Smart Bulb vs. Smart Switch: Which is best for you?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 มิ.ย. 2024
- Comparing smart bulbs vs. smart switches on five dimensions - functionality, features, control, installation, and cost - to help you decide what is best for you.
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• Are Philips Hue Lights...
📘 CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
00:46 - Functionality
01:48 - Features
03:16 - Control
04:47 - Installation
06:02 - Cost
07:20 - Recommendations
09:28 - Final Thoughts
💡 MY FAVORITE SMART BULBS
Philips Hue Smart 60W A19 LED Bulb - White and Color Ambiance Color - 1 Pack: amzn.to/3vHIsBf
Philips Hue Smart 60W A19 LED Bulb - White Ambiance Warm-to-Cool White Light - 2 Pack: amzn.to/427c8nr
Philips Hue Smart 75W A19 LED Bulb - White and Color Ambiance Color-Changing Light - 2 Pack: amzn.to/3Sp2QQD
Philips Hue Smart 75W A19 LED Bulb - White Ambiance Warm-to-Cool White Light - 2 Pack: amzn.to/3vH5sAy
Philips Hue Smart 100W A21 LED Bulb - White and Color Ambiance Color - 1 Pack: amzn.to/3OaHwvH
Philips Hue Smart 100W A21 LED Bulb - White Ambiance Warm-to-Cool White Light - 1 Pack: amzn.to/3OdA4jv
Philips Hue Smart 40W B39 Candle-Shaped LED Bulb - White and Color Ambiance Color-Changing Light - 1 Pack: amzn.to/47LhfLs
Philips Hue Smart 40W B39 Candle-Shaped LED Bulb - White Ambiance Warm-to-Cool White Light - 1 Pack: amzn.to/3U4AV9V
Philips Hue Bridge - Best Way to Use Philips Hue Smart Bulbs: amzn.to/3wEHnL5
💡 MY FAVORITE SMART SWITCHES
Lutron Caseta Smart Home Dimmer Switch: amzn.to/48EZ1LQ
Lutron Caseta Smart Dimmer Switch for ELV+ Bulbs: amzn.to/49WZLgn
Lutron Caseta Smart Lighting Dimmer Switch Starter Kit with Caseta Smart Hub and Pico Bracket: amzn.to/3P2yP76
Lutron Diva Smart Dimmer Switch Starter Kit for Caséta Smart Lighting, with Smart Hub, Pico Remote, and Pedestal: amzn.to/49B3yjM
💡 SMART SWITCHES MADE FOR PHILIPS HUE SMART BULBS
Lutron Aurora Smart Bulb Dimmer Switch for Philips Hue Smart Bulbs - Mount Anywhere: amzn.to/3wBWDbL
Lutron Aurora Smart Bulb Dimmer Switch for Philips Hue Smart Bulbs - Mount on Switch: amzn.to/3uVqlIc
🔗 LINKS
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👤 ABOUT ME
I'm Michael Leen, a lifelong tech enthusiast in the United States who believes technology is a tool that should help - not hinder - our productivity. I produce weekly video content on TH-cam spanning smart home automation, mobile devices, and other tech tools to help us lead more productive lives. - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Let me know how you’ve approached the battle between the smart bulb and the smart switch in your home. 👉 Click here to see my smart home gear: www.michaelsleen.com/tech/
I’ve a spare bedroom that also currently doubles as a storage area. I use a proximity sensor to turn on the lights when I want to get something from storage which switches the smart bulb off again after no motion for a time. When I have guests, I put the house in guest mode and this disables the proximity sensor and allows the bulb to be switched on and off as required using a smart switch.
If you’re not already using one, consider a mmWave presence detection sensor for turning off the lights. This can be more helpful than a motion sensor, but if it’s a storage room most of the time, you might not care as much.
Brands like Inovelli and Zooz let you configure your switch in smart bulb mode, which keeps power to your bulbs, and uses automation to turn them on/off. This gives you the best of both worlds.
Yeah, having smart switches that work with smart bulbs can be a great combo.
this was super helpful thankyou!
Glad to hear that, thanks for watching!
For me, the solution is mostly obvious: If you need to control lots of lights, get a smart switch (or a smart relay, get an electrician). If few, go with a smart bulb.
My only exception to this is the living room, where I was willing to splurge more on the Phillips Hue 1600 lumen color changing bulbs. People are in there more, it felt worth it.
