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Smart Light Bulbs (1 Viewer)

C

cubd8

Footballguy
Looking at making some upgrades to my lighting in my place and am reading up on smart light bulbs.

Are they worth the investment? 

How long do they last?

What brands do you recommend?

Can these be used to replace all regular light bulbs (ceiling fans, lamps, etc.)?

Thank you in advance!

 
This is only relative to the HUE smart bulbs.  No idea about the other brands.

They are awesome, but not good in the kitchen/bathroom due to low wattage.  They just aren't bright enough for those areas.  

They should last 8-10 years with normal usage.

 
We have a couple in our house where we have some room situations where it makes sense, but for the most part I think they’re overrated. I guess it depends on the intended use and your layout.  

 
My wife is Christmas Crazy with decorations (big village underneath the tree and a 2nd smaller Village on a table top in the Den) so I got her Smart Plugs that are generic (read:cheaper than Amazon's name brand) but can be controlled by Alexa. I thought my wife would say that I was getting ridiculous with this Alexa/Echo/voice control gadgets, but once I hooked the 2 plugs up and my wife could say "Alexa, turn on Christmas Decorations" and everything turns on, she fell in love. 
 

but, no, we have no Smart Bulbs since we don’t really have free standing lamps that aren’t connected to switches in all our main living areas, so I’m not really sure how/where they would work for us.  

 
Smart bulbs aren't a great idea except in special use cases.  Most of us should be using LED bulbs or fixtures combined with smart switches. But then again once one has converted to LED, the smart switches take a long time to pay for themselves in energy savings.  So, only buy those if you do plan to automate.

 
I have a few around the house; none are the main source of light in the room they are in.  All are the cheap chinesed ones that are hacking my network and have multi-color options. 

 
I have multicolor Sengled can lights with the hub. It's great. Can set them to whatever color I want or brightness using Alexa. In other parts of the houses I have smart plugs for lamps.

 
I also like the idea of smart switches and plugs better, then you can put the type of bulb in that is best for the fixture, but still have the ability to control them 'smartly.'

 
The only thing you can't do with the smart plugs that you can with the bulb is control output, which I really like.

 
Walking Boot said:
Might have to dip my toe in this because my old house doesn't have the right wiring for smart switches in every room. So if I can't go smart switch, might have to go smart bulb as a backup.
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Do you mean two prong vs 3 prong?

my house is 100 years old. I upgraded 4 of my outlets to 3 prongers in the last week. Took me about 10 mins per outlet. 
 

do you have a multimeter? Measure voltage from the hot side of the outlet to the center screw on the outlet. If you get 120V then the box is grounded, and you can ground your new replacement outlet to the box. It’s very easy to do and the outlets cost $2 at Home Depot. 

 
I have a mixture of the Phillips Hue bulbs and the Lifx bulbs.

The Lifx bulbs are a lot brighter at max and the colors (if you get the color changing ones) are a lot more saturated/better.

However the Hue bulbs are compatible with a lot more 3rd party things than Lifx, including the best smart switch/dimmer (Lutron Aurora).  If I could use the Lifx bulbs with that switch I'd replace my whole house with them.  As it is I am mostly using the Hue bulbs in rooms I don't need to be really bright.

 
Walking Boot said:
Pretty sure all the wiring for the wall switches and then to the lights in the ceiling fixtures is two-wire, no ground. Outlets are all three-prong, but I have no outlets that are switch-controlled in the house.
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Maybe I’m missing something, but why do you need a switched outlet for a smart bulb? 

 
Walking Boot said:
I don't, I'm just saying all the wall-switch-to-ceiling connections are 2-wire/no ground, whereas all the plug-in-outlets have ground and are 3-prong. Without ground, I can't put in smart switches to control the bulbs, which is what I'd prefer to do. So I'm going to have to use smart bulbs instead of smart switches.
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Lutron Caseta don’t require a ground 

 
Walking Boot said:
Can't seem to figure out if it also needs it's own brand of hub to work in a no-ground situation, or, if it would still be compatible with my existing SmartThings hub in that case. 
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You’d need to add the Caseta smart bridge. Can be got for about $50

 
ILUVBEER99 said:
This is only relative to the HUE smart bulbs.  No idea about the other brands.

