screwed up their website and have a mismatch between their stock numbers and the web description. Despite my patient and repeated explanation of the problem, I fear they will still replace these bulbs with identical ones. It may be a while before you hear any more from me on this. . .

Re: Smart Bulbs

2 Nov 2022 16:12:30

John Ansell

Hi Richard,

The answers are about our Hive lights, I have no experience of other brands, I would expect them to behave in a similar way.

We can also turn the lights off and on with the switch on the wall, we usually leave them on and control them with the app. We can also control them with voice via Alexa on our smart speaker. We have the control app on 4 iOS devices. We can also give our visitors guest access to the system on Android or iOS devices.

Security of the system is a very valid worry. I remember watching on episode of Mr Robot on Prime Video where a hacker hacked someones home, flashing all the lights and playing music at high volume. Software updates are frequent, the last app update was 21st of October, the hub updates automatically.