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Smart bulbs are a common gateway into the world of smart home devices. Setting one up is as simple as screwing in a light bulb, and you get instant results with the ability to turn your lights on and off remotely, change the brightness, and even use different colors with the right bulbs. Smart bulbs aren't always the best solution to every problem, however.
Smart bulbs are an expensive solution to a simple problem
They're great until they die
I've had smart bulbs for more than a decade, but a few months back, I had my first one die. When a standard light bulb dies, it's not a big deal; you can buy a cheap replacement and switch it out. When a smart bulb dies, it's a different story; smart bulbs can be expensive.
The bulb that died was a Philips Hue color bulb, and it was only when it died that I realized that I hadn't used it as anything other than a standard white bulb for as long as I could remember. Color bulbs are usually more expensive, so I'd wasted money paying for features I didn't use.
In reality, the only thing that I was using the smart bulb for was turning the bedside lamp on and off through automations. Using an expensive smart bulb for this purpose was complete overkill.
A presence sensor and a smart plug can do the job
Smart bulbs aren't the only way to control your lights
I realized that turning a lamp on and off didn't need an expensive smart bulb. I could do the same with a cheap smart plug and get exactly the same outcome.
My lamps all have manual switches that you can use to turn them on and off. As long as these switches are left in the "on" position, then by connecting them through a smart plug, I can turn the lights on and off just by toggling the smart plug. This means I can use cheap standard bulbs rather than smart bulbs.
I wanted a way to be able to automate when these lights turn on and off. A motion sensor is a great way to turn lights on, but it's a terrible way to turn them off. If you sit still, a motion sensor doesn't know you're there, and without a complex automation, you may end up sitting in the dark.
A presence sensor is the solution. Even a relatively inexpensive presence sensor can detect when someone is in the room even if they're sitting fairly still; you can find mmWave presence sensors for under $25, or make your own for even less. This helps to ensure that the lights won't turn off until the room is empty.
Even better, with many presence sensors, you can set up detection zones. I have a presence sensor zone around an armchair in my living room, which we call "the reading chair." Using the presence sensor zone as a trigger, the reading lamp automatically turns on through the smart plug when someone sits in the reading chair and turns off again when they get up. It really does feel like magic.
The setup can work out cheaper than smart bulbs
One presence sensor can work with multiple lights
In many cases, using dumb bulbs and smart plugs can work out a lot cheaper. A color Philips Hue bulb can be more than $50, while you can get a cheap smart plug for around $10, and a dumb bulb for as little as $2. Even a white Hue bulb can cost around $20.
I replaced my $50 color Hue bulb with a $10 smart plug, a $2 dumb bulb, and even with the cost of a $25 presence sensor on top, it still came to less than the price of the bulb I was replacing.
If you have multiple lights in a room, you don't necessarily need to buy multiple presence sensors either. You can often set up multiple zones, so a single sensor could turn all your lights on when anyone is in the room or turn on specific lights when people are in specific parts of the room.
Sometimes smart bulbs make more sense
A smart plug can't handle color, temperature, or dimming
A smart plug and dumb bulb aren't always the best combination. There are plenty of situations where they just won't cut it.
First, you can't stick a smart plug into a light fitting. If you have smart bulbs in overhead lights, you either need to stick with them or consider an alternative option such as smart switches. These will let you control dumb bulbs from the switch or remotely, but they don't always come cheap and can be a pain to install.
A dumb bulb isn’t a good fit if you want to be able to change the brightness, temperature, or even the color. A smart plug can't tell a dumb bulb to go to 50% brightness and turn pink, but a smart bulb can. It's a case of horses for courses.
Smart bulbs can often be expensive overkill
It took one of my smart bulbs dying to open my eyes to how wastefully I've been using them in my home. There are far better (and cheaper) options for the purposes that I was using them for. Now, when a bulb dies, it's no longer a major catastrophe.
