Smart lighting

66Mustang

Just wondering if anyone has a smart light bulb and if it's any good?

I'm thinking about getting one of the ones that can change colour. I want to use it as the main light bulb for a room. Are they designed for this or would they not give off enough light?

Thanks!

janer1967

Hi 

I have one that you operate with a remote control changes colour etc think it was from tesco 

My son has one as his main light in his room  and mine is in a lamp 

They give off enough light for us and you can change to brightness as well 

Ross_Alumni

I also want to get smart lights @66Mustang so would be grateful to hear peoples' experiences. 

I'd like to get ones that integrate well with the Google Nest smart speakers, and I have my eye on the Philips Hue ones. Trouble is, there are so many options and I'm never sure what to pick as a beginner. Like you, I want a light that changes colour and intensity, so I can adjust lighting accordingly.

Garza

I have an alexa and have three lights running from it, they are the phillips hue white ones, had no problems so far apart from forgetting they are smart and switching them off manually and then wondering for a second why they are not working. I like the fact that you can control the brightness to suit the mood/activity you are going for

On a wider note I think the progression of smart homes has some really great potential for disabled people

Ross_Alumni

I've seen that Philips Hue ones in particular can work much better if you get the Hub to go along with them, which plugs into your Wi-Fi router and connects to your lighting, rather than the lights connecting directly to your router. Not sure of how it works in practice though.

Andy58

I have some Meross smart bulbs, you can alter the colours and tones on them, They work with Alexa or can be controlled with an app on your phone. Easy to set up, never had a problem with them and are often on offer on Amazon.

Lisatho11987777

I have light bulbs plug sockets I can link my heating and my curtains I love it 

rubin16

I have a mood lightbulb in my room that changes colour with a remote control, I love it as you can dim the light too. I use it at night as a night light as I sleep with the light on all the time, otherwise I start to see shadows move and try attack me and can be scary.

I bought it off amazon for like £7 and had it for the past 2 years, will invest in more when this one finally dies.

Ross_Alumni

Username_removed said:

Ross_Scope said:

I've seen that Philips Hue ones in particular can work much better if you get the Hub to go along with them, which plugs into your Wi-Fi router and connects to your lighting, rather than the lights connecting directly to your router. Not sure of how it works in practice though.

The hub has been the source of several security issues. 

I guess the decision on these things depends on the extent you want both -Getty lights and to invite a large corporation over the threshold and rusk your security.

Interesting, thanks for the heads up, I will do some digging into those concerns. I'm a fairly heavy user of Google and Samsung products, especially the smart speakers, so I'm fairly aware of the security issues and data protection concerns that can arise from using such things, and normally thoroughly read settings pages to make sure only the data I want to share is being shared (though I acknowledge it can go beyond that with some of these orgs). 

I'll have to read about the Hue lights, and the Hub in particular, to see if I'm comfortable with any issues they bring.

OverlyAnxious

The interview with the Google CEO last week was really interesting and it did seem like things are heading in the right direction regarding their security.  Seemed like they had more security measures in place than I realised...although it may have been a little one sided of course.  Worth a watch if you can find it on iPlayer though.

66Mustang

Thank you for the replies. Lots to think about.

I'm not really after any features other than colour changing so maybe I will go for a "low tech" one if possible.