You’re not at home, but you want the garden lights to be switched on, so that your home is protected and potential burglars are unaware you’re not around. Or, you’re entertaining guests at home and want to turn off the lights in your upstairs bedroom, without having to walk all the way. You might even want to dim the lights before you start watching a movie, and you’re just too comfortable to get up from the couch. With a single click on a mobile app, you can do all of this and more!
Home lighting automation is no longer considered to be the exclusive prerogative of luxe homes. With more affordable lighting automation systems available today, the market is open to small and mid-sized home owners as well. By automating your home lighting, you can transform your lifestyle and also save significantly on electricity costs.
Want to understand more about automatic house lights? Read on!
Smart Lighting
Smart lights offer a range of automation options, and they do this either by using smart bulbs, or by connecting smart devices to your existing bulbs or plugs. You can either connect every light bulb to the smart home app, or choose to automate only a few switches and power plugs that are strategically located. To do this, you will have to replace wall switches and plugs with smart switches and smart plugs, or replace the bulbs you are presently using with smart bulbs.
With automated lighting, you can control the brightness of your home, switch lights on and off using your app, or pre-set some lights—such as porch lights and garden lights— to switch on and off at specific times. Lights that are set on dimmers can be controlled to provide bright task lighting when you’re working, or soft and dreamy lighting when you’re setting the mood for an intimate dinner for two.
How is Automated Lighting Different from Regular Lighting?
Automated lighting is different from conventional lighting in several ways:
- Using a smartphone, you can control all the smart devices at home, including living room lighting, door locks, security cameras and so on. Even if you are halfway across the world, or just down the street, your smartphone will connect to the lighting systems in your home and make them do whatever you’d like them to do!
- You can monitor the status of your lights from wherever you are, by using your smartphone interface.
- Your smart light bulb can be programmed to tell you when it needs to be replaced, or notify you when it turns on or off.
- You can set your lighting to switch on or off to a schedule, and even change the timing on different days.
- Your smart light can even be programmed to turn itself on when it perceives that the ambient light is low, as in the evening or even when the sky turns cloudy and dark.
- You can program different configurations of lights to work in sync, so that you can set the mood and vibe you’d like to create.
Upgrading Older Homes with Smart Home Technology
While many new homes come with home automation included, it’s possible to upgrade older homes with the technology you desire. Keep in mind:
- It’s far easier to opt for wireless systems instead of having to redo the wiring, which will be quite a hassle.
- Start with the devices that you find affordable, and add on more devices as and when you find the need.
- Conventional appliances can be converted to smart ones simply by plugging them into a smart outlet that connects to your wi-fi and can be controlled with your smartphone.
Upgrading your home not only makes it a lot more convenient to use, but also increases the energy efficiency of your systems. You will save a whole lot on your energy bills in the long run, and can recover the cost of your initial spend many times over. Even if you’re planning to sell your home, by setting up home automation systems you will find that it has a much higher resale value.
Factors that Impact the Cost of Automatic House Lights
A question that’s on the top of home owners’ minds is undoubtedly about the cost of smart automated lighting systems and automatic house lights! This would basically depend on a number of factors, which include:
- The number of automatic house lights (or devices): the greater the number, the more the cost
- The cost of cloud services
- The brand of automatic house lights that you are buying into
- The cost of professional installation, maintenance and upkeep
While the initial spend may be on the higher side, do keep in mind that having smart technology in your home will completely transform your life, to the extent that you will wonder how you ever managed without it earlier!
Home Automation System
In most cases, your automatic house lights will be a part of the home automation system as a whole. If you are opting for the entire package, a home automation system can control and automate the lighting, ventilation, air conditioning and blinds.
All communications systems such as email and Internet can be connected to your smart devices, so that you can operate them with just a click. Security systems such as alarms, access control for doors and CCTV can also be connected to your smart home systems.
Your home entertainment systems such as the TV and audio systems can be operated remotely, so that the TV is switched on to your favourite news channel just when you are coming back home from work.
Before you turn in for the night, you can check to see if all the lights are turned off, window blinds shut and air conditioner switched on, just the way you like it—and all this from the comfort of your bed!
Wrapping Up
If you’re thinking that automatic house lights sound like a great idea for your home and would like to explore the best options in the market, do schedule a visit to the nearest HomeLane Experience Centre. Once we have a good understanding about what you’re looking for, we can work within your budget and your expectations to come up with the perfect automatic house lights for your home. We can’t wait to get started, so do give us a call right away!
FAQs
1. What are automatic house lights?
Automatic house lights are lights that have remote on-off control and can be programmed to dim or get brighter as needed. The entire house can be on an automated lighting system, or you can choose to have only a few lights inside the house and garden lights controlled remotely.
Whether you are automating the ambient lighting, accent or task lighting, smart home lighting solutions can completely change the ambience in your room and create the mood you are seeking. You can program the lights to work together in sync, or control each of them separately as you wish.
Automatic house lights are controlled via a control system or app, which can be controlled even by your voice, or the single click of a button on your smartphone. The right light settings can transform your room into the perfect setting for a relaxed evening, or convert it into a party zone to entertain your friends.
2. What are the different types of automatic house lights?
There are many automatic house lights options available, and you can choose one type of solution or mix and match various types. They include:
- Standalone smart bulbs
- Smart bulbs and smart plugs that are connected through a network
- Custom smart lighting systems that are integrated with other smart home technology solutions.
3. What are the benefits of having automatic house lights?
Making the choice to install automatic house lights is a sensible one, that will pay for itself many times over in a short span of time. It offers a great many advantages, some of them being:
- Energy savings: Automatic house lights can be turned on or off at will. You will never again need to leave lights accidentally on when you leave the house, and can turn them all off when you turn in for the night with just one click. Lights that are connected to a motion sensor can be programmed to turn on when you enter the room, and turn off the moment you leave. All this translates to significant energy savings at the end of the month.
- Home security: You can set a timer to turn your porch and garden lights on, so that even when you are on vacation your home does not appear to be empty. You could also program the lights to come on when any motion is detected outside the house, keeping the surroundings safe from burglars. When a guest rings the bell, the porch lights can turn on to welcome them.
- Enhancing moods: Smart light bulbs can change colour to set the right mood, and they can be made brighter or dimmed down. On a bleak, cloudy day, you can make the indoor lighting warm yellow, or you can dial down the heat on a summer day by making your lights cool white.
- Convenience: Rather than having to get up and walk to the switch to turn it off, automatic house lights can be controlled from your smartphone at any time. And if you’re using voice commands, Alexa or Siri will always be ready to do your bidding!
