Smart lighting: what exactly is it and how do you compare?

How does smart lighting work?

The first question is, of course, how exactly smart lighting works. It is part of your smart home. With it, you can control all lighting wirelessly and use scenes and routines to decide what your home looks like at different times of the day. For example, you can determine at what moment the lamps should switch on or off. When the alarm goes off, the lamps gradually become brighter so you wake up more pleasantly. When you go to work, the lamps switch off automatically. When you come home, the lamps switch on again.

With smart lighting you can do more than just switch on and off or control the colours. There are also systems that have motion sensors. With these, the possibilities are endless.

Buying tips for smart lighting

If you are planning to buy smart lighting, you do need to take a number of things into account. Smart lighting works most conveniently if you can use your favourite voice assistant with it. So if you buy smart lighting that works with Apple HomeKit, you can say ‘Hey Siri, turn on the light’ to switch the light on. There are also brands that have no support for voice assistants.

You can research the possibilities of the smart lighting thoroughly in advance. Smart lighting works best in a series. If, for example, you use Philips Hue, you had better choose all lighting from this series. There are also differences in colours and brightness per brand of smart lighting. Moreover, there are systems for which you need a bridge to be able to link them together. It is therefore wise to read up properly in advance.

Possibilities

Smart lighting gives you various possibilities. For example, you can operate all your lamps in one go via an app from the manufacturer or Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa or Apple HomeKit. You can easily switch lamps on and off via the app. If you want certain lamps to already be on in the morning when you wake up, you can set a timer for this.

With some lamps it is even possible to set different colours. In the evening you set a warmer colour, so that you produce more melatonin and can therefore sleep more easily. In addition, you can create atmosphere with smart lighting. Furthermore, using motion sensors, you can have the lighting switch on automatically when someone walks past. That way you can deter burglars more easily.

Installing smart lighting seems a difficult job if you have little knowledge of it. But this is certainly not the case. There are special starter kits on the market with which you link the smart lighting to the bridge (hub). This works ‘plug and play’. So you are done in a few clicks in an app.

Smart sockets

Another smart lighting option is using smart sockets. A smart socket is a lamp holder that you screw into the classic socket. That way you can still operate non-smart lamps remotely. Unfortunately, the possibilities are then fairly limited, because you can only switch the lighting on and off or, in some cases, dim it.

Smart lighting from IKEA

As a home furnishings store, IKEA of course could not be absent from the production of smart lighting. This works with the TRÅDFRI line. These are LED lamps from IKEA and have already been named best buy by the Consumentenbond. This product line is quite extensive. For example, you can buy smart integrated lighting, smart light panels, smart lighting sets, wireless LED light sources and control units.

At a price of less than ten euros per LED lamp, IKEA's smart lighting is a lot cheaper than that of other manufacturers. As with Philips, you do need a controller for optimal control. This is the so-called gateway hub. With this hub you link the smart lighting to the heart of your system. That way you can operate all lamps remotely, adjust colours and create zones. The advantage of IKEA is that the gateway hub is quite inexpensive. This brings smart lighting a lot closer for people with a smaller budget too.

For example, using a smart light source, it is possible to completely adjust the lighting in your home. For instance, by dimming the light. The lamps burn soft and warm during a cosy dinner. And after dinner there is still work to be done. The lights then become clear and bright. IKEA's smart lighting is very suitable for this. This works with the gateway hub and the IKEA Home smart app. This way you can control each light source individually. In this way you can save up to 85% more energy. So smart lighting is also good for your energy bill.

Smart lighting from Philips (Hue)

Philips' smart lighting is the best-known system on the market. This is partly due to the possibilities. For example, you can buy a lamp in a specific colour, but there is also lighting from Philips on the market that you can easily adjust yourself to whatever colour you want. This works with a special controller. You can buy this separately, but operating via Google Home, Amazon Alexa or Apple HomeKit is also possible. The possibilities of Philips Hue are endless.

