What about Smart Outdoor Lighting?
8 November 2020
Debbie and I have been diligently working on our smart home floor plan since we received it last week from the architect. There’s been a lot of thought going into lighting, switches, audio and automation. But as we’re putting together our “whole home” plan we also have to consider the exterior. This is an area Debbie and I have always taken a lot of pride and enjoyment in.
As we finalize the floor plan we’ll also look to place the foundation on our lot. This will give us an idea of where elements like the driveway, walks, trees, beds, retaining walls and other landscaping features will be placed. In turn this will give us indicators where to place smart home technology around lighting, sensors and cameras.
Cameras are an entire category I’ll be addressing soon but I’ll focus on exterior lighting and switches here. For those of you with existing homes you may think it’s a little late to be thinking about outdoor lighting as winter sets in but maybe not. With Christmas around the corner and with options around security and safety there’s still time. And not to mention planning for next spring/summer.
There are also a huge variety of options available, so I’ll break this down into a few different categories to make sure to cover everything and give you some ideas you may consider for your smart home. Let’s look at those different categories:
Smart Bulbs
The most basic of smart lighting options is the smart bulb. If you’ve been following my posts you know I’m not the biggest fan of smart bulbs but they do have place. While most smart bulbs are intended for indoor use, there are a few which are outdoor rated. These can be used in outdoor light sockets as normal while also being engineered to deal with dust and moisture.
Outdoor Lighting Fixtures
These are the typical decorative, hard wired lighting fixtures attached to the outside of your front door, around your garage and lighting a patio, deck or pergola. Typically using standard light bulbs internally, they offer an appealing enclosure that protects the light socket from the elements. While you can use any standard fixture and simply insert a smart bulb, there are also some specific outdoor options that integrate LED lighting into the enclosure itself.
Flood Lights
These lights are intended to provide wide angle, bright lighting over a large area and can be found in white or colored, wall mounted or garden varieties. You’ll find these typically over your garage lighting your driveway and highlight lighting of the exterior of your home or landscaping and areas where people congregate.
Path Lighting
Sometimes called pedestal or bollard lights, these lights are designed to be placed around paved areas and walkways. Their purpose is to provide lighting for moving around at night safely. Some path lights have gone a step further and offer color and brightness adjustment as well in order to make the accent the exterior of your home or make it more festive for holidays or occasions.
Feature Spot Lights
These lights are the opposite of flood lights. Feature spots put out a narrower light throw for highlighting garden features and adding ambience to your outdoor space. They vary in brightness and may be battery powered or hard wired. While typically placed in gardens, other options include wall mounting to act like down lights.
String/Strip Lights
This one is a bit more open, as these decorative lighting options can come in various forms; rope lights, light strips or strings of individual lights. Smart options for these are fewer but we’re starting to get a few options now.
As with indoor smart lighting, there are a variety of benefits with integrating your outdoor lighting with a smart home platform. Lots of great examples exist like Apple HomeKit, Samsung’s Smart Things or connecting a voice assistant like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. The benefits of these integrations include convenience, remote control and automation capabilities that can enhance your home entertaining and your home security.
A nice benefit that most integration options will give you is some sort of scene control. This enables you to set up a range of lights and appliances to activate with a single command or button press. You could, for example, set a bunch of outdoor lights to various preset colors, turn on a water feature and start a playlist on your outdoor speakers.
Another very popular option is tying security cameras, motion sensors or contact sensors on gates or doors to trigger certain lights automatically. They can then be configured to turn off again when not needed. This can both act as a deterrent to intruders and provide better lighting for capturing night time activity on security cameras.
Some of the options below will include motion sensors, which is a nice bonus, where others will require a separate device. Depending on your smart home platform you may be able to integrate third party sensors to control your lights, use security cameras as motion sensors, or you’ll need to stick with the same brand if they offer a sensor, such as Philips Hue or Ring.
