With the changing dynamics in home renovation, shift towards sustainability and interior design techniques, smart lighting has emerged to be an essential component. It is seen as the first step towards the smart homes evolution.
Designed originally for energy efficiency, the smart lighting technology has considerably enhanced the convenience and security aspects for the user. Through effective fixtures and automated controls via mobile applications and platforms, smart lighting in homes allow sufficient preferential adjustments for essential lighting, deliberate application, and security illumination.
Smart lighting is fashioned to serve multiple purposes. They are decorative lights, lighting backgrounds, home decor elements, workstation lighting, and many more.
Benefits of smart lighting in homes
Minimized energy consumption
The smart lighting system can effectively control cooling, heating, electrical appliances alongside lighting. The automated control features and advantage to control from a remote distance allows maximum energy saving. These system also reduces electricity consumption thanks to its daylight sensing, occupancy sensing features.
Increased convenience
Smart lighting in homes increases the convenience factor of living in the space significantly. It intensifies comfort and easy usability across different areas. The sensors, once again, contribute to this benefit by anticipating the lighting needs of the occupants across different parts of the house.
Enhanced security
A smart lighting system enables security illuminations and triggers floodlights at the breach point. It also allows automatic adjustments of lights in the house during holidays and vacations that create an illusion of presence.
It thus enhances security of the house to a great level and minimizes the possibilities of breach through controlled access points.
Change moods
Smart lighting at home can also effectively change the lighting moods of a space as per control preferences. It allows us to characterize certain routine settings for a specific space and for a specific time.
It enhances the performance and beauty of decorative lights, lighting background, and home decor lights.
Smart lighting accommodation during Covid 19
Over the last few months, the ongoing pandemic situation has led millions of workers to accommodate their work in their home. Work from home structure has emerged as somewhat of a new normal feature of millions of workers worldwide. With this development, home has turned into a place of work alongside a place to relax.
With the increasing demands of a single space that meets the atmosphere and requirements of both working stations and living places, the necessity of smart lighting systems in home have gained new grounds. This technology technology actively minimizes energy consumption to a significant level, benefiting work from home workers to stabilize their electricity usage.
It also adds convenience allowing utility of lights only when absolutely necessary, while keeping a track on the day light control system. This lighting system is home helps to efficiently create an environment that suits both the moods of work space and relaxing space whenever required.
What constitutes smart lighting?
LED light bulbs
The first and foremost component of a smart lighting system in home is LED light bulbs. These types of light bulbs draw less power than the traditional light bulbs and considerably contributes to the reduced energy consumption under the smart home lighting system. LED light bulbs also come with adequate options of normal and color changing varieties, that provides a good alternative to mood setting through lighting of a given space.
Software integration
Smart lighting systems remain integrated with mobile applications and other platforms. It generally uses a mesh network to connect across multiple networked devices, allowing access to the control system from fingertips. Many systems consist of flexible options of both automated and home controls.
Most of these systems are designed in such a way that it can be coordinated with other platforms. For instance, a single system can remain integrated with Apple’s Homekit, Amazon’s Echo and Google Home, simplifying control through voice commands via Siri, Alexa and more.
Sensor systems
Smart light systems utilize sensors to enhance the performance and convenience of the entire system. A complete sensor system further uses a motion detector, occupancy sensor, daylight sensor, and similar features to properly work out the smart lighting system of a home. These sensors play a critical part in the overall control of the system, as each of these ensure a specific characteristic area.
For example, motion sensors senses motion and determines the requirement of lighting, which helps in security illuminations.
The occupancy sensor more or less performs in the same way and validates lighting control per various conditions pertaining to other lights connected in the same network. On the other hand, the daylights sensing technology ensures minimum usage of electricity in the presence of natural light, in the daytime.
The sensors thus contribute to the added security features of the home as well as energy efficiency and bill reduction through smart home lighting systems.
Points to keep in mind while planning smart lighting system at home
Working to a plan
This is the most obvious and one of the most crucial parts before incorporating the lighting system at home. A through planning of the structure based on essential requirements and demands, along with weighing the advantages and disadvantages of each technology and platform in the market must precede the transformation. All the elements should maintain a perfect sync to provide the safety and comfort of a home.
Choosing an expert dealer
Planning a smart system for a home means integration of and investment in the best technologies. Hence, choosing a dealer for all the necessary components of these lighting system is absolutely necessary.
The dealer must have adequate expertise in the technical field of smart lighting and experience in installation of home automation systems.
Choosing the best network security
Since the core of smart lighting systems is access and control through online networks, security breach and infringement can pose a huge threat to the overall structure. Hence, choosing a professionally efficient network protection is another important factor to keep in mind while planning the system.
Considering future developments
It is important to keep the future in mind while planning the smart home lighting system. Track with multiple access and control options designed as per the family requirements.
It is an essential factor for better convenience. Planning ahead for the future before actually integrating the whole system will enable more prospects and open options that can be utilized at their utmost potential, whenever necessary. Planning the entire thing ahead will also save a significant amount of additional expenditure of future re-modelings.
Brands
Various brands have made the entire system of smart lighting in home more effective and efficient. These brands offer adequate options to choose from various types of features. They offer smart lighting solutions that can be accommodated as home decor lights and in lighting backgrounds, adding extra attractiveness to decorative lights. Some of the top runners in the industry include Anchor By Panasonic, Signify, Philips Hue, Jaquar Lighting, Osram, Syska and others.
Anchor By Panasonic
Anchor by Panasonic offers a wide variety of options to choose from. It presents a varied selection of all types of LED lights, sensor products, switches, and security products that can be integrated with the smart lighting system. Home automation products like THEA and ROMA Smart Digital can be integrated.
Signify
Signify, earlier Philips Lighting, is one of the topmost companies within the industry to supply smart LED lighting products. It is integrated with Philips and Philips Hue, Interact, Modular Lighting Instruments, and Color Kinetics. Signify offers complete solutions to smart lighting systems and automated smart home systems. It has a wide variety of products pertaining to each of the related brands and coordination like the smart home innovation system of Philips Hue.
Philips Hue
Philips Hue of Philips provides all components of smart lighting systems of home including various types of LED light bulbs, switches, modules and more. The smart lighting system by Philips Hue is integrally related with the innovative smart home technology by Philips and allows complete integration with home automation.
Jaquar Lights
Jaquar Lights offers a wide range of smart lighting products. They provide different varieties of smart lights that cater to almost every needs and requirements of a household. The light products in the smart product range includes Kriza, Vivid, Strella Smart, Pride Smart among others.
Smart lighting systems in homes can change the home atmosphere to a completely different level, while prioritizing on comfort and security at the same time. Implementing smart lighting in the house can be the first yet an effective step towards embracing home automation.
Osram
Osram is a dedicated brand in the lighting industry, and also among the topmost names. It offers all the components of a complete smart lighting system, including LED light bulbs, sensors and emitters, LED light engines and modules, and light management systems.
Syska
Syska offers LED light bulbs in all color preferences, along with WiFi enabled plugs. Their products are specifically designed for smooth integration WiFi networks for proper lighting components. Syska includes products like 3-in-1 LED bulbs and normal LED bulbs that can be controlled through Alexa and Google Assistant.
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