I’ve mentioned that I’ve got Philips Hue bulbs in almost all my lights in my condo now. I’ll admit my setup was very expensive, and I spread the purchases out over about four years. Prices started out at about $50 per bulb for the original color-changing bulbs, then they introduced some white-only bulbs, which were …
Expand your Philips Hue system at a price that won’t break the bankRead More
It never fails. I always seem to forget to take out the trash until after the sun has set. It also figures that the place where my trashcans are located is a very dark side of our house. Most of the time I just stumble around hoping to get to the proper trash can (we …
Navigating to the bathroom in a dark bedroom can be tricky when you don’t want to turn on a bright lamp and disturb your bedmate. Having a continually-lighted nightlight in the bedroom isn’t an ideal solution either, because being exposed to light while you’re trying to sleep isn’t good for you. What you need is …
No more bathroom trips in the dark with the Vansky motion-activated LED bed lightRead More
If you want to introduce an internet-connected home lighting kit for a reasonable price, and you don’t care about color-changing bulbs, you need to check out the Tradfri kit from IKEA. Of course, these lights come with a smartphone app (Android Kitkat 4.4 or Lollipop 5.0 or Apple iOS 8 or later), and it’s Apple …
IKEA is offering a connected home lighting kit and accessoriesRead More
I have an old-style downlight in my foyer, and I wanted a smart bulb for it. I saw a lot of retrofit kits for recessed lights with the light source and trim kit in one. But those weren’t what I wanted, because none I found were wirelessly controllable. I gave up on those kits …
Retrofit your existing downlights with smart Philips Hue kitsRead More
Over the last couple of years, the Philips Hue indoor smart home lighting system has become very popular. So Philips recently announced that coming this summer they’re taking on the great outdoors with a new line of exterior lights. The Philips Hue outdoor range smart lighting system takes all the great indoor lighting system controls and brings them to the …
You’ve got your indoor bulbs that look like a gas flame and a Bluetooth speaker that looks like a flaming torch, now you’re ready for outdoor lighting that also looks like flaming torches! You’ll get a set of two Solar Garden Lights from Dikaou, plus accessories to set the lights up for wall mounting, using …
Light up your landscape with solar-powered lights that look like flaming torchesRead More
For Christmas 2013, I received a Philips Hue starter kit with three color-changing LED bulbs and a bridge to connect them to my home’s WiFi network. I was thrilled by the thought of having lots of light “recipes” to change the color and mood of my living room. But I found that I really didn’t …
Introduce connected lighting to your home with this low-cost Philips Hue starter kitRead More
SnapPower GuideLights are easy to install outlet wallplates that add an automatic LED night light that turns on when it gets dark and turns off during the day. I reviewed the SnapPower GuideLight back in 2014 and continue to use them in several rooms of my home. Well, every room except in the bathroom and …
There are many ways to control your Hue WiFi-connected lighting system – smart Hue Switches, apps for mobile devices or computers, Alexa voice commands, IFTTT – but those are limited in various ways. Perhaps there are some areas, like a dark hallway or stairs, where you would like a hands-free way of turning on the …
Philips adds a motion sensor to the Hue lighting systemRead More
Every once in a while, a gadget comes along that, at first glance at least, appears to be basically superfluous and unnecessary…but cool and fun, nonetheless. That was exactly what I thought when I first saw the Power Practical Luminoodle Color Bias Lighting. Heck, just the name “Luminoodle” had my attention. Truth be told, I’d …
Power Practical Luminoodle Color Bias Lighting reviewRead More
Adding extra light where none exists can be a huge hassle and expense when wiring, and new electrical work is concerned. An easier way is to add easy to install stick up lights like the OxySense T-01 DIY Stick-On Anywhere 4-LED Touch Tap Light and the Motion Sensor Night Light from OxyLED. Let’s check them out.
The Luminoodle Light Rope is a versatile, interesting approach to multi-use outdoor lighting. With bright output, long battery life, a number of mounting options and waterproof housing, the Luminoodle works well in most situations. Some design elements, like the lack of an on/off switch, do cause it to fall a bit short in the field. …
The LEDVANCE Gateway is a smart hub that interprets commands from a Wi-Fi network and transmits them to devices on its ZigBee network, and also monitors the status of those devices and reports it to authorized users. It is metaphorically the jam that holds all of the intelligent LEDVANCE products together. But, like the jam that holds your sandwich together, there are …
This is the second in a three part review on LEDVANCE lighting and home automation products. The first review was for LEDVANCE’s Sylvania Lightify A19 LED bulb review. This review focuses on the LEDVANCE Lightify LED Flexible Strip RGBW. It is a 16-foot flexible strip that can be laid out to fit a variety of locations. …
LEDVANCE’s Sylvania Lightify LED Flexible Strip RGBW reviewRead More