Even a person who has never encountered smart home lighting in real life has probably seen how it works on TV. And, perhaps, I am still sure that this can only be in the movies or available to very rich people. But in fact, the smart home lighting system is quite affordable, and in a huge number of variations.

Benefits of smart lighting

Of course, purchasing and installing smart lighting will cost more than a conventional system. But if you dig deeper, it turns out that these costs are completely justified.

Smart home lighting has the following abilities:

1. Automatically turn on the light when someone enters the room at night.
2. While the TV is on, reduce the brightness of the lighting.
3. Signal with light about incoming calls.
4. Be a kind of alarm clock.
5. Automatically turn on the hallway light when family members return home.

In fact, there are a lot of situations in which such a lighting system provides invaluable assistance. For example, it will be much more economical for the owners of a private house to have a system that turns on the lights in the yard only if the sensors detect movement. Or if you often go on business trips and fear for your home, you can configure the system so that at certain hours the lights are on in the house, creating an imitation of presence. And who among us has not encountered a situation where they simply forgot to turn off the light? Smart lighting will do this on its own. As a result, it turns out that the savings achieved thanks to this method of lighting will, after some time, exceed the costs of its installation. You can “equip” almost any electrical appliance with intelligence.

Light scenarios

This is the name given to smart lighting setup schemes. In fact there are a huge number of them. Depending on what kind of smart lighting system will be installed at home, it can be customized to the individual wishes of the owners.

Here are some popular scenarios that you can implement in your home.

"One button"

The meaning of this scenario is very simple - by pressing one touch button, the lighting in the room is adjusted. These could be the following options:

One, two, three presses – setting different lighting levels;

Holding the right or left half of the button – the light changes smoothly.

"No one at home"

By pressing the “no one is there” button, you not only notify your system that all lights in the entire house need to be turned off, but also turn off the water and activate the alarm.

"Evening"

This mode activates the installation of light sources at the most convenient levels at this time of day: for example, overhead lighting will work at 20-30%, and floor lamps and night lamps will turn on almost at maximum.

"Presence in the room"

In this scenario, the smart home lighting includes the following modes when people appear in the room:

• during daylight hours the light does not turn on;
• in the evening in the dark the light is at maximum;
• at night the light turns on 20-30%;
• after the room has been left, the light turns off.

"Times of Day"

The system can be “trained” so that the light is turned off during the day, automatically turns on at medium level in the evening, switches to minimum at night, and turns off completely in the morning.

"Power loads"

In addition to managing lighting circuits, you can connect control of sockets and household appliances to this system.

"Outdoor Lighting"

In this mode, the system separately controls light sources inside the house and separately outside. You can set separate modes for the dark, for example, soft lighting during evening walks and brighter lighting at night.

"Night"

If a separate mode for illumination with different levels is not connected different time day, you can do it much simpler - by pressing one button, or using a timer to turn off the lights in the entire house.

"Turn everything off"

Similar to the scenario described above. It’s just that in order to turn off all the lights, it doesn’t have to be dark.

"TV"

In order to maintain a balance of light that is good for the eyes, when you turn on the TV, the system can not only dim the light in the room, but also turn on the silent mode of the air conditioner.

Smart home lighting can be connected not only to save money. Many people like that it is very convenient, while others think that smart home lighting is great design solution– after all, the brightness and time of lighting can change at a convenient time of day and in different parts of the house, depending on the wishes of the owner. You can't play with ordinary light bulbs like that. In addition, many systems are able to “remember” the level and color of lighting that is most pleasant for the owner and will turn on in the specified mode.

How smart home lighting works

It should be noted that this system can be part of “ smart home", and exist separately. You can also create an entire home network of interconnected lighting devices, or you can simply install independent friend sensors from each other.

System management involves the most different variants– from using the remote control to control using voice commands. Modern management such systems are “tied” to progress in modern technologies and the Internet.

If previously a remote control was required to control the lighting modes in the house, now the “smart home” is beginning to switch to connecting to the Internet and controlling it using smartphones. It will be enough to download the appropriate program to your smartphone and you will be able to “command” the smart lighting of your home, even from a distance. And although standard switches and remote controls are still used, most control keys are now a touch control panel instead of buttons and levers.

