How to save money with smart lights
If you’re making upgrades to your home this year, now could be the perfect time to think about setting up smart lights. In this article we’re going to shed some light on some of the ways they can help save you money, as well as a few of the other useful things they can do.
What are smart lights?
Smart lights are lights you can control through an app on your smartphone or tablet. This means you can turn lights on and off, adjust the brightness and tone or even change the colour of the light without reaching for the light switch. Instead you can control your lights from wherever you are.
How do smart lights work?
With smart home lighting, you replace your traditional incandescent bulbs with smart light bulbs. These screw into your existing light fittings and look pretty similar to your run-of-the-mill bulb. But the big difference here is they use your home’s Wi-Fi to connect up to a central hub. It means you can control all your lights together, even when you’re not at home.
How do smart lights save money?
Now that we’ve covered how they work, let’s take a look at some of the ways installing a smart lighting system, or even just a few smart lights, can help you save money.
Remote control, wherever you are
Having the ability to adjust your lights remotely means you’ll quickly find they’re switched on a lot less. For example, if you’ve just sat down on the sofa after a busy day and realise that you’ve left the kitchen lights on, it’s tempting just to leave them. But with smart lights you can quickly turn them off from your phone. Over time, little actions like this will turn into big savings on your electricity bill.
Turn them off together
Most smart lights, including our Hive lights, can all be controlled together. So with one tap on the app you can turn all your lights off in one go, from anywhere. Really useful when you’re on your way to bed. And a really simple way to save.
Set lighting schedules
You can also set schedules so your smart lights will go on and off automatically.
Say you like to leave a light on for security (more on that later). Rather than turning it on before you head out for the evening. You can programme the lights to come on once it gets dark. Helping you look after your wallet and your home.
Long lasting
We often get asked, ‘how long do smart lights last’? The good news is a smart light bulb will usually run for around 15,000 hours. This is 15 times longer than an old-school, incandescent bulb. So they can help you save on your shopping list, as well as your bills.
Are smart lights worth it?
Beyond saving money, there are lots of helpful benefits that make smart lights a solid investment. Here are some of our favourites:
Smart lights save time
Being able to adjust your lights remotely is incredibly useful and will save you a lot of time. For instance, if you’re rushing to get the children to school and realise once you’re all in the car that the bedroom lights are on, you don’t need to go back inside to turn them off.
Smart lights add a layer of security
Smart lights have lots of features that are really useful for security. For instance, you can set schedules so the lights come on at specific times of the day (great for when you’re away but want to make it look like you’re not).
Hive Lights, can even be put into Mimic Mode, meaning they turn on and off automatically in a random pattern.
Smart lights work with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant
When you come home laden with shopping, smart lights for Google Home or Amazon Echo mean you don’t have to risk dropping it all while you fumble for the light switch. Just say the word and on they go. Suddenly life is a little bit easier.
Easy to install
You can now get smart standard bulbs, candle bulbs or spotlights for your kitchen or living room. Then the great thing is they can simply be screwed into your existing light fittings then connected up through your phone. It couldn’t be easier, and there’s no need for any extra wires or switches in your home.
Finally, one little trick for making a bulb ‘smart’ that doesn’t actually involve a smart light bulb.... If you have a lamp in the living room, just plug it into a smart plug (which then plugs straight into the wall). Then you can turn the plug - and therefore the lamp - on or off from anywhere.
If you’re keen to learn more, take a look at Hive’s full range of smart light bulbs over on our smart home shop.
