Smart Switches: 5 Ways to Integrate Them with Your Lighting System
By Mamnun Ahmed Nihal
Smart switches are the key to a proper smart lighting system in your home. It might seem an insignificant addition but when you start using them, you’ll feel what you’ve been missing the whole time.
In fiction or in our dreams, we have always relished the idea of an automated lighting system. Smart switches are the key to make that dream a reality. And today, we’ll tell you how you can improve your smart home’s lighting system with the addition of smart switches.
1) Compatibility Check
The most important thing you have to make sure of is whether your lighting system supports smart switches, or else you won’t be able to utilize the smart switches wholly. Sometimes you might need new bulbs, or maybe have to change the complete system. But if you’re at the early stage of building your smart home, integrating a smart lighting system will be easier. Another thing we have to keep in mind is that some smart light switches will require a neutral wire to function. Ones that built in or after the 1980s are likely to have one, although older homes may not
2) Do your switches hear you?
Don’t forget to buy switches that are compatible with your smart home voice assistants such as Google Home, Amazon Alexa, etc. Imagine in the middle of a winter night, your light is on, but the switches are far. With voice commands, you don’t have to get up and ruin your sleep.
3) Acquire which is available
Finding the perfect switches in our country can be a challenging task, as international e-commerce sites haven’t started operating. But we would recommend TP-Link Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Light Switch Dimmer HS220 because of the availability, functionality, compatibility, cost-benefit, and aesthetics. It supports almost every voice assistant, works as a dimmer, is not that expensive, is available in online shops, and pretty looks cool. So, if you can get your hands on it, don’t wait to acquire it.
4) Introduce Dimmer
Dimmers are light-controlling devices that are attached to a lighting system and used to reduce the brightness of the lights. It is possible to reduce the intensity of the light output by modifying the voltage waveform applied to the bulb. Without dimmers, you are not comprehending the switches completely. I would say, after compatibility, it’s the most important integration cause dimmers set the theme of your house according to your mood. Sometimes dimmers come with the switches. So, when you are buying the switches, make sure they consist of the dimmer utility.
5) Place them with aesthetic
Placing the switches can be as challenging as finding the right ones. The switches might increase the aesthetic of the house, or it might ruin it. Hence, we have to be careful about where to put the switches also thinking about convenience and network receiving capability. If you think the switches might ruin the theme of the house, you can hide it creatively with furniture. Tell us in the comment section if you want an article about ‘how to hide the structural incompatibility with creativity.’ to know more about how you can achieve it.
Other things you might have to know about:
Why use Zigbee and Z-Wave? Usually, smart switches connect via these three mechanisms, Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, or Zigbee. Your regular switch connects to the router through Wi-Fi, while Z-Wave and Zigbee use smart home hubs. Although the latter means that you need to buy a separate hub, it also means that when the Internet is gone you can still use the smart switches.
When might I Need a three-way smart switch? If you have many switches controlling your lights, you’ll need to invest in a three-way smart switch.
How to install? Smart switches can be harder to install than regular ones. It’s best to integrate them when modeling the structure of the home. But if you must change after using regular switches for a while, we will highly recommend hiring an electrician as installing smart switches don’t worth the trouble.
As we always say, making your home smart is a continuous progression. And smart switches might sound silly but a very important part of making your home smart. Smart switches bring a touch of glitz and convenience to your home, allowing you to manage the lighting throughout your home via an app or voice command, whether you’re at work, on vacation, or in bed for the night; a smart way to start and end the day.