The thing about a smart lighting system is that it's not just an improved way to turn lights on or off. This is a system that can largely control any appliances in the house connected to the mains, for example, turn on an alarm when no one is home, or turn on the boiler a few hours before waking up in the morning.

Smart lighting devices

What will you have to install to get smart lighting at home? You can equip your home with one type of “smart” appliances, or you can completely modernize your home lighting system using different devices for different purposes.

Dimmers

It is with the help of these devices that the light intensity is adjusted. An undoubted advantage of using this device is that it increases the operating time of the lamps. But at the same time they are used only with incandescent or halogen lamps.

Dimmers are:

• keyboards;
• sensory;
• rotary;
• rotary-push.

Such buttons can be installed, for example, near the bed to change the brightness of the room lighting with a few touches, or turn off the lights in the entire house before going to bed.

Motion sensors

Motion sensors are usually installed on staircase landings or in corridors, where people pass quickly and the light turns on in response to movement, and turns off when there is no movement.

Presence sensors

Such devices are used in rooms where people can stay for a long time, but do not move much. Such sensors respond to elementary movements.

There are motion and presence sensors different types and differ in sensitivity and reaction. They can be configured so that they start working at a certain time of day. And also enable a function in which, after turning on, even in the absence of movement, the light will not turn off for a certain period of time. At the same time, modern sensors are designed so as not to react to the appearance of animals in the room.

Such sensors can be installed either in place regular switch, and built into a suspended ceiling.

Devices with a timer

These are devices that supply electricity for a certain period of time. They can be used not only to simply turn on light bulbs, but also to regulate the operation of various devices, for example, lighting in an aquarium.

Electrical sockets

With such devices, you don’t have to worry that short circuit will cause a sudden fire in the house while the owners are not at home. During power surges, such sockets will block its supply to devices.

Highlights of smart lamps

Smart home lighting is becoming so popular around the world that many manufacturers different ways are trying to attract consumers by offering various functionality of lighting devices.

So, as mentioned above, companies produce lighting devices that are equipped with a special transmitter that connects to the Internet via a wireless network, and the user controls it through an application on a tablet or phone.

“Smart” light bulbs can easily change not only brightness, but also color. And the real breakthrough was the introduction of a speaker into the light bulb. Such a gadget, again, using a special application, can be used as a speaker for speakerphone or listening to music.

Some brands, when developing devices for smart home lighting, focus specifically on the function of simulating presence. Modern light bulbs “teach you to remember” the daily sequence of turning on the lighting in the house.

Smart home lighting is an individual need. Each owner decides for himself how much he needs such a system. The complexity of its installation is now reduced to a minimum. And the only thing that can stop you from deciding “for” is the fact that this pleasure remains expensive. But in reality, we are not talking about colossal amounts here. Of course, in order to fully automate the internal and external system lighting requires a lot of money. But almost anyone can purchase several sensors or improved switches. Moreover, the market for such goods is vast, and you can choose according to your taste and financial capabilities.

Owners of new apartments are well aware of this problem: they need to create a layout even before renovation in order to make wiring to light fixtures and switches from them. But now everything is simpler: switches can control light bulbs wirelessly, via a radio channel. Such gadgets have long been produced by several companies, including domestic brands MiMiSmart and DeLUMO, Belarusian Nootekhnika...

What are the benefits of wireless switches?

• No need to drill into walls for wiring
• Excellent solution for wooden house, making hidden wiring is sometimes completely impossible
• You can even install a switch on a piece of furniture
• You can move the switch to another location at any time
• One source can be controlled from several places

How it works?

Here are two diagrams from Nootekhnika, illustrating different approaches to lighting control. At first traditional scheme, in which it is necessary to pull wires from the lamp to the switch.

And here is a diagram with a wireless switch: you can appreciate how much less wires there are.

A radio module is mounted in the power supply circuit of the lamp, and the switch has a transmitter. Signals to turn on/off are broadcast over a radio channel. Here, wires are no longer needed - of course, except for those that power the lamp. By the way, there can be several switches for one light source: for example, one at the entrance to the room, the other at the bed.

In addition, advanced systems remote control The light supports different settings. That is, you yourself determine which switch to turn off what. For example, You can use one of the switches to turn off the lighting in the entire apartment: very convenient when you leave home. See how easy MiMiSmart switches are to configure.

What problems might there be?

