The days are getting darker – time to think about smart lighting!

By investing in smart lighting, you can set your lights to switch on and off automatically, making sure you’ll always come home from work to a bright, welcoming atmosphere. In this blog article, we will take a look at some of the reasons why smart lighting is a good idea and what benefits it offers.

Smart lighting makes your home feel cosy and comfortable

So what is smart lighting? In simple terms, it’s lighting that you can control with an app. That means you can use your mobile phone to turn lights on and off, or to dim them if you want.

There are all kinds of smart lighting solutions available these days and we will be taking a closer look at the different options on offer. Bear in mind that there are various ways to connect your lighting system to your network. These include WiFi, Bluetooth or – more commonly – Zigbee, which, unlike the first two options mentioned, requires some kind of bridge, hub or gateway.

Here are some examples of smart lighting solutions:

• Smart plugs, also known as remote switches: these are plugged into a wall socket, which is connected to the power cable for an existing light. This enables you to turn the light on and off via an app. It couldn’t be simpler!
• Smart light bulbs: these are available in a range of form factors, including E27, E14 and GU10 – the most common types – and light chains (also known as LED strips), which often feature various shades of white light and a myriad of colours. Different colours, brightness levels and shades can be adjusted using the relevant app.
• Built-in receivers are small units installed behind existing switches. These make your connected lights smarter, so you can dim them or turn them on and off using either the switch on the wall or the mobile app.
• Smart luminaires are simply lights with built-in smart functionality. It’s not usually possible to change the bulb in these luminaires, but most of them are built to last with a service life of almost 25,000 hours, which is several years. These solutions are normally a bit more expensive than others and have a more protruding design.

What can smart lighting add to your home?

Investing in smart lighting offers plenty of benefits, which we will shed more light on below. One example is that they use significantly less energy than traditional light bulbs, so you can save on your energy costs. They are more expensive to buy than simpler solutions, but their smart functionality means that they can be programmed to switch off when no one is home or to turn off automatically after a few minutes. Or you can even dim the lights or switch them to different colours (such as blue light) to make them more energy-efficient.

As well as creating a sense of comfort, smart lighting can make your everyday life that little bit easier. Used properly, your lights can be programmed to turn on when the sun sets, or an hour before. This can make the day seem lighter for longer – and you don’t even have to lift a finger! After all, being welcomed home by a brightly lit house is always more appealing than coming home to total darkness. Smart lighting can also be controlled using a sensor, which can switch your lights on where and when required – when a door opens, for example, or when movement is detected. So you won’t need to fumble around with your bags or whatever else you’re carrying to make sure you’ve got a finger free to press the light switch when you come in. This can make life simpler for a lot of people, including elderly people or those with disabilities, leaving them free to focus on other things when they come home instead.

If you want, you can also set your chosen lighting to turn on or off at a specific time. This is particularly useful for security reasons: when the lights switch on and off by themselves, it gives the impression that someone is at home. This can act as a deterrent for any would-be burglars, preventing them from trying to break in.

If you have external smart lighting too, you can set it to come on whenever any movement is detected. With the indoor lights switching on at the same time, it will look like someone has woken up and is coming to see what’s going on. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to go away on holiday knowing that your home can look after itself?

Using a sensor to switch on your lights offers an extra advantage for families with children or elderly people who need to see where they are going if they get up in the night to go to the toilet. Low lighting in the hallway can minimise the risk of bumping into something, making you feel safer.

Combine smart lighting with a smart home

When you have made smart lighting part of your everyday life, it’s easy to make it part of a smarter home too. With the help of a smart controller like Somfy’s TaHoma switch, you can incorporate your lighting into scenes that take care of your daily tasks for you. Here are a few examples of what you can do:

• Set the lights in your bathroom to come on automatically when your roller blinds open in the morning, so you can start your day gently
• Make sure your lighting will switch on if your connected smoke detector goes off, so you can easily find your way out of the house if there’s a fire
• Set your home lighting to switch off when your roller blinds shut in the evening, saving you the time it would take to go around the house turning all the lights off manually
• If you have an electric garage door that’s connected to your smart home system, set the lighting in the garage and in your entrance hall to come on when the garage door opens, giving you a warmer welcome
• Help your whole family wind down for the weekend simply by pressing a button on your Scenario Player that draws the curtains, turns on the TV, dims the lights and plays your favourite film

Smart lighting opens up a whole new dimension in home living. And here’s another bonus: in most cases, you can control your lighting with voice commands via a compatible smart speaker. Just say ”Hey Google, turn on the lights in the living room” and you won’t need to find the wall switch or even get up from the sofa. It’s quite simple: smart living frees you up so you can spend more time doing what you want!