They are awesome, but not good in the kitchen/bathroom due to low wattage.  They just aren't bright enough for those areas.  

They should last 8-10 years with normal usage.
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My wife got a few of these recently. Supposedly they change colors and stuff but we don't have the plug things so they're just sitting in the closet for now.

 
EYLive said:
My wife got a few of these recently. Supposedly they change colors and stuff but we don't have the plug things so they're just sitting in the closet for now.
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You don't need a plug.  You just screw them in like a regular light bulb.  Or did you mean the hub?

We have the light ones all over.  Kids like to play with the colors in the living room and the colors in the bedroom are great for sexy time with the wife.

 
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I’ve heard great things about Wyze bulbs. If they’re anything like their cameras, they gotta be pretty good. They make plugs too. 

 
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FreeBaGeL said:
You don't need a plug.  You just screw them in like a regular light bulb.  Or did you mean the hub?

We have the light ones all over.  Kids like to play with the colors in the living room and the colors in the bedroom are great for sexy time with the wife.
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Wait, your Smart Bulbs have Horny Inducing Technology? Brand and model # please. 

 
Man of Constant Sorrow said:
"Interiors" are dark, dude; need light.

Also, thank your pop fer me; as I used lotsa grow lights in my day.

Never really zapped bugs tho; I kinda like em. :shrug:
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He also wrote the first textbook on interior gardening, Lighting For Plant Growth. Once people could look anybody up on the internet, he used to get calls at 3am from stoners asking him questions and calling him a god and stuff.

 
wikkidpissah said:
He also wrote the first textbook on interior gardening, Lighting For Plant Growth. Once people could look anybody up on the internet, he used to get calls at 3am from stoners asking him questions and calling him a god and stuff.
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...

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 
Click to expand...

 
Without question, Feit bulbs you can get at Costco. Less expensive, color changing and bright. Our first LIFX bulb died after only a few months and was plain old soft white. 

We have three on the outside of our house that are programmed to go on at a certain time. Also have one above the kitchen sink. 

 
Smart switches >>>> smart bulbs.  Otherwise someone turns off that light at the wall switch, and your smart bulb now has no power and just sits there.  And then when someone turns the switch back on, it takes time for your smart bulb to connect to the network.  And sometimes it does, or doesn't.  And sometimes it then missed the command you wanted to send it to turn on, because it had no power at the time.  It's a mess.

Smart light switch in the wall.  Done.  You can control if from the switch.  Your guests can as well.  And you can control it all wirelessly, and it's seamless.

I prefer GE Z-wave gen 2 switches.  Most of my house is tricked out with these.  We rarely ever touch lighting.  It is all on routines and timers and takes care of itself.  Oh and we're way below average electricity usage in our town, according to the bills we get from the power company.

 
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Otis said:
Smart switches >>>> smart bulbs.  Otherwise someone turns off that light at the wall switch, and your smart bulb now has no power and just sits there.  And then when someone turns the switch back on, it takes time for your smart bulb to connect to the network.  And sometimes it does, or doesn't.  And sometimes it then missed the command you wanted to send it to turn on, because it had no power at the time.  It's a mess.

Smart light switch in the wall.  Done.  You can control if from the switch.  Your guests can as well.  And you can control it all wirelessly, and it's seamless.

I prefer GE Z-wave gen 2 switches.  Most of my house is tricked out with these.  We rarely ever touch lighting.  It is all on routines and timers and takes care of itself.  Oh and we're way below average electricity usage in our town, according to the bills we get from the power company.
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This, except I'm only about half switches and find myself adding them even where we have smart bulbs to stop visitors from defeating the bulbs.  And I use a lot of motion sensors for lights on/off in addition to routines and timers.  Some things are very predictable like I want our front porch lights on at sunset and off at sunrise. But in our Kitchen I want the lights to come on when there is motion in the room and go off when there is no motion for XX minutes.

