One of the biggest benefits that reliable, high-speed Wi-Fi networks have to offer homeowners today, apart from the ability to connect to the Internet with a wide variety of portable devices, is the ability to wirelessly control various electrical appliances and electronic equipment in the home. Nowadays, everything from your fridge to your garage door can be controlled with a mobile app, either from within your property or remotely, over a long-distance internet connection. It is also possible to control the lighting in your home over your Wi-Fi network, which is what we are going to discuss in this article. We are going to take a close look at smart lighting and answer the following questions: what exactly is it, what functionality does it have to offer and how could it be useful to you?
Table of content
- Thinking of Installing a Home Smart Lighting System?
- A Smart Lighting Primer
- What Functionality Do Smart Lighting Solutions Offer Toronto Homeowners?
- The Benefits of Smart Lighting Solutions
- How a Licensed Electrician Can Help
Thinking of Installing a Home Smart Lighting System? Here’s What You Need to Know
As experienced electrical contractors who provide residential design, installation, maintenance and repair services across the GTA, from our base in Vaughan, we have helped many local residents prepare for smart lighting installations. We can also install additional accessories to add more functionality to your new system, such as dimmer switches and motion sensors, but before we look in detail at the functionality smart lighting has to offer, let’s run through a brief primer for those who are completely new to the concept:
A Smart Lighting Primer
What is Smart Lighting?
It could be anything from a single bulb to a whole collection of bulbs, which communicate wirelessly with a hub connected to your home Wi-Fi router. Although each bulb can be controlled independently, together they form a mesh network, which means that each bulb connects wirelessly to its closest neighbor and the network as a whole communicates with the hub that is connected to your router. You transmit commands to the bulbs with a mobile app installed on your phone or tablet.
What Are the Essential Components of a Smart Lighting System?
As stated above, the core components that make up a home solution are bulbs and a hub, or bridge as it is also called by some manufacturers. Other components, such as the aforementioned dimmer switches and motion sensors, can be added if desired.
How Difficult Is the Installation Process?
Assuming that your existing home electrical circuits are up to scratch, you should be able to handle the installation process yourself. All you really need to do is replace your existing bulbs with the smart models that you purchase, plug in the hub and connect it to your router, then download the relevant app to your smartphone or tablet. Once you have completed these steps and your hub is fully powered up, simply follow the setup instructions provided.
What Functionality Do Smart Lighting Solutions Offer Toronto and Florida Homeowners?
If you are not really sure whether you want to go to the expense of installing smart lighting in your home, this section should help you to make up your mind. In it, we cover the functionality that most modern systems have to offer.
Turning Light On and Off Remotely
The most basic and possibly most the useful function that smart lighting provides is the ability to turn individual lights on and off with a mobile app.
Adjusting Brightness of Lights
You can adjust the brightness of each smart bulb that you install with your app, allowing you to match your home lighting to your mood at any time, without even having to get out of your armchair.
Changing the Color of Lights
If you invest in bulbs that contain colored LEDs, you can also use your mobile app to change the color of individual lights whenever you wish.
Controlling Lighting with Voice Commands
With the help of technology such as Apple’s HomeKit, Google Home or Amazon’s Alexa/Echo, you can control your home lighting with voice commands.
Creating Customized Lighting Settings
Rather than having to issue separate commands to change the color and brightness of each light in a room or your whole house, you can create group settings and refer to them by name. If, for example, you like to have dim pink lighting when you throw a party, you could create a party setting that enables you to set every bulb to the appropriate brightness and color with one simple command.
The Benefits of Smart Lighting Solutions
Now that you know what smart lighting is and what functionality it has to offer, you may be wondering how exactly it could benefit you on a day-to-day basis. Whether you live near our base, in Richmond Hill or Vaughan, or a completely different part of the GTA, smart lighting could enhance your home life in the following ways:
- Extra Home Security
The ability to turn the lights in your home on and off from anywhere in the world where you can access the internet means that you can ensure your home looks like it is always occupied, even if you are away for days or weeks at a time. Secure mobile apps make this as easy as tapping a button on your phone.
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Instant Mood Lighting
Whether you are planning a romantic evening with your partner or you fancy watching a movie, you can set the right mood with a single voice command whenever you wish. This avoids the need to rush around the room switching lights on and off or fiddling with individual dimmer switches, making for a far more relaxing experience.
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A More Energy Efficient Home
A welcome and often unexpected benefit of installing smart lighting in your home is lower electricity bills. This is due to the fact that the bulbs contain LEDs, making them far more energy efficient than incandescent or CFL bulbs. They also last 10 times longer than CFL bulbs and up to 40 times longer than incandescent bulbs, saving you money on replacements too.
How a Licensed Electrician Can Help
As mentioned earlier, installing a smart lighting system is a relatively simple process but it is a good idea to make sure that your home’s electrical circuits are in good working order before doing so, due to the relatively high cost of individual smart bulbs. Whether you live in an older property in nearby Richmond Hill, or a modern home in the center of the city, we can inspect your wiring and advise you of any upgrades that may need to be made. If you would like to add dimmer switches and motion sensors to your new lighting system, we will be more than happy to install these for you as well.
When you deal with us, you don’t just get a fully qualified electrician who can handle all your home electrical wiring needs: we also have a great deal of experience in the design and installation of custom lighting solutions for both new and older properties, making us the perfect choice for homeowners who would like to make improvements to the layout and functionality of their home lighting at the same time. Whatever your needs may be, please feel free to contact us at any time to ask for professional advice or to make an appointment for a home visit.
For more Information or Free Assessment contact us at 416-553-5533
