WiFi lightbulbs like these are the future of app-controlled lighting

By on Oct 22, 2012

We’ve started seeing WiFi controlled LED lighting in the hobby and in the residential lighting market and a review of WiFi controlled lights on Gizmodo is showing the promise of WiFi and app-controlled lighting. Since the built-in WiFi allows devices to communicate through the air, there is no need to rewire your house and it fits in with the normal wireless computer line you already have running in your house making it a big plus. Now tie into an app on your iPhone or Android to adjust the settings and you have some pretty useful, personalized lighting at your fingertips.

The technology behind GreenWave Reality Connected Lighting Solution is pretty spectacular. Just screw in the light bulbs that come with the system, plug the GreenWave box into your wireless router, setup the lights on your iPhone or Android and then you are all set with WiFi-controlled LED bulbs. Since each bulb or potential device you could add to your system (think door locks, thermostats, TVs, set top boxes, feeding systems, aquarium lights, cooling fans, etc.) would have its own IP address (using IPv6 protocals), the future of these types of systems is limitless.

As systems like these and other residential applications come out and standards and protocols are established, we are hoping the aquarium industry works within these systems to make seamless connections between your refrigerator and your aquarium. Have one central platform and protocol frees up having to install redundant devices makes it a lot easier and in the end, more cost effective. Imaging having to have an adapter box to plug into your wireless router for each system you run? After a couple of those you have no ports left and have to have an app or program for each system.

So whether this is the promising technology or if there will be a standards battle with Google’s Andorid@Home akin to the HD DVD vs Blu-Ray or Beta vs. VHS battle, we are hoping it gets done sooner than later so we can start seeing some smart aquarium devices that play well with others.

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  • TerenceF

    I have been Wi-Fi controlling my LEDs (and much more) for two years now with my Apex controller. We will see more and more of this as more LED companies make their lights directly integrate with the Apex. Having one Wi-Fi control center and one iPad app as “control central” or a “dashboard” for my tank is my nirvana.

  • Mike

    ehhh… if we’re talking residential lighting you really don’t need to rewire anything except maybe put in a dimmer switch, of course it could be nice for light timers if you’re on vacation or something. The downside to this is 1) you need to buy their bulbs (or wifi ready bulbs) and 2) there’s gotta be some sort of inefficiency from having to have a wireless controller being powered in each LED bulb.

    If for the aquarium market, while wireless is certainly nice for certain fine tuning of programming, wireless is kind of silly in some cases when you need to run power to your device anyways (I’m looking at you Ecotech)

  • http://www.facebook.com/doncorsean Corey DonCorsean Ricketts
  • TerenceF

    Wow! Who is it that can afford $50-$69 PER light bulb for their household?

  • http://www.facebook.com/doncorsean Corey DonCorsean Ricketts

    someone who never wants to buy another bulb (25 year lifespan), reduce the power bill & control the color/mood of the lighting at will

  • TerenceF

    I just think the ROI cannot be the reason. I spend, maybe, $10/year on ALL my incandescent bulbs in my house. And, to outfit all the fixtures I have that use this bulb type would cost me about $800. And, I probably would save about 2kwh per day, best case, with these lights…that is about $0.17 per day for me. So, best case I would save, in all, about $70/day so my ROI would not start kicking in until 2024…by which time I probably would have moved and left these archaic, inefficient light bulbs behind. That leaves control of color/mood…seems like money would be better spent toward home automation and light dimming.

  • TerenceF

    $70/year

  • Mike

    I think only my grandmother kept the same lighting for 25 years, regardless of the predicted life span (CFLs are supposed to last for 5-10 years I thought), having some funky mood/color schemes is the only usefulness from these bulbs.

    Still would like to know how much power those WiFi receivers use, then compare that vs “traditional” LED bulbs for the home. I managed to get my dimmables for $10 a piece, each uses 7.5 watts

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jon-Carvallo/551135810 Jon Carvallo

    Apparently many others disagree… I personally think it sounds awesome! I’m curious if they plan to use Cree LEDs? Hmm…

  • CaliReefer

    I would suggest looking at the ‘bigger picture’. Think beyond just ‘ME’, think about the savings for the environment, in production materials and power savings. I would rather pay 10x the amount for a ‘green’ light bulb that last 25 years even if it takes me 20 years to recoup the cost if that means in those 20 years I am doing far less harm to the environment. I have never had a CFL last more than 2 years. I end up using more electricity and causing more environmental impact from purchase to disposal of a CFL than from an LED light.

  • TerenceF

    I think the jury is still out on the environment play/benefit here. When you consider the amount of components (definitely way more than prob 20 incandescents) that go into just one of these bulbs, their individual environmental costs, etc. it may be a wash or worse. On top of that, most of these components are manufactured in china where the oversight on environmental impact is not very good. Add to this the fact that the real MTBG (mean time before garbage) on these is probably more like 5-8 years as something better will come along. I will put these bulbs in the same group as electric cars for now.

  • http://www.facebook.com/christopher.h.sim Christopher Sim

    Been using home automation for close to a decade now. Smarthome.com Currently I’m using Insteon products for the redundancy protocol.