Technology

Choose smart light or smart switch to install?

Recently, a few friends asked me questions about intelligent lighting. One of the more concentrated ones is:

Should I choose a smart light or a smart switch?

Let me talk about Lohasled smart lights and Lohasled smart wall switches.

Let’s first introduce the smart lights and smart wall switches.

Introduction of smart light bulbs

Smart lights are equipped with a controller and communication module. Most of them use wifi, Bluetooth and other methods to connect to the network. Generally, they can control the light switch and brightness. Some products also have color temperature and color control functions, such as Philips, Lohasled . Some smart lights also have a remote control. In addition to using a mobile phone, you can also use a remote control. Of course, as long as there are compatible smart speakers, you can use voice control, such as Lohasled smart led light bulbs and Philips lighting can be controlled using Alexa.

Of course, the price of smart lamps is more expensive than ordinary lamps. For example, Lohasled smart bulbs are twice as expensive as LED bulbs of the same power, but they can control brightness, color temperature, and color.

Introduction of smart switch

Smart switch, usually connected by zigbee, radio frequency, etc., directly installed on the 86 cassette, can only control the switch of the light, some switches with dimming function, with dimmable lamps (such as incandescent lamps, dimmable LED, etc.) Dimming can be achieved, but most smart switches on the market only have the function of switching lights.

Smart switches are divided into single live wire wall switches and zero live wire wall switches according to whether neutral wires are required.

The single fire wire wall switch uses the single fire wire power extraction technology, which does not require a neutral wire, and can directly replace the existing ordinary wall switch. However, limited by the single fire wire technology, the power of the lamp controlled by it is greatly restricted, and the minimum cannot be lower For 10W, the maximum cannot exceed 100W. Although some single fire wire switches are said to be able to control lamps with power below 10W, the lamps often flash accidentally. At the same time, the price of a single FireWire switch is higher than that of a Zero FireWire switch. Therefore, use a single live wire wall switch only if you cannot introduce a neutral wire.

The zero fire wire wall switch can be considered as a smart socket, so there is no requirement for the lamps it controls. Generally, it can be 0 ~ 2000W, and it can control the Yuba and exhaust fans in this power range. The working stability is relatively high, and the zero fire wire switch of zigbee technology can also be used as a routing node to expand the network coverage. Usually, the price is even lower. Therefore, if there is a condition to introduce the zero wire, the zero fire wire smart switch must be selected.

Smart light bulbs or smart switch?Which is better?

You can use smart lights + ordinary wall switches, or smart switches + ordinary lights to control the lights. Of course, except for these two solutions, you can also use smart switches + smart lights to control the lights. The ordinary lamp here refers to a lamp that can be turned on and off by switching on and off the power. It is not the kind of lamp with a dedicated switch that has no intelligent function but can be controlled using a remote control or multiple switches.

Smart light bulbs or smart switch?Which is better?

Each of these three methods has advantages and disadvantages. Below I will take Lohasled Zero FireWire Wall Switch and Lohasled Smart Ceiling Light as an example:

1. Smart light + ordinary wall switch

This method can achieve the functions of smart light brightness, color temperature, etc., but the actual experience will be poor, because there are several awkward:

(1) After the wall switch is turned off, unless the wall switch is turned on, the remote control, mobile phone APP, Alexa and other methods cannot control the lights.

(2) If the light is turned off through mobile phone APP, Alexa, etc., the wall switch will lose its control function, and the light will not turn on whether it is on or off.

(3) It is very easy to know whether to turn off the light using the wall switch or APP or Alexa. In the case that both are turned off, turning on the light is very troublesome.

Therefore, this is not an ideal smart lighting solution.

2. Smart switch + ordinary lamp

The practicability of this method is good. After all, although the brightness and color temperature cannot be adjusted, there is no problem in controlling the switch of the lamp. For most of the lamps that do not require dimming, such as spotlights, downlights, integrated ceiling panel lights, light strips, etc., it is recommended to control in this way, the cost is also very low, the price of ordinary lamps is not high, and the price of smart switches is not high .

Of course, the disadvantage of doing this is that it is generally impossible to adjust the brightness, color temperature, etc., but whether it is a wall switch, a mobile phone app, or Alexa, it can be controlled, and it will not produce the conflict and embarrassment like Option 1.

3. Smart lights + smart switches

This solution may be considered by many friends to be superfluous. Will the two be intelligent? Actually not, it can be understood as follows: the smart switch controls the power of the smart lamp. Of course, in most cases, this smart switch is on. As long as this switch is on, the smart light can be controlled directly through APP, remote control, Alexa, etc. So for the main lights of living room, dining room, bedroom, etc., I recommend using this method.

In daily use, you can keep the wall switch on. Only in the case of leaving the home mode, let the smart switch turn off the power of the lamp, and then turn on the power in the home mode. At the same time, for Lohasled’s smart switch, it can be directly converted into a wireless switch, and then the function of this wireless switch is set to control the smart light switch, instead of directly cutting off the power of the smart light like the switch itself, so that the wall switch can also be realized. You can control the switch of the smart light. At the same time, you can set the double-click, long press, and simultaneous press of the wireless switch to change other functions such as brightness and color temperature.

Here’s the “conversion to wireless switch function” of Lohasled wall switch. The function of this function is to shield the original function of the wall switch button (switch-controlled lighting), and then set a new function for this wireless switch through APP. This function It can be controlling a device, executing a certain scene, even switching on or off an automation, or letting Alexa say something. The new gameplay of this feature will be mentioned later.

Continue to talk about the way of smart lights + smart switches. Of course, although this method has the most complete functions and the best results, it has the highest cost.

To sum up, the entire house’s intelligent lighting system uses smart switches + ordinary lamps for areas that do not require dimming, such as toilets, kitchens, aisles, and entrances. can. For areas that require dimming such as living room, dining room, bedroom, etc., it is recommended to use smart lights + smart switches. This has the best overall effect and the lowest cost.

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