For those who want to pay less, there is the Bluetooth version of Philips Hue. However, you do lose quite a lot in terms of possibilities. For example, you cannot create scenes and you have to be in the same room as the lamp to be able to operate it.

If you want to be able to use Philips Hue smart lighting optimally, it is best to choose ZigBee technology. You do need a special bridge for this. In return, however, you get a host of possibilities. For example, you can link the smart lighting not only to a room, but also to a zone. That way you no longer have to switch off the lighting in the hallway separately after you have switched off the light in the bedroom. By linking rooms together through zones, this is done at the push of a button. And there are also Philips Hue motion sensors available, so that the lamps also go off if you have forgotten to switch them off.

Smart lighting from HEMA

HEMA of course could not lag behind in the development of smart lighting. As a result, you can now also buy smart lighting from this quintessentially Dutch company. This is possible with the free HEMA smart app. That way you can easily operate the lamps via phone or tablet.

HEMA itself lists a number of possibilities of the smart lighting: switching on and off, of course, but also dimming, setting timers or adjusting the colour of the light. This smart lighting works via Wifi. That is quite handy, because this way you don't have to be in the same room to operate the lighting. The range is therefore a lot larger. HEMA's lighting is available in different styles. Think, for example, of plain white light in your office. This can dim and change temperature. It is ideal for the office or the living room. If you want more style and to be able to adjust the light, you choose ‘white and coloured light’. This is a smart pear-shaped LED lamp that you can set to any rgb colour. The lighting is also dimmable and gives you quite a few possibilities.

If you get started with smart lighting from HEMA, you need the HEMA Smart System for this. For example, you can then also use smart switches. That way non-smart devices are also easy to operate.

Connecting LSC Smart Connect from Action with Google Home

All the big shops nowadays sell their own smart lighting. Action recently started doing so too, under the name ‘LSC Smart Connect’. This smart lighting works via the Tuya platform. The advantage of this smart lighting is that it is a lot cheaper and therefore affordable for everyone. Moreover, it is easy to install using Wifi.

Action sells fifteen different smart lighting products. The nice thing about the Tuya platform is that it is also suitable for Google Home. So you can operate your lamps using Google Home's voice control. To do this, you do need to download the LSC Smart Connect app first and create an account. You do this by entering a username and password. Then you verify your email address and you are ready to start.

Once in the app, you click on the plus sign at the top right. Then you select that you want to install Smart Lighting. Next, you place the lamp in a fixture and switch the lamp on using the light switch. In the app, you click on the lamp of your choice. The lamp then starts flashing. You then press ‘confirm’ and enter your Wifi password. If you then confirm once more, the lamp has been added to the LSC Smart Connect app. Now you can, for example, adjust the brightness, change the colour or switch the lamp on and off.

Finally, you want to connect LSC Smart Connect to Google Home. To do this, you first need to open the Google Home app. Then click on ‘add’, ‘set up device’ and then ‘have something already set up?’ This allows you to add new products. A long list of products appears, but LSC Smart Connect is not specifically among them. You can therefore choose ‘Tuya Smart’ or ‘Smart Life’. Enter the details of your LSC Smart Connect app and give permission for the link.

Once it is linked, you will find all your smart lamps and other smart equipment from LSC Smart Connect in Google Home. You can then add these to a home or room. This is possible by clicking on ‘add to a room’. You can then operate the lamps using your voice.

Philips Hue with Bluetooth: these are the things you can and cannot do

Philips Hue lamps have been popular for years. They are known above all for their good quality. Nevertheless, there are different types of Philips Hue lamps. For example, there is the version with ZigBee technology that you can connect to a bridge. A cheaper version is Philips Hue with Bluetooth. But you do run into a number of limitations.

Philips Hue lamps are made by the company Signify. The cheaper lamps have a GU10 or E27 fitting. The lamps are available in different colours. Nevertheless, there are a lot of things the Philips Hue Bluetooth lamps cannot do.

