The New Way To Brighten Your Outdoor Spaces December 29, 2016 00:00

During the daylight hours in the great outdoors, there's no better light than natural sunlight. But what happens when day turns to night and you're not ready to head indoors?

The efficiency, customization, and versatility of smart lighting ensures your family BBQ and your Labor Day house party aren't cut short by the setting sun. 

You won’t find a more cost-effective bulb out there

Part of the reason smart lighting has become such a viable lighting solution for so many people today is that these bulbs are so cheap to keep lit.

Now credit where credit is due, the majority of your energy savings with smart lighting come from the fact that they are 100% LED bulbs. For those of you out there who may have heard of LEDs but don’t really know what they are, let’s take a minute to explain what makes these bulbs so special.

A traditional incandescent bulb works by heating up a filament so much that the material eventually gives off light. Unfortunately, 90% of the energy to do create this light is given off as heat. Fluorescent bulbs used an electric current to charge mercury gas particles, giving off ultraviolet light which is then transformed into light by the phosphor coating inside the bulb.

And while this is a far more efficient lighting choice than incandescent bulbs, they still don’t compare to LEDs. CFLs (or compact fluorescent lamps), for instance, are about 75% more efficient than incandescent bulbs and have a lifetime of about 6,000 to 15,000 hours. LEDs, on the other hand, are 75-80% more efficient and can have a lifetime of 25,000 hours. And they use up less electricity per hour too! Pretty impressive!

What all this adds up to for you is a cheaper, longer lasting bulb. And when you have lights that you’ll be leaving on for an extended period of time (like outdoor lights!), making sure you save as much money as possible per bulb can really have a significant impact on your bank account.

Adjust brightness levels on demand to suit any occasion

While the savings you’ll be racking up with smart lighting is the main reason to switch your outdoor lighting over to smart bulbs, there are definitely more benefits involved than just a fatter wallet. And one of those is the ability to change your outdoor lighting brightness on a whim.

You may have noticed that most of the switches in your home with dimmer switches connect to indoor lights alone. The reason for that is many outdoor light bulbs aren’t actually dimmable which can lead to some pretty annoying situations down the line.

If, for instance, you are hosting an intimate barbecue for a few close friends, you probably won’t want to bathe the event in the near-daytime lighting levels of most outdoor floodlights. But you also want to keep the area brightly lit when you aren’t entertaining to ward off burglars and pests.

The solution? Use the dimming feature of your smart lighting to adjust the lighting to suit the occasion. And while these bulbs won’t offer as much lighting power as most safety lights, many smart bulbs offer around 550lms of brightness which might be just enough for your home!

Use smart bulbs to add more customizability to your outdoor lighting

No discussion of the benefits of smart lighting would be complete without touching on one of the most exciting features of most high-end smart bulbs: the ability to change colors!

All it takes is selecting one of your bulbs through the convenient app and then pointing out the desired color. That’s it!

One of the benefits of this particular feature is that if you have smart bulbs for your outdoor lighting, all you need to do to decorate for any holiday is switch up the colors: red and green for Christmas, orange and dark green or purple for Halloween, even the colors of your favorite sports team during the playoffs.

But don’t discount the color feature just because it isn’t a special occasion. With smart lighting, you also have control over the more traditional lighting color choices at any time. That means the entire color temperature range is at your disposal, giving you access to warm white, cool white, daylight, and everything in between whenever you’d like!

With this enhanced customizability, you can pick out the perfect lighting arrangement so that your home looks exactly the way you want. Not a lot of light bulbs can offer that!

Don’t forget the other features!

Efficiency, brightness, and color aside, smart lighting has a lot more to offer when it comes to outdoor lighting.

The scheduling feature, for instance, lets you set any bulb you choose to its own lighting schedule. So, if you would like to have your front door light turn on at 5:37pm every night you can arrange for that right from your smart device, no external timer required!

Smart lighting owners also have the ability to control multiple bulbs at once by putting your bulbs into groups. This gives you the option of turning off an entire set of bulbs with one push of a button rather than turning off each individually. For you homeowners out there that have a lot of outdoor lighting, just imagine being able to turn them all on at once rather than flip ten different switches.

Let us know what you think!

7 Tips For Throwing An Unforgettable New Year's Eve Party With Smart Lighting December 26, 2016 00:00

You have the food, the music, and the games to keep the guests of your New Year's event entertained, but how do you make it really feel like a party? How do you ensure your guests talk about your NYE event until 2018?

