Building a smart home might sound like a daunting task for beginners or new homeowners; with the deluge of smart gadgets competing for your attention and wallet, it is easy to lose focus, bust your budget and end up being unhappy with the outcome.
The simplest and surest way to start is with smart lighting. Whether you are moving to a new home or renovating an existing one, choosing smart lightbulbs over traditional ones will immediately give you greater convenience and control, while opening up endless possibilities for the future.
Many of us are already aware that smart lighting is the way to go. With electricity costs on the rise in Singapore, simply switching from LED bulbs to smart lights can reduce the amount of electricity needed to light a room and shave precious dollars off your utility bill. Smart lighting can also be programmed to turn off automatically to further reduce energy wastage.
Image Source: Signify Singapore
Based on Signify’s experience as the world leader in lighting, here are the key considerations to making your smart home lighting journey an enjoyable and successful one:
Upgrade to smart bulbs
Let’s start from the basics – smart bulbs, the building blocks of smart lighting. They are called smart for a reason. Beyond being LED bulbs, they are capable of wirelessly connecting to smart devices to make your life easier, better and more fun.
Installing smart bulbs into an existing light or fixture instantly gives you full control and customisability over the way you light your home. This can be done through an app or even your voice using smart home assistants like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri Shortcuts. Yes, you can now toggle lights on or off, brighten or dim them without having to install a dimmer to create the right atmosphere, from anywhere in the house.
Many smart bulbs can communicate via the Bluetooth in your smartphone. This means that you don’t need a central hub, although that will allow you to do more.
Know your colour options
Smart white bulbs produce only one colour: warm white at a set colour temperature of 2700 Kelvin. This cozy, yellow-toned white is instantly relaxing, making it a perfect option for living room lamps and bedrooms. They can be dimmed to create a mellow atmosphere or made brighter for functional tasks
However, if you prefer a bigger range of colour temperatures, you can go for white ambiance bulbs as they could offer up to 50,000 shades of natural white light – from bright, energizing daylight to warm orange for winding down after a long day. This means you can change your smart lights to suit different moods and moments throughout the day.
Maximize your home security
Smart-ness should always come with greater security and some smart bulbs deliver just that. Built-in smart light routines enable you to turn selected lights on and off to make it look like you are home when you are away. You can also trigger your indoor and outdoor smart lights with motion sensors, discouraging unwanted guests from targeting your house when you are out.
All these are achievable with smart bulbs that come with a hub or a bridge. Go for those that can connect and control to as many lights and accessories as possible; you can operate independently from your home’s Internet, so that it won’t slow down your network. If you struggle with your internet, then search internet service by address, so you can improve your speeds.
Go for ultimate control
For smart lighting, the key is not just in the lights, it’s the mobile app that comes with it. Make sure your lights are supported by a user-friendly app with an intuitive interface.
If you want to get the ultimate experience, pay attention to the features of the app. Go for one that gives you easy access to light scenes and allows multiple users to trigger home and away automation.
In addition, choose an app that allows you to set your lights to turn on and off at custom times or at sunrise and sunset, to dim them at dinner time and brighten when you brush your teeth.
Boost your health and well-being
Image Source: Signify Singapore
Having problem sleeping? You are not alone as Singaporeans only average 6.8 hours of sleep per night and the pandemic has exacerbated such sleep woes.
Improve your sleep quality using smart lights with different settings that match your internal body clock. Imagine your room gradually lighting up in the morning to mimic natural sunlight, increasing your Cortisol levels. Switching to warm white or yellowish lights near bedtime can also help your body relax and activate the hormone responsible for sleep.
Don’t miss an immersive entertainment experience
Why stop at just convenience when you can have a whole lot of fun with your smart lights? If you are a movie buff or gamer, you can synchronise smart lights with your entertainment content for a unique immersive entertainment experience. Watch the action leap off your screen and into your room, bringing movie and in-game environments and effects to the entire room with surround, immersive lights. Music lovers will also be thrilled to know that you can now link your smart lights with Spotify to let your lights react to your favourite tunes!
Ultimately, smart lighting will lay a strong foundation for you to build your smart home. It is the perfect entry point to give you a firm and steady start to a world of intelligence in your abode.
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