Smart lighting help required

Cyrus

Folks i need your assistance.

we have a nice shomera in the garden. It has some decent lighting 4 spots under the soffit at the front and two up down lights on the cladding to the front.

Unfortunately you have to be inside it to turn them on, what would be really useful to us is to be able to switch the lights on from the house.

the options appear to be:

fit a new switch (currently have a single size switch with 3 on off switchs on it, one for inside lights and two for outside lights)

issues with this i think i need to fit dimmable bulbs all round and i need a neutral wire to the switch which i may not have?

or buy wifi bulbs (id need 8 of them)

am i missing anything?

if i need wifi bulbs (assume gu10) what should i be going for?

bk

Didn't someone else ask almost exactly this question last week!

The easiest solution is probably Philips Hue bulbs. You will also need a Hue Hub. You will however need to check the light fittings, are they Gu10's? etc. They might have to be changed.

Another alternative is a smart switch. Ideally if you have Neutral at the switch, then there are lots of options. But if not then a Fibario Dimmer is also an option. Either way you will need to pair these with a Z-wave hub, like Samsung SmartThings.

Stoner also pointed out another RF option previously.

I'd say you need to go and look what all the light fittings are, look at the wires behind the switches and think what you might want (do you want white ambiance and color ability, could be cool decoration for the garden).

Cyrus

bk wrote: »

Didn't someone else ask almost exactly this question last week!

The easiest solution is probably Philips Hue bulbs. You will also need a Hue Hub. You will however need to check the light fittings, are they Gu10's? etc. They might have to be changed.

Another alternative is a smart switch. Ideally if you have Neutral at the switch, then there are lots of options. But if not then a Fibario Dimmer is also an option. Either way you will need to pair these with a Z-wave hub, like Samsung SmartThings.

Stoner also pointed out another RF option previously.

I'd say you need to go and look what all the light fittings are, look at the wires behind the switches and think what you might want (do you want white ambiance and color ability, could be cool decoration for the garden).

LOL that was probably me :P i had asked a few places but thought i hadnt asked on boards, DOH

Nelbert

Think it was me that brought it up in terms of smart switches vs bulbs.

I've an existing z wave setup which skewed things heavily for me and I got a z wave fibaro dimmer which has worked out excellently for the purpose.

I'm still tempted by the Hue or Ikea hub though and likely will find a way to justify one of them with the boss.

For your purpose given it's 3 switches and 8 bulbs total you're looking at a bit of cost either way. For simplicity (I was comfortable wiring in the fibaro and a new momentary switch) I'd suggest the bulbs. The hue starter kit with 2 bulbs on amazon (if you can get a GU10 version for your downlights) and then some more Hue or Ikea bulbs cost dependent.

Cyrus

looks like i could get it done with ikea for 138, one remote at 18 and 8 bulbs at 120

hue would be - dimmer switch £20 and £184 for 8 bulbs - circa 230,

is phillips worth an extra 100??

it would be £335 to have it in colour with the hub also (the full fat option!)

bk

Do both of those options include a hub? I suspect you will need a hub for both with that many bulbs. Either way, if you are going to spend that, then I'd say well worth paying the bit extra for a hub to get the extra functionality (voice control, app control, etc.). Often you can pick up the hub for free in a bundle with bulbs.

Are the ikea and hue bulbs the same type? As in both white only or both white ambiance?

Also the Hue bulbs can often be picked up for cheaper in sales if you aren't in a rush. I think most of use haven't paid the RRP for our hue lights. I worked it out once, I actually paid less for my Hue lights in various sales, then Ikea ones would have cost for the equivalent bulbs!

Just curios what is you light fitting type?

Cyrus

bk wrote: »

Do both of those options include a hub? I suspect you will need a hub for both with that many bulbs. Either way, if you are going to spend that, then I'd say well worth paying the bit extra for a hub to get the extra functionality (voice control, app control, etc.). Often you can pick up the hub for free in a bundle with bulbs.

Are the ikea and hue bulbs the same type? As in both white only or both white ambiance?

Also the Hue bulbs can often be picked up for cheaper in sales if you aren't in a rush. I think most of use haven't paid the RRP for our hue lights. I worked it out once, I actually paid less for my Hue lights in various sales, then Ikea ones would have cost for the equivalent bulbs!

Just curios what is you light fitting type?

neither includes hubs, given that all i want to do is turn on outside lights from inside so probably overkill.

ikea and hue bulbs are the same GU10. and both white only.

bk

Cyrus wrote: »

neither includes hubs, given that all i want to do is turn on outside lights from inside so probably overkill.

ikea and hue bulbs are the same GU10. and both white only.

Actually Hue don't make a white only GU10, they make what is called a white ambiance bulb. Which means you can not only dim it, but you can also change it's colour temperature, from super bright daylight white to a soft candle light like white. Very handy if you are working out of this or doing DIY.

Ikea make two types of GU10, a €7 white only and a €15 white ambiance type.

Looking at the prices you quoted I think you prices the €15 white ambiance one. So if you wanted you could go even cheaper with the Ikea ones if you really only want on/off white, though the €7 bulb are a bit on the weak side.

You can start out without the hub, but you should double check. I suspect eventually you will end up getting a hub to take full advantage of them. But you can always do that in future.