Hi everyone! I recently upgraded my home lighting to a smart system on a budget and wanted to share the steps:
Choose affordable smart bulbs: Brands like Wyze or Sengled are great budget options. Set up a smart hub (optional): If you’re going for a cohesive ecosystem, consider hubs like Alexa or Google Home. Install and connect: Replace your old bulbs, connect them to your Wi-Fi, and use the corresponding app for setup. Automate: Use routines or schedules for energy-saving and convenience. Let me know if you’ve tried something similar or have any questions!
If you’re going for a cohesive ecosystem, consider hubs like Alexa or Google Home.
Don’t use closed corporate automation platforms that spy on you and require internet. For only a bit more work and research, you can make a much more customizable smart home that can survive an Internet outage and doesn’t have constant phoning home. Home assistant ([email protected]) is an amazing platform that I’ve been using for a few years, and I will never go back.
> /c/technology
> look inside
> “consider Alexa or Google Home”
These are terrible advices.
All smart lightbulbs has a small router in them, so they all use some electricity while switched off. You can gain some net plus only if you live with people who constantly forget to switch off lights. But you need some presence detector as well. Smart lighting is about convenience not energy usage.
Wifi is the worst wireless standard from energy usage standpoint. Zigbee’s power usage is much less and devices are cheap. Thread and Z-wave power usage also lower than wifi, but devices are a bit more expensive.
Amazon and Google is a privacy nightmare. Home Assistant and Domoticz are two wellknown local first smart home systems.
1 to 3 Watt in stand-by mode for s lamp that draws somewhere between 7 and 15 Watt when on. That’s roughly like leaving the lamp on for at least on hour and half each day when nobody is home in the best case.
That’s a pretty high estimate, this article claims to have measured it at 0.5W/bulb (0.15W for zigbee). That’s still 3x or so higher than Zigbee, but still decent.
I have about 50 bulbs in my house, so that’s:
- ~5.4kWh/month for zigbee
- ~18kWh/month for WiFi
At $0.15/kWh, that’s $1.89/month savings with zigbee. That’s not nothing, but it’s not something I’d switch out a bunch of bulbs over.
It may make sense for an airbnb rental property or something, but I don’t see a point for average homes, and I’d expect adding dozens of WiFi clients would cause problems with WiFi quality.
Other benefit of zigbee that devices can’t connect directly to the internet, so you don’t have to trust them, you don’t have to create vlans, they can’t be turned into a botnet. Also in zigbee every device can be a router, so they can more easily cover bigger houses.
I wouldn’t replace a wifi based system with zigbee, but recommend it to anyone starting now. This post wanted to be an advice to newcomers…
I have an old wifi yeelight, measured it now because I was interested. 1.4W off, 8.4W full power
For comparison, Ikea zigbee bulb 9.3W max power, less than 0.1 W while off, but switches on instantly. My watt meter can’t measure less than 0.1W so it shows 0.0W.
Zigbee was designed for this kind of usage. I have several zigbee sensors running on 3.3V coin cell batteries, they can report data for years without battery replacement.
I don’t underatand how any schedule would save energy over my current method of simply turning on lights when I’m in a dark room and turning them off when I leave.
Surely a schedule would have them on more. Do you leave lights on in empty rooms?
If you’re forgetful, smart bulbs can save money by turning themselves off after a timer expires or on a schedule. Or in my case, I have cats that have a litter box room and won’t use it in the dark. A smart bulb and a motion detector mean I don’t have to run a bespoke fluorescent bulb 24/7 to light the room (because that’s cheaper than replacing the fixture)
Lots of people want adjacent room lights or beyond to be on.
I turn all the lights in my house on at night, despite the savings loss, because I just prefer being able to see into other rooms. (I also use 100w-equivalent bulbs, to really boost the brightness).
Some people have fears, rational or irrational, about the dark. Children, people paranoid about someone breaking in, etc.
Some people feel pets should be able to see where they’re going.
I bought my smart bulbs at Ikea. Idk how the price compares to the brands you mentioned.
I think smart home lighting is overrated. Schedules are nice for holiday and outside lights. But I don’t use any “smart” solutions in most rooms. They have limited use in the hallway, though (with a motion sensor?) And in places where you want to dim them, like next to the TV. That’s my opinion.
I just put in dimmer switches where I want to dim my lights. I have to get up, but honestly, I’ll just dim on my way to the couch.
Ikea bulbs use zigbee, their prices are very good and they are more reliable than chinese stuff.
It’s up to you how you automate your smart home. My useful light related automations:
- When I arrive home and the light sensor see it’s dark it switches on the living room light
- if I pause a movie in jellyfin it turns on a light, if I hit play it switches it off
- The off timer of a movement activated light depends on if my projector is turned on, it switches off more quickly when the projector is on
- If I’m not home it switches off everything automatically, so I can’t forget any lights on