For example, you need the special Philips Hue Bluetooth app to get the lighting working. It is available for both Android and iOS. You need it to be able to operate the lamps, because you cannot use Wifi. Not all lamps work via Bluetooth or via this app. That is why the packaging indicates whether it works with Bluetooth.

If you choose Bluetooth, you can only connect ten lamps via Bluetooth. If you use ZigBee and the bridge, you can connect up to fifty lamps. Moreover, the range of smart lighting on Bluetooth is not very far, so you have to be in the same room as where the lamps are located.

Without a Bridge, it is furthermore only possible to a limited extent to use Amazon Alexa. You can say that the lighting should go off, but it soon stops there. Combining other smart equipment does not work and you also cannot set timers and schedules. Furthermore, you cannot use wake-up and sleep functions. So the lamps cannot be switched on gradually, do not know when you go to bed and cannot be used with music and films either. ZigBee therefore has quite a few advantages over Bluetooth smart lighting.

Philips Hue zones: how to group rooms and individual lamps

If you have a few Philips Hue lamps in a room, it is smart to use so-called zones. The Philips Hue app has offered this function for some time. That way you can, for example, switch off all the lighting on one floor or switch on the lamps in the living room. It is possible to create zones in the home for both the Android and iOS app.

These zones work as a kind of group. If you have a lot of rooms, it is often not practical to arrange them on schedules. That is why using zones is a handy function. With a zone, it is possible to operate a limited number of lamps or all of them. When you go to bed, for example, you can set the lamps in the hallway and bedroom to come on. When you are in bed, you switch off both the lamps in the hallway and the bedroom again at the push of a button. So you no longer have to operate each lamp separately.

To achieve this, you first need to create a zone. You can do this by pressing the Settings button. Then you choose ‘Rooms and zones’ and you can create a new zone. On the screen you enter the name of the zone and you can optionally assign an icon as well. You then add the lamps to this zone. These lamps are admittedly assigned to rooms in the house, but with zones you can also operate the lamps in the bedroom and in the hallway at the same time. Then you click on the checkboxes and save them.

Once you have created a zone, you can adjust everything whenever you want. You can find the zones again under the ‘home’ tab. Click on the slider and all lamps in the zone switch on. If you click on it once more, the lamps switch off again. It is also possible to adjust the colours per lamp in a zone or to switch a specific lamp on or off.

Connecting IKEA Trådfri to Philips Hue and Google Home

Another smart solution for smart lighting is Trådfri from home furnishings store IKEA. This lighting is somewhat cheaper and works in much the same way as Philips Hue. Here too you need a special bridge, because Trådfri also uses the so-called Zigbee protocol. You can optionally also link these IKEA lamps to Philips Hue. The IKEA lamps can also be used with Google Home. So you have various options.

First, the link with Philips Hue. There are various packages at IKEA. A single colour lamp costs about 25 euros there. The packages also include, for example, a remote control or motion sensor. Because both Philips and IKEA use ZigBee, you can link IKEA smart lighting to Philips Hue. You do need to reset the IKEA lamp. You do this by unscrewing it from the fitting and then switching it on. Switch the lamp on and off six times. The lamp is then reset. In the Philips Hue app you can then choose ‘light setup’. Click on ‘add light’ and then ‘search’. The lamp will appear within a few seconds. Add the lamp. You can then add it to a room in the home using ‘room setup’. All in all, this procedure takes less than ten seconds. So with the Philips Hue app you get more out of your IKEA lamps, while the IKEA lamps are a lot cheaper. Unfortunately, you cannot update the lamps and the colours are also somewhat less rich. It is also possible that you sometimes cannot switch the lamp on and off. In addition, the set colours are sometimes reset. You therefore need to weigh up the pros and cons yourself.

Another option is using IKEA Trådfri via Google Home. You do need to link it to Philips Hue first, as described above. The advantage is that you can then also switch your lamps on and off using voice control. Previously, you could not operate an IKEA lamp individually with Google Home. Nowadays you can. To do this, you do need to give the lamp a name first. So it doesn't matter whether you use lamps from IKEA or Philips Hue.