 
Ron Swanson said:
This, except I'm only about half switches and find myself adding them even where we have smart bulbs to stop visitors from defeating the bulbs.  And I use a lot of motion sensors for lights on/off in addition to routines and timers.  Some things are very predictable like I want our front porch lights on at sunset and off at sunrise. But in our Kitchen I want the lights to come on when there is motion in the room and go off when there is no motion for XX minutes.
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Bingo. Same here. My basement lights used to drive me nuts because there are like 4 different wall switches down there and my wife and kids invariably would leave them on and id be constantly going down there to turn them off. Now I set one motion sensor at the top of the stairs and one in the basement. When you start to walk to the landing they all come on; when there’s no motion down there for 30 mins they automatically shut off.  Piece of cake. 
 

I also have various routines in my kitchen as the light changed throughout the day. There’s a sunset routine that changes the lighting etc. And at 11pm everything in the house shuts off, the doors lock, the garage door closes if it was open.  Really don’t even need to think about it. 

 
I've had good luck using the TP Link Kasa KL110 bulbs, they don't need the hub like the Hue bulbs do (or did at least), and they're cheaper.  Usually they sit between $15-20 but if you watch Slickdeals or a similar site you can find them for $10-12 once in a while.  I use them with Google Home but it works with Alexa too according to the package. I also used the Kasa outdoor plug for my christmas lights this year and it worked great.

Thinking about getting a few smart switches for around the house but that's probably further down the line. Would be nice to have them in my kids rooms for when they inevitably leave their lights on all day.

 
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Today I bought a couple LifX bulbs. I'm thinking of getting a few more to put outside since those are always turned on. However, I normally unplug my wifi if I leave the house for an extended period of time... daily when working. Would doing that turn the bulbs into bulbs only or would it turn them off completely?

I also have motion sensors outside... would these bulbs still work with motion sensors?

 
Challenge Everything said:
Today I bought a couple LifX bulbs. I'm thinking of getting a few more to put outside since those are always turned on. However, I normally unplug my wifi if I leave the house for an extended period of time... daily when working. Would doing that turn the bulbs into bulbs only or would it turn them off completely?

I also have motion sensors outside... would these bulbs still work with motion sensors?
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Hate the screw in bulbs for the reasons I’ve explained here before. Without WiFi they won’t work. If someone turns off the light at the wall switch they won’t work. You get smart walk switches. People can turn them off and on like regular switches whenever; they work as normal. But they also can be smart and programmed. 

 
Otis said:
Hate the screw in bulbs for the reasons I’ve explained here before. Without WiFi they won’t work. If someone turns off the light at the wall switch they won’t work. You get smart walk switches. People can turn them off and on like regular switches whenever; they work as normal. But they also can be smart and programmed. 
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I'd love to do this but I just counted the number of switches I have in my house... I have 8, maybe 9 if I'm missing one. That's about $1,000. I'll PM you my Venmo. :)

Which ones do you have?

 
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Challenge Everything said:
I'd love to do this but I just counted the number of switches I have in my house... I have 8, maybe 9 if I'm missing one. That's about $1,000. I'll PM you my Venmo. :)

Which ones do you have?
Click to expand...
GE Zwave switches 

 
Challenge Everything said:
Today I bought a couple LifX bulbs. I'm thinking of getting a few more to put outside since those are always turned on. However, I normally unplug my wifi if I leave the house for an extended period of time... daily when working. Would doing that turn the bulbs into bulbs only or would it turn them off completely?

I also have motion sensors outside... would these bulbs still work with motion sensors?
Click to expand...
You should return them to the store.  Don't buy any smart devices until you get over this phobia.

 
Otis said:
GE Zwave switches 
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I walked through my house to check on this. I'll list below where my switches are at. Where would I install smart switches?

2 - upstairs hallway (one at the bottom, one at the top)

1 - upstairs office

4 - upstairs bedroom (two control the lights, other two have nothing plugged into them)

1 - bedroom light

1 - bedroom light

1 - bathroom light

1 - living room (front door outside has motion control)

1 - living room (inside front door)

1 - living room controls plugged in wall but not all outlets

2 - kitchen (one at entrance and one at exit of kitchen)

1 - kitchen chandelier (dimmer)

1 - kitchen (outside light)

1 - kitchen (hallway light)

1 - kitchen (downstairs hallway)

1 - kitchen (lights under cupboards)

1 - kitchen (light over sink)

1 - basement utility room

Some plugs do not have a switch controlling them. I'd assume lights with two switches only need one smart switch... but I may be wrong. The kitchen lights are double, double, and a quad switch.

 
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