And really, how likely are you to need or even want more than 1 smart bulb in most rooms? Maybe have 1 color changing bulb in some rooms for a quick notification indicator in most rooms.
Sure, smart switches can be more practical. I'm a big fan of being able to change from cool lights during the day to warm lights in the evening.
I have multiple solutions in my house, but for rooms with simple pendant lights like bedrooms I have smart bulbs with a smart battery powered Ikea dimmer held over the existing “hard” light switch with a printed mount. Sounds a bit DIY but it actually works very well and looks great. The dimmer clips on with a magnet. Ikea make various battery powered dimmers, 2 way or 4 way. The batteries are good for 1 to 2 years. There are lots of advantages:the hard switch is hidden but is available if you pluck off the dimmer; I can cycle power on the bulb without unscrewing it, which is very occasionally useful. Also, I have all the advantages of a smart bulb vs using a dumb bulb with a smart switch. Using the four way remote I can change temp/colour at the switch. The mount that hold the dimmers screw using the existing screws. One other thing I like is it’s trivial to revert to dumb lighting if we ever sell this place.
For the lounge, which has two by three bulb ceiling lights, I went for a Samotech zigbee dimmer with the existing bulbs. I’m very happy with this solution. It even has power monitoring. One maybe overlooked advantage is it is obvious how to use the dimmer to guests as it looks identical to a dumb dimmer.
For the kitchen I pondered a relay solution but went with smart GU10s and more 4 way remotes over the old switches. It works well. Two zigbee groups control about a dozen spots. So far, no drops.
I use a few relays with the old ugly hard switches. One is in my office, which has a 20W/150W very bright “corn” bulb. Basically you can’t, AFAIK, get smart bulbs of that brightness.
Anyway, thanks for making the video. Hope you and the family are doing well!
Thanks for sharing! Definitely curious about the IKEA printed mount solution and what that looks like on the wall.
Thumbs up bro!! Do you provide mentorship , coaching , consulting or anything like that ?
Are you looking for consulting services to help you plan your smart home and home automations?
I have been investigating this for the last couple of years, and I have come to the conclusion that you should use both. The problem is that most switches do not allow for a detached mode. (Shelly terminology).
Basically smart lights give you heaps of functionality but they do not very well abide with WAF (Wife approval factor), and generally the wife will just flick the switch off and as you said the lights are no better then a dumb light bulb.
Using just a smart switch give you no real advantage over the smart light as it is still the same light and you can't set t for the situation. Also the biggest problem is that most switches do not support smart light bulbs. Also the majority of smart switches just look ugly and usually have writing on it. Definitely not meeting the WAF standard.
I am currently have dump LED downlights which are dying on me so I am looking to replace them all with smart downlights. However this will then cause the problem with them being turned off. So basically I am going to use the Shelly plus 1/2 behind my switches to allow the lights to be turned on and off like normal and also they will look like normal switches. Since the Shelly has detached mode I can keep the smart lights powered on all the time and use Home assistant to detect the switch and turn on the smart light like a cave man. But power will remain on the smrt light. If there is any fine tuning like dimming lights, changing colours this can be done via voice commands to via apps.
The other thing is that I have mutiple lights on switches on the same room, but I generally have to turn on both to get enough light in one of the area. by doing this when I turn on one light I can also turn on a single light from the other area to add the other areas brightness.
I think that most switches have got it wrong, and should allow the physical switch to operate separately from the relay. They should not be connected at the board level. I remember a LTT episode when Linus was trying to get a smart bulb to work behind an expensive switch he has and it just wouldn't do it.
For sure, that's why I like using smart bulbs with compatible smart switches. Curious to hear how it goes with the Shelley Plus!
Not even trying to be funny, I thought you were harry mack
The rapper?! That's hilarious.
@@michaelsleen yes!! I opened the video and I was like Harry Mack has a smart home?!?🤣🤣
Neither unless you identify as Millennial dummy or Genz Really lost. SMRT lighting is the only thing that could be considered smart in a home. Power outage everything comes on and was told by a neighbor while on vacation my lights were on for 2 weeks everyone. Plus they loose internet same problem, i have never had a smart bulb that didn't loose connection 40 times a month not a lie. There is nothing smart about them, been coding since 1982, been building robots as a profession since 1992, nothing you're doing is smart, just lines of code.
Sorry to hear about your rough experience with smart lighting. The Philips Hue app has a setting where you can select the behavior of each individual light after a power outage.