5 Practical Uses For Smart Lighting's Scheduling Feature September 26, 2016 12:11

Burglar deterrent, energizing alarm clock, soothing visual lullaby – who would’ve thought your light bulb could do so much?

Though these common household objects have long been taken for granted as simple – even boring devices – the past decade has seen a surge in ways to reinvent the light bulb. With their color changing, automating, music playing capabilities, it’s easy to overlook one of the most useful features advanced light bulbs have to offer: sticking to a schedule.

Scheduling your lights

One of the most exciting features of smart light bulbs is the ability to schedule when they turn on or off. More advanced models will even let you determine the brightness and the color of the light, adding even more customizability to an already impressive show of technology.

And what’s more, most bulbs only take a few clicks to set up. With Flux Smart Wifi and Flux Smart Bluetooth LED Light Bulbs for instance, it’s as simple as downloading an app on your favorite smartphone, tablet, or computer and connecting to a Wifi signal or Bluetooth receiver. Within minutes you’ve got an enormous range of features right at your fingertips.

Wake up with sunrise mode

Whether you’ve had a late night out, put too many hours in at the office, or you’re simply not a morning person, you know how hard it can be to pull yourself out of bed when every inch of your body is telling you to stay. And your alarm clock, believe it or not, might be making it even harder.

We all know (and loathe) that harsh buzzing that starts our day and most people think it’s the only way they’ll actually get up. Recent research has shown, however, that rather than being jolted awake, the body may in fact respond better to the gentle rousing of a gradually increasing light, similar to the type you’d feel during dawn.

Sleep inertia and displaced melatonin, the body’s sleep inducing chemical, result in a morning grog with traditional alarms. A sunrise simulator though lets your body slowly get used to the idea of waking up, rather than being force fed it.

And while many of us have our reasons for not being able to see the morning sun (getting up too early, sleeping with the shades shut, etc.), if you have smart light bulbs, then your alarm feature just might wake you up feeling more energized than ever.

Fall asleep with sunset mode

Modern life wouldn’t be the same without smart devices. It’s simply a part of the age we live in. And being able to navigate and leverage these technological wonders is essential to getting ahead.

As important as they are to our day-to-day activities, though, a sizeable amount of research has shown that exposure to bright light before bed, especially blue light, can have disastrous effects on our sleep cycles.

And although the Flux Smart Wifi and Flux Smart Bluetooth LED Light Bulbs won’t force you to put your tablet down in bed, they do offer a gradual dimming setting that corresponds with when you want to wind down the night. Just as with sunrise mode, the slow lulling to bed helps your body prepare for sleep and may give you a better night’s rest.

Set them to cycle on and off while you’re away to deter burglars

Imagine you are a burglar. Put on your burglar shoes, grab the bag with the $ sign (were those even real?), and tie on that classic burglar eyemask. Alright, now that you’re ready for some petty theft, do you want to try and break into the house as dark as pitch or the one you saw light up when you were staking out the neighborhood?

It might seem like the answer’s obvious, so why do people still vacation without turning their lights on? With 2 million home burglaries being reported a year, a responsible homeowner needs to take every precaution they can, especially when they’re gone for an extended period.

While there are a few products out there that can set your lights to a timer, they’re usually plug based, meaning for each light you’ll probably need a separate unit. And what about lighting that’s run through the walls? There’s a whole new problem.

Smart bulbs with scheduling features take hassle out of the equation as each bulb can be set to its own unique schedule right from your smart device.  You can even assign multiple schedules depending on the day, tripping up even the cleverest thief. The result is a safer, more secure home. And you might save a pretty penny too.

Set them to relax when you get home

There’s nothing worse than spending 8 hours in a brightly lit fluorescent cubicle farm only to come home to the same blinding light. How are you supposed to take a load off in that?

With the smart lighting, you can dim or brighten any bulb you want right from your smart device but, even more impressively, you can even set each bulb’s light level and color to a schedule.

Picture it: you’ve had a long day where nothing has gone the way it’s supposed to. Your boss is on your case and your coworkers aren’t pulling their weight, as usual. And when all the stress that’s been building up since the day began is at its peak, you walk through your front door to be enveloped in a mellow ruby glow (proven to be the most calming color) that makes all those worries just melt away. And you didn’t even have to flip a switch.

Set reminders with different color bulbs

One of the most rewarding lessons in life, and one of the hardest by far, is recognizing and accepting your faults. No one is perfect and, every now and then, we all need a little help.

Luckily, one of the best things about modern life is that most of us are surrounded by technology which can help keep us accountable. From reminders on your phone to taps on your wrist from a watch, keeping on top of tasks is always getting easier. And now, even your lights can help!

Set up your living room lights to flash blue when the pizza needs to be taken out of the oven. Schedule your bedside lamp to turn red when it’s time to put down that book and get to sleep. Make the light by the dog bowl glow green when he needs to get fed. The possibilities are only limited by your creativity and how much you have to get done today, so let Flux Smart Wifi and Flux Smart Bluetooth LED Light Bulbs lend a hand.

Share your ideas

Can you think of any other creative ways to use the smart lighting scheduling to your advantage? What is your favorite tip and how did it work for you? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to check out Flux Smart Wifi and Flux Smart Bluetooth LED Light Bulbs.