Actually, like any complex gadgets, remote switches with a radio module for a lamp are much more expensive than “wired” ones. Even the most economical will cost about 2000 rubles. In addition, such devices operate on a battery, and sooner or later it will run out. How early or late? For example, DeLUMO representatives claim that if the switch is used 4-6 times a day, the battery will have to be replaced after 6-7 years. In any case, this operation is not so labor-intensive as to think about it.

You can control the lighting from your smartphone
	You may already use your smartphone to control equipment (for example, as a TV remote control). If you add an Ethernet gateway to your home lighting system, you can use your smartphone as a control system for all the lighting in your apartment. Download the application and get access to all lamps— now you don’t have to get out of your bed to turn off the light in the nursery.

How can you save money?

Buy ready-made kits. For example, a set for a two- or three-room apartment. In addition to wireless switches, such a set may include timers, temperature controllers (for heated floors), dimmers (for smooth adjustment lighting). In any case, smart technology will cost less than wired devices, but it is much more practical and much more pleasant to use.

Well, what kind of revolution can be made in the field of lighting? A light bulb is a light bulb, no matter how it shines - using an incandescent filament or an LED. But in fact, light is one of the most important indicators of human comfort. Man is a diurnal creature, and his The biological clock directly depend on the quality and quantity of light. Even two hundred years ago, when electricity was not used for artificial lighting, people got up and went to bed much earlier, their life cycle was shifted to the morning hours. And then Lodygin, Edison, Tesla, Dolivo-Dobrovolsky appeared - and man conquered darkness.

For many years, the light bulb was a typical item. It screwed into the cartridge and burned - regardless of what principle was used to produce light. The only "setting" could be to turn it on and off. Then lamps with variable brightness appeared - but this was not a revolution either.

The developers of Philips “Lighting Solutions” approached the issue from a completely different angle. Light is not just photons flying from a source. This is a material from which you can build almost anything. Let's call it light architecture: it is intangible, but visible and can directly influence the physical and psychological condition person.

At the edge of the world

The Edge is a modern Deloitte office building, one of many in Amsterdam's new business suburb. From the outside it looks traditional - a glass building with biomorphic outlines, a common trend in office architecture of the 21st century. But the design, created by London studio PLP Architecture, does not reflect the technical “filling” of the building, developed by Philips Lighting Solutions.

We are walking along the corridor, and our guide suddenly stops. He takes out his smartphone and uses the app to change the lighting in the room, and only adjusts the lamp directly above his head, without affecting the neighboring ones. “You can also turn on the air conditioning or heating,” he says. This technology is called Power over Ethernet (PoE - a mechanism for supplying power to network devices via a cable transmitting network traffic): the lighting system is connected to the IT infrastructure and other office systems - ventilation and heating, essentially representing a single “smart” space. The lighting units are equipped with sensors that detect whether a person is in a given area. When an employee turns on the app, it is automatically configured to control nearby comfort options.

Sensors are used for more than just that. They record the movement of people around the premises and allow one to form a statistical picture. Judge for yourself: a room in which 50 people are constantly present needs to be cleaned and ventilated much more often than a “meeting room” where three or four employees gather every two days. Based on the data obtained, a plan for maintaining the premises is formed, which saves a lot of time and effort. The system works similarly with light: an employee of The Edge physically cannot forget to turn off the light - the automation will do this on its own if there is no one in the room for a certain time.

It sounds simple enough. But in reality, have you ever been in a building that allows you to change the lighting or color temperature via a smartphone, and in any room where you are? Similar solutions were previously used for “smart” houses and apartments. But one family lives in the apartment, and in office building— thousands of employees, each of whom is approached individually by the building.

Now imagine that this is not a building, but the whole world. Similar systems can analyze the use of lighting on city streets or highways, adjusting the intensity luminous flux, analyzing the need for maintenance or repair of elements of individual lamps or entire complexes. So The Edge is just the first step.

Smart office application
The application, used by employees of the Amsterdam office center The Edge, has a simple and intuitive interface. The program will independently determine the person’s location using sensors in the light panels, and the phone will turn into a kind of control panel that interacts with nearby lighting or heating devices. Power-over-Ethernet technology can be used not only in offices, but also in courtyards, shops, stadiums - in general, in any public places where people work or spend their leisure time. Imagine, for example, a stern grandmother at the entrance, adjusting the lighting above the bench in order to better view those leaving.

