Smart Bulbs

K.C. Leblanc

K.C. Leblanc

K.C. Leblanc

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My parents are convinced they want smart lamps in their living/dinning room. I think I'm going to be sorting this out as their Christmas present.

I'm going to need switches as well as lamps. What systems are people using?
 
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There are a couple of ways of doing this. You could just buy smart plugs that the lamp plugs into and they can control that. Or you could buy smart bulbs and control them. Using bulbs would give control over brightness and colour (depending on the bulb). Both options would require them to be controlled via an app and also voice command with Google assistant or alexa. I've used TP Link Tapo products and never had issue with the smart plugs from them.
 
Smart plugs are the easiest and more straightforward way of going. I've also got some Tapo ones and they can be setup with alexa and automatically come on at dusk.
 
It's for ceiling lights so it'll be smart bulbs. To be honest I don't know 100% what they want to achieve.

I just want to get an idea what systems work well since I'll be the one they'll call when they start playing up.
 
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There is also Innr, they do require a hub, either their own at £17+ or a Phiilips Hue. The advantage to having a hub is that the router doesn't get loaded up with devices as they're link to the hub instead.

Innr Lighting - Smart lights for all - Home

Smart lights for all. Innr products are easy to use and affordable. Works with Philips Hue, Alexa and Hey Google. Dutch quality and design.
www.innr.com www.innr.com
 
+1 for Hue, they are more expensive but are the best, and you need to see good smart bulbs as a 20 year investment, a system that you build on, so start with the best
 
martin363 said:
+1 for Hue, they are more expensive but are the best, and you need to see good smart bulbs as a 20 year investment, a system that you build on, so start with the best
Click to expand...
Ironically tho, I'd only ever buy hue from Amazon. I've had 1 doa, 1 dud after a few weeks, and at least 1 other of unknown age go bad. Buying from Amazon means that if you leave your morals at the door, you've got half a chance of having at least one or two in the warranty window ;)
 
main thing for Hue is the warranty, but equally if we had an Ikea close-by I'd buy into their system, too - bulbs are what 50% cheaper.

If parents currently have incandescent - mine have two dimmered ceiling fitments w/e14 - the light from both those leds, even non-smart are poorer quality with CRI only 80,
dumb philips master relatively prices, but good light only gu10's afaik
www.any-lamp.co.uk

Philips MASTER LEDspot ExpertColor GU10 PAR16 5.5W 355lm 36D - 927 Extra Warm White | Best Colour Rendering - Dimmable - Replaces 50W

Philips MASTER LEDspot ExpertColor GU10 PAR16 5.5W 355lm 36D - 927 Extra Warm White | Best Colour Rendering - Dimmable - Replaces 50W starting from . Order ! Free LED-Advice: !
www.any-lamp.co.uk www.any-lamp.co.uk
 
martin363 said:
+1 for Hue, they are more expensive but are the best, and you need to see good smart bulbs as a 20 year investment, a system that you build on, so start with the best
Click to expand...
Hue are certainly not the best.
If you look at the genuine fair comparisons with their competitors, i.e. not the paid for adverts you see on YouTube etc these days, the actual Hue bulbs don't fair well usually.

I call them the Apple of light bulbs. A mediocre product with good software.
They are popular because they just work easily but will try to lock you into their own eco system and charge you through the nose for the privilege.
This is fine if that's what you want and a lot of people do but they are certainly not the best bulbs
 
Modern Hue bulbs can be controlled by Bluetooth without the need for a hub. Think it's a max of about six before a hub is required. Hue is popular because they just work, something that's very important if you don't want to be on constant tech support to parents...
 
I'd say go IKEA Tradfri or Phillips Hue if its going to be used by your parents as whilst there are other bulbs out there IKEA and Phillips Hue seem to have done the "least worst" job with their integrations and apps.

I personally would lean towards the IKEA units, that way if they decide they want more its not going to cost the earth and their Tradfri and Dirigera hubs do a decent enough job of integration with Alexa and Google Home.

Definitely stay away from the "AliExpress specials", not too bad for low voltage ZigBee stuff that can't talk directly to the network but I would absolutely not want those apps on my parents phones imho
 
964rs said:
Hue are certainly not the best.
If you look at the genuine fair comparisons with their competitors, i.e. not the paid for adverts you see on YouTube etc these days, the actual Hue bulbs don't fair well usually.

I call them the Apple of light bulbs. A mediocre product with good software.
They are popular because they just work easily but will try to lock you into their own eco system and charge you through the nose for the privilege.
This is fine if that's what you want and a lot of people do but they are certainly not the best bulbs
Click to expand...

An excellent product with excellent software. That just works, is super simple and easy to set up, adapt and use.

That’s what people want. No one wants a super complicated system just to save a couple £ and constantly having your parents phone until they eventually say ‘get rid of it’.

Why on earth once you’ve got it all set up and running in say 1 room, would you move to a different system? Being locked in to one light blub system that works flawlessly isn’t even an issue.
 
How are they going to control the lighting, voice or switches ?

I run our house using a Hubitat hub, even my wife is happy with it.
 
I tried Innr bulbs before and they were crap (got warm, buzzed a lot, also died) , so stuck with Hue now. Not had a Hue bulb fail, and software always works.

Installed some IKEA Tradfri under counter lights in the kitchen which are decent lights, with the IKEA motion sensor, which works, but without a Tradfri hub there's bugger all control over the light sensor etc, so they're a bit annoying.

Should probably have stuck with Hue tbh.

I might bother with Home Assistant at some point to try and get everything working together. In theory the tradfri lights will pair with the Hue Hub but looks a faff.
 
I've used Smart Life compatible double switches and bulbs in our rooms. I use the first switch to turn on the dumb ceiling lights with a hard power switch, then the second switch I've set to turn on all the smart side lights around the room.

By doing this, it means all the lights in the room can be controlled via an Alexa voice command, or by using a physical switch.
 
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