Smart Home lighting

**W44NNE** · 8th January 2018, 01:53

We're having a new fitted bedroom installed and beforehand, I want to make sure we integrate some kind of iPhone/Smart switch compatible lighting. I've seen several videos but none really allow me to understand whether it's totally pointless or not.

Firstly, does it use more electricity? I'd imagine the smart tech is within each light bulb, and therefore electric would permanently be being fed to the light circuit, in the same way as a standard switch would be left in it's powered position?

I like the idea of having the bulbs nearest the bed dimmed to say 30%, but the main lights at full brightness or 75% etc, all at the press of a button.

Also, it looks like I'll need a wireless hub that works with the lights permanently plugged in to the router to make it all happen?

In other words, is it worth it or should I just stick with standard lightbulbs and switches?

**jcm3** · 8th January 2018, 03:24

The most popular method for powering a communicating light switch is to allow a small trickle of electricity to flow through the load (or to neutral) when the light is off, .5 to 1.5 Watts is typical, some of the most popular devices from Lutron consume under .2W. There is even a technology from EnOcean that harvests the mechanical energy used to turn on the switch (piezoelectric) to power the communications. On the other hand, most of these devices are dimmers, which allow less electricity to be sent to the lamp when dimmed, statistically, the average is 20% less.

Some devices require a Hub, some communicate directly to your mobile device, some even use a device you already own as a hub (ie. AppleTV).

**benny.c** · 8th January 2018, 08:44

I’ve been using Philips Hue for a while now and have been happy with it. Very easy to install and operate and there are loads of third party apps if the Philips one doesn’t do what you need. Voice control is easy to set up with Alexa if required. The bulbs are relatively expensive but hopefully they’ll last a good while and Argos/Currys do 3 for 2 offers every once in a while.

**Kingstepper** · 8th January 2018, 08:49

The electricity consumption isn’t anything to worry about but overall the ‘convenience’ not worth it IMO.

**Jambo** · 8th January 2018, 09:07

Got Phillips hue for the other half for Xmas, she's loving it! Only the living room and our bedroom so far. It does seem reliable.

**wileeeeeey** · 8th January 2018, 09:40

Get Hue and an Amazon Alexa or Google Home. Ignore the switches, they need to stay on for the bulbs to respond anyway. I have Hue and wouldn’t go back.

**Rod** · 8th January 2018, 10:10

Philip Hue here too. Positioned the colour lamp behind the TV for effect which works well. I'm doing the LED strip for kitchen next. You can set timers/alarm from your smartphone too, quite impressed so far.

**Cynar** · 8th January 2018, 10:16

I have LightwaveRF and some Philips Hue.
Much prefer the LightwaveRF as it’s the switches not the bulbs that are controlled.
I find with the Hue that they keep getting switched off at the switch and then don’t work until you switch them on again. With the LightwaveRF they work remotely all the time irrespective of the switch position.
Seems a much better idea to me as there are times it’s easier to use the switch than an app or voice control.

**W44NNE** · 8th January 2018, 10:37

Thanks for the replies. It’s an interesting technology and will definitely suit the modernisation of the house.

**gcleminson** · 8th January 2018, 10:38

Just added Philips Hue to our bedroom after redecorating - already have it round most of the rest of the house.

In the bedroom we have:

Hue Iris table lamp on chest of drawers
Hue E27 White & Colour bulb in the ceiling pendant light
Hue E27 in a table lamp on a small table
2 x wall mounted single spot Hue Runner lights as our bedside lights - shades of white only - not full colour (still to be wired in).

Controlling them all we have a single Hue Dimmer smart switch, so when entering the room one press of the Hue switch turns them all on simultaneously. You can only have one light recipe set on the switch at one time which is the only down-side, but this can be changed at any time via the Hue app including setting different brightness levels for each bulb as well as colours, and each of the individual bulbs can still be tweaked via the app or switched off at the sockets / wall switches too of course. The controller comes with an adhesive wall mount and is magnetic so can be removed from the wall mount if you're in bed for example. The benefit we've found with the smart switch system is that it seems very stable and rarely has any issues whereas the app can sometimes be a bit glitchy.

In addition the Runner spots we'll be using as bedside lights each came with their own smart switch and I'm hoping that they can each be controlled on their own whilst still being paired to the 'main' smart switch but I've yet to test this out.

Hope this helps!