The city itself

Similar systems are already operating in Buenos Aires, Madrid, and Rotterdam. Recent projects using “smart lighting systems” have been implemented in the historical centers of three small Italian towns: Città Sant’Angelo (14,000 inhabitants), Cison Di Valmarino (2,500 inhabitants) and Varmo (3,000 inhabitants). A total of 7,000 LED lights were installed.

The first task was to reduce energy consumption - the LED system can reduce the cost of lighting by 60-80%, depending on the area. But a second function was added to this: it became possible to remotely control the light of an entire city. Darken this or that street, change the nature of the lighting. All three towns are ancient. The LEDs are enclosed in elegant lanterns, stylized as medieval ones - from the outside you can’t tell that 21st century technologies are hidden inside.

Another thing is Los Angeles, a metropolis with a population of 3.5 million. Of course, it is impossible to subordinate it entirely to the system of “smart control” of light at this stage of development. But it was Los Angeles that became the first city in the world to use Philips Citytouch technology on such a scale: the length of streets on which LED lights are installed is about 7,500 miles. This entire enormous network is controlled from a common control center, and the system allows you to control lanterns from various manufacturers - not necessarily Philips.

Centralized system urban lighting instantly monitors situations when lights turn off (for example, they are broken), or changes the illumination depending on the need. Projects of this level will help simplify and reduce the cost of lighting control, make it of higher quality, and also significantly reduce the cost of servicing lamps.

Light as an element of architecture

But light, as we know, can have not only a technical, but also an aesthetic function. Light shows are popular all over the world, and city lighting can also be a decoration. For example, in 2012, a project began to replace the old Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River, connecting Westchester and Rockland counties in New York state. The cantilevered Tappan Zee opened in 1955 and could no longer handle the increased traffic since then. In 2018, after the construction of the “replacement bridge” is completed, dismantling of the old bridge will begin. The new bridge, nearly 5 km long, will be one of the largest such projects in the state's history. The entire lighting system of the bridge was developed by Philips Lighting employees.

Unlike functional street lighting When working on the architectural lighting project for the bridge, attention was paid to aesthetics color scheme. 2,700 Philips Color Kinetics color LEDs are programmable and can change the appearance of the bridge by changing color scenarios. In addition, 500 Philips RoadView LED Luminaires provide uniform illumination on the road and are much easier to achieve than traditional technologies. Philips ActiveSite and Philips CityTouch systems are used to control the bridge's lighting, both decorative and technological. In general, bridge lighting is a separate area of ​​the company’s activities. Bridges are complex objects that require a combination of technical and decorative light. At the same time, accidents on bridges are much more dangerous due to the limited road surface and the inability to turn anywhere to avoid danger. The requirements for bridge lighting are even higher.

Light technologies

Light can in principle be called a material. Artists use it during their shows and use it to perform amazing performances (including in Moscow - wonderful light and laser performances can sometimes be seen in Gorky Park). And Philips specialists managed to integrate light into our lives in the same way that, say, bricks or asphalt are integrated into it. When we walk past a house, we don’t think about what it’s built from - brick has long become a familiar and reliable building material, used for a variety of purposes. The same goes for light in the Philips smart world.

The future is here and it will look like this. You leave the apartment, the sensor in the entrance recognizes you and adjusts the light to your favorite tone. Then you will drive your car, and the lights will maintain constant, uniform illumination throughout the entire road, regardless of the time of day or falling shadows. At work, the system will adapt to you, setting the most convenient lighting in the workplace. The only concern this editor had when trying to adjust the lights in The Edge using the app was this. Will the “smart home” turn into the SkyNet network from the James Cameron film? Hardly. Light is called to serve man, and it will not change its purpose.

Set designed for RGB strips

LED strips are widely used to organize lighting in apartments and houses. They are installed in residential and functional rooms, and are also used for decorative lighting of structural elements. Having installed “smart light” in an apartment or house, it is convenient to control the RGB strip using a smartphone, easily creating the necessary atmosphere in the room.

Set features:

• it is possible to smoothly stop or start at intervals from 2 seconds to 30 minutes;
• when the power is turned off, the last set of “smart light control” settings are saved in the device’s memory;
• a dimmer allows you to control lighting channels from the remote control;
• it is possible to improve the intersection signal using an external antenna;
• LED strips operate from a 12-volt switching power supply;
• IP67 protection class guarantees dust resistance and continued functionality even after short immersion in liquid.