While many smart lighting products do use wifi, there are some which use other wireless protocols, like Zigbee. I’ve covered wireless protocols in a previous post but as a particular point, ZigBee is the endorsed protocol of choice by major global lighting brands due to the benefits it delivers. In order to connect a ZigBee system to your home network so it can be controlled, you’ll need a compatible hub of some kind. I’ve addressed hubs as well in a previous post.
Each brand obviously has their own which can offer value added features. But as it’s a recognized standard you can use certified ZigBee devices together with other brands. Generic hubs like the Smart Things Hub, Wink Hub and Amazon Echo Plus can handle this or you can choose the one that goes with the lights you are considering.
Other proprietary systems, like Ring’s security platform, also need a hub specific to them which does the same job. In these cases you may only want to consider them if you’re planning to expand on that system.
Finally, when looking at the options, keep in mind that the systems they can integrate with will greatly affect the functionality and benefits you can get from them. Whether you just want to control them with your voice assistant or want to leverage the power of a more comprehensive smart home platform, plan accordingly.
One of the simplest starting places with outdoor lighting is to make use of a smart outdoor outlet. Also known as smart plugs or plug-in outlets, the names might vary, but the functionality is the same. All you need to do is plug any existing landscaping or outdoor lighting into this outlet to make it smart
Insteon Remote Control Plug-in On/Off Module, Outdoor
Insteon’s outdoor outlet comes NEMA 3R-certified against driving rain and even ice formation. This robust unit will remain operational in temperatures as low as -4 degrees Fahrenheit while also able to withstand a sweltering 122 degrees Fahrenheit. This renders it a year-round outlet even in hostile climates.
Thanks to Insteon’s dual-band mesh network, you’ll get reliable communications with both wireless signals and the power line in your home offering a redundancy not found in other ecosystems.
If you want to introduce voice control, you’ll need to invest in the Insteon Home Hub. You’ll also need either an Alexa or Google Assistant device. If you’re a Siri fan, opt for the HomeKit-enabled hub instead.
In the absence of voice control, you’ll be able to take charge of any connected outdoor lighting in-app on your smart phone. The app is crisp and user-friendly even if you’re not that tech savvy.
Another route into smart lighting is Smart Switches. I covered these for indoor purposes in last week’s post. If you’re taking electrical outlets outside, you need to make special provisions. Luckily, there’s a growing number of outdoor rated switches.
GE Enbrighten Z-Wave Plus Outdoor Smart Switch
Completely weatherproof with the NEMA 3R rating, you won’t have any concerns about water mixing with electricity. But you’ll need a Z-Wave-certified hub. This switch is compatible with all major players from Wink and SmartThings through to Harmony, Honeywell and more.
From landscape lighting to heaters and pool pumps, you’ll be able to take control of a single large load device to 270 volts or command a pair of 120-volt devices. You can achieve this in-app on your phone. GE also offers both Alexa and Google Assistant compatibility.
Another neat touch with this smart switch is the energy monitoring service. This allows you to keep tabs on consumption remotely in either watt-hours or kilowatt-hours.
If you’re looking to replace a standard fixture with a multipurpose light, consider this:
Philips Hue Ludere Outdoor Security Light
For this you’ll need the Philips Hue Hub. but you’ll get 2 PAR38 smart bulbs with the synthetic polymer fixture. It’s weatherproofed and finished in a subtle matte black.
These dusk to dawn light bulbs can brighten up your pathway, porch or patio with every imaginable shade of white along with a palette of 16 million colors.
Philips recommends positioning the fixture no more than 30 feet from your home hub but this distance can be extended from one bulb to the next by 60 feet due to bridging.
Smart floodlights are often overlooked as the first line of defense encouraging intruders to steer clear of your home. There are a mulitude of smart outdoor floodlights so here’s something slightly different from the usual smart light suspects.