**Wolfie** · 8th January 2018, 10:40

Have a look at IKEA…. They’ve got some really neat and great value solutions

**W44NNE** · 8th January 2018, 11:13

Originally Posted by Cynar

I have LightwaveRF and some Philips Hue.
Much prefer the LightwaveRF as it’s the switches not the bulbs that are controlled.
I find with the Hue that they keep getting switched off at the switch and then don’t work until you switch them on again. With the LightwaveRF they work remotely all the time irrespective of the switch position.
Seems a much better idea to me as there are times it’s easier to use the switch than an app or voice control.

The only issue I can imagine with this would be the “scenes”. So I’d guess all the lights in one room would come on at the same intensity, whereas with the Philips bulbs, they can perhaps be set to different levels individually?

Originally Posted by Wolfie

Have a look at IKEA…. They’ve got some really neat and great value solutions

I had no idea, I’ll take a look, thanks

**Captain Morgan** · 8th January 2018, 11:54

You’ve hit the nail on the head about the lightwave solution, unfortunately the same is true of the ikea option.
If you look on amazon you can get innr bulbs that work with hue for less that the Phillips ones but the reviews don’t sound as good.

**Nogbad The Bad** · 8th January 2018, 12:14

Do you have an iPhone & Apple TV ?

If you do you'll be able to control any Homekit device from the Apple Home app, you can create timers & alerts.

I have Hue bulbs, Hue motion sensors and an Elgato Eve switch.

**MB2** · 8th January 2018, 13:09

I don't have either - if I was renovating I would go for the "hard wired" solution however. I know Hue is LED but I would consider the replacement cost of the bulbs etc. down the line - for a retrofit then Hue makes much more sense to me.

**gilford** · 8th January 2018, 14:17

I've got Hue in the lounge, had it just over a year, I'm not overly impressed TBH.

I use it in conjunction with my Harmony remote and macro's, a good 40% of the time when we go to bed at night and hit the "all off" the lights don't do anything, you are then left stood there like an idiot for a good 60 seconds waiting for the Hue bridge to catch up so you can try again.

Another annoying thing is if you switch the main room switch to off then they lose all the "scene" memory so you have to start from scratch! A novel idea but not great in my opinion.

A friend of mine has just done his whole house in the Ikea alternative, he has and nothing but trouble with them, I'd just stock with normal LED lights or look at Lutron or similar.

**Captain Morgan** · 8th January 2018, 14:33

The issue with lutron is cost / complexity of installation especially if you want independent dimming and/or colour control rako is a cheaper (it was 2-3 years ago) wired option but still requires dedicated dimming channels and colour control.

I’d agreed hue can be klunky but it’s at a significant lower price point to equivalent lutron/rako set ups and has greater flexibility.

I guess it could be the harmony system causing the issues too, rather than the hue setup.

**Cynar** · 8th January 2018, 15:38

Originally Posted by W44NNE

The only issue I can imagine with this would be the “scenes”. So I’d guess all the lights in one room would come on at the same intensity, whereas with the Philips bulbs, they can perhaps be set to different levels individually?

If they’re all connected to the same switch then yes they will all come on at the same level, as with a normal dimmer switch. My wall lights and ceiling lights are on separate switches and I have a Lightwave socket for the lamp, so it works for me. I tend to use the physical switch more often than not when entering or leaving a room and it’s really frustrating with the Hue, that once off the voice or app control doesn’t work. I guess there’s pros and cons to each, but having used both I prefer the Lightwave.
The best solution would be to hardwire all the lights on and replace the normal switches with the Hue remote ones but not sure if that’s OK to do.

**Nogbad The Bad** · 8th January 2018, 17:45

The Lightwave stuff IMO is a bit pricey and will only dim, your just moving the cost of the bulb to a switch.

https://www.apple.com/uk/search/Homekit?src=alp

You just neet to remember not to turn the lights off at the switch :)

**D4RK1** · 8th January 2018, 18:52

it seems from the replies that all systems mentioned are not without their flaws.

What's the solution? Surely with home automation being 10+ years in the making there's a professional application that ticks all the boxes to get it right first time?

Mark

**emgee** · 8th January 2018, 18:59

Ive gone down the Hive smart lighting route as we already have the Hive heating and hub. main living room, music room, kitchen and our bedroom at the moment. all work off a motion sensor in each room. go off about 30 seconds after you leave the room. it can be a pain as the lights go out if you are say sitting reading. helps though as the missus always leaving the lights on. you can set schedules, dim etc. works well.

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**RobDad** · 8th January 2018, 21:05

Like most ‘smart home’ gizmos they’re a solution to a problem which doesn’t exist, imho. How hard is it to operate a light switch?

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**eagletower** · 8th January 2018, 21:24