Set for wireless LED lamps

Consumers highly appreciated the durability and efficiency of LED lamps, which in recent years have become a worthy alternative incandescent light bulbs and fluorescent lamps. By installing a smart lighting system at home for wireless LED lamps, you can easily control lamps, as well as other household appliances.

Set features:

• the lighting system is controlled via a home Wi-Fi network, and in its absence, you can use a communicator with this function;
• the ability to control lighting remains even outside the house;
• V wireless system lighting controls provide various lighting scenarios, color mixing functions and brightness settings;
• LED lamps are equipped with RGB chips that provide glow in any color range and at different color temperatures;
• The lamps do not require additional equipment and are installed in conventional sockets designed for E27 socket.

Advantages of using smart light systems

• Quick installation. It will take a minimum of time to connect and configure the lighting control device. Moreover, it can be easily carried out without the involvement of specialists.
• Preset functions. Thanks to factory settings, the system is immediately ready for use.
• Possibility of expansion. If desired, you can include in the set additional elements, deploying a smart lighting control system throughout the home.
• Safety. All elements of the home lighting control system have high level protection and absolutely safe to use.

Excellent quality wireless lighting control systems at LedBay!

Looking for where to buy lighting control equipment? Here you will find sets for LED lamps and RGB strips that will allow you to control the light using your smartphone.

Several reasons to purchase a smart lighting system from LedBay:

• low cost - as an ELKO EP dealer, we offer customers the best prices for lighting control systems;
• quality guarantee - we strictly comply with everything warranty obligations provided by the manufacturer;
• consultations with specialists - if you find it difficult to decide which smart system to use LED lighting choose, the LedBay manager will answer any questions;
• caring for customers - we do everything to make it easy for you to choose the right product and place an order, and we will deliver your purchase to any region.

To buy a “smart light”, choose the appropriate system and place an order. For any questions, you can consult with our specialist.

Controlling electric lighting is perhaps the most trivial function of a smart home control system. Indeed, many companies offer the creation of lighting control systems and present this function as almost the most key of its kind. But it seems to us that integrated management engineering systems is a more important task that a control system in a “smart” house or cottage must implement than simply controlling the lights on and off.

But let’s return to light control and the “smart” functions that it acquires in a “smart” home.

The light can turn on automatically when you enter a room and turn off when you leave. Those. lighting in a smart home responds to your presence. For example, it is very comfortable and convenient to walk along a long dark corridor in which the light will “follow” you - turn on in front of you and turn off behind you. By the way, in in this case we can talk about energy saving functions, because lighting only works when you really need it.

You can control lighting throughout your home or cottage using multifunctional touch panels with a convenient and intuitive control interface.

We also offer solutions that allow you to use iPads as control panels.

It is necessary to mention automatic switching on and turning off the lights according to illumination, time, sunrise and sunset, depending on the coordinates of the area. Even in a “smart” home, you can turn on the lights everywhere with one button and turn off the lights in the entire house or cottage, also with one button. This function is very comfortable, convenient and truly useful - try going around and turning off the lights in all rooms big house or cottage. This can take up minutes of precious time, which is especially true when you are in a hurry to get somewhere.

Even in a smart home, you can implement many light scenes, allowing you not only to comfortably spend personal time in the house, but also to secure your home in your absence.

A lighting system with a control system will be able to simulate the presence of people, including various lighting scenarios in the absence of the owners. And if you add to this various options light scenes to highlight interior elements, paintings, sculptural groups, facades, territory design, winter garden, as well as the ability to smoothly adjust the light from control devices, then the possibilities of controlling lighting in a “smart” home will show themselves in a new light.

In short, the list of lighting control possibilities could go on and on. It’s just that living in your house or cottage with such a lighting system will become more convenient and safer.

Lighting control from both panels and switches

We offer control of lighting in a house or cottage using multifunctional touch control panels or using conventional standard electrical switches.

Thus, for example, if the main control controller of a “smart home” fails, the lights in the rooms can be turned on and off using a conventional mechanical switch. Those. The lighting control systems we offer are very functional and reliable.

Our developments

For implementation various functions To control electric lighting, our company uses devices of its own production.