Hyperikon LED Security Floodlights
With these Hyperikon LED floodlights, all the intelligence is onboard with no complex control systems. Kicking out an intense 90-lumen light bright enough to scare off any would-be burglar, motion sensors come onboard. It also features dusk to dawn sensors which means lights will be triggered in the event of either motion or declining ambient light levels. The motion sensor has a 150-degree field of view and you can alter this to suit your specific needs.
IP65-rated for use outdoors in even hostile conditions. Dust-resistant, they’ll weather temperatures from -22 through 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
With smart porch lights, you can make your entryway attractive while also adding a layer of safety and security. Here’s an option:
More smart light from Philips Hue, it’s impossible not to throw in the Inara, a classic porch light packed with intelligence. For voice control, you’ll need the hub mentioned above along with a smart assistant.
You can set up geofencing in-app and the Inara will welcome you home when the GPS on your smartphone shows you’re within range. It includes a regular white bulb since you’re unlikely to want a multi-colored array of light on the porch — unless it’s a holiday or special occasion.
If you want to build out lighting beyond the porch, you can add extra lights at a range of up to 60 feet to bring whole-garden smart lighting or path lighting.
Depending on the configuration of your garden you may want some lighting along your walks and paths. Check this one out:
Ring Smart Lighting Battery Powered Pathlight
If you want lighting automation, Alexa voice control and security outdoors, you’ll need the Ring Bridge. This is available separately or bundled with path lights. Once you have the hub in place, you’ll be able to add other Ring products like the video doorbell. You can also add in multiple other lights from the new Ring smart lighting range for a complete outdoor solution.
Motion detection triggers an 80-lumen light to help you in the dark. This path lighting also performs a valuable security feature by eliminating dark areas.
Spotlights are highly versatile when used outdoors to brighten up your driveway yard. Here’s another Philips Hue option:
Philips Hue Lily White and Color Ambiance Outdoor Smart Spotlight Base Kit
These LEDs give you white light along with the 16 million color palette Philips is famous for. Installation is plug-and-play simplicity. The most time-consuming element will be connecting the light to your home hub.
You’ll get all the same smart home automation capabilities you’d expect from Philips Hue lighting with welcome home lighting, timing and scheduling along with the ability to switch colors at whim. It’s completely weatherproof with LED bulbs rated for 25,000 hours of use so you can’t go wrong with this comprehensive base kit.
As many of us entertain outdoors, smart controls enable us to inject a little fun into our outdoor smart lighting. Here’s a couple of fun choices to get the party started:
Fule Outdoor LED String Lights
These outdoor string lights come with 24 hanging sockets you can drape from trees and bushes to fencing or decking. All you’ll need for remote control or voice control is the free app — no hub required. This makes the Fule perfect if you don’t want to get too ambitious with automation and you’re operating on a limited budget. They’re also weatherproofed. The LED bulbs give you up to 25,000 hours of use without sacrificing brightness.
These Dulles strip lights are perfect for whatever party you have in mind. You get 33 feet of thin and colored LED strips including everything you need down to the IR controller. While the choice of 12 colors can’t hold a candle to the millions delivered by Philips Hue, you’ll get four modes including flash and fade, smooth and strobe, to liven up your outdoor space.
Rated IP67 waterproof, you can enjoy these great outdoor strip lights year round whatever the weather.
As you can see, smart outdoor lighting comes in many shapes and sizes, and there’s something for all budgets. Whether you’re a home automation expert or you’re just starting, hopefully you’ve seen something here of interest or that solves a lighting challenge. The great thing is there are so many options so get creative and start smartening up your yard, deck, patio, driveway and garden. If you’ve already got some great smart lighting in place, post some pictures as I’d love to see and share them. You never know you may inspire someone.
As usual, Debbie and I continue to move forward with our floor plan so stay tuned as things progress there. Once we have it finalized we’ll post it for comments. In the meantime, if you have smart home questions or stuff you’d like to share please leave it in the comments.