You do it by incorporating smart lighting into the mix. 

These bulbs offer you literally millions of different ways to add that special something to your New Year’s party this year.

Here are 7 tips from the smart lighting pros to make sure your New Year’s party this year is truly one for the ages.

Sync your lighting to the countdown

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear “New Year’s party”? The countdown of course! No matter how raucous any New Year’s party gets, you can always be sure that everyone will stop what they’re doing to shout out the last ten seconds of the year. It’s tradition!

And what better way to accentuate the transition into a brand-new year than by syncing your lights to match up with the countdown? We’re not just talking a strobe light going off when everyone reaches zero either. Think about the reactions you’ll get as your lights flash a different color for each second, and then an explosion of all ten to bring in the New Year!

And besides the awesome spectacle it will create in your entire home, the lights will alert everyone to the last ten seconds of the year too. There’s nothing worse than missing the countdown!

Create a dynamic ambiance

You may have been to some truly incredible parties over the years with impressive lighting, but have you ever been to one where the lights change over time to match the mood? We didn’t think so! With smart lighting, you can create such an effect.

Nothing kills a party like an atmosphere that doesn’t match mood. Just think of a technicolor club scene where everyone is just standing around looking at their phones. Very awkward. But with smart lighting, you can start out your evening with bright, functional lighting that gradually transitions to a more party-like ambiance over a few hours, giving your fellow partygoers time to really get in the spirit.

Another benefit: you can set your lighting to gradually get brighter and more boring around a set time to signal those stubborn guests that it’s time to go home!

Use colors for both design AND functionality

While you can of course use the brightness levels and color choices of your smart bulb to create the same lighting scheme for your entire party, doing so means you’re missing out on some of the more creative applications of this versatile bulb.

For instance, if you’re throwing a dance club-themed party complete with low lighting and multicolored strobes (all possible with smart lighting by the way), how are your guests going to find the two most commonly sought areas of your party: the bathroom and the bar? This year, instead of constantly having to point out these two areas to your guests, simply change the settings on the smart bulbs above these areas to shine a constant color. Then, if someone can’t find what they’re looking for amidst all the noise and fun, all you have to say is “follow the blue light!” Simple!

Low-key? No problem!

Not one for partying? No problem! Smart lighting is just as much for the classy event planner as it is for the crazy partier. In fact, smart lighting may be even more useful for the serious design aficionados out there than it is for the outrageous fun-lover.

If, for instance, you see the perfect décor scheme in a magazine and are looking to reproduce the same ambiance for your get-together, owners of high-quality smart bulbs can capture those colors using their smartphone’s camera and reproduce the exact same hues with their smart bulbs. Forget gathering up the paint swatches to find that perfect combination of reds, blues, and greens. These bulbs do all the work for you. And all it takes is the click of a button!

Match your lighting to the tunes

Those of you that prefer a bit livelier atmosphere and dancing can add a whole new level of lighting/music interaction. Whereas past party lighting choices were confined to strobe lights and disco balls, these features never really interacted with the music like the professionally calibrated light shows you see in high-end dance clubs. There, the lights pulse to the beat of the music, not just every second or so.

What if you could bring that level of interaction to your New Year’s party this year? Well with smart lighting, you can! Many upscale smart bulbs on the market today come with the ability to sync light and color pulses to the thumps and bumps of your favorite tunes to truly bring your party to life. Nothing will bring more people on the dance floor this year!

Spread the music with speaker bulbs

Having trouble figuring out how to get your party’s music into the other rooms of the house without turning the volume on the dancefloor to deafening levels? Don’t waste your money on low quality mini speakers with terrible sound quality and that break after only a few uses. Instead, spread your tunes to every corner of your home by using speaker bulbs, the newest kind of smart bulb.

These special smart bulbs will not only play your music through built-in high-quality speakers that you’ll have to hear to believe, they’re also in a better position to transmit the sound throughout the room. That way, your favorite song can be heard no matter where your guests are standing. Crank up the tunes!

Outdoor décor galore

Although the interior décor will probably be the most important factor in creating your party’s atmosphere, nothing puts your guests in the party mood like a first impression. And that’s why you need to add some flair to your outdoor decorations as well.

Balloons and streamers work great for this, but if you really want to get your guests’ hearts racing when they turn down your street then you need something more. Multicolored flashing strobe lights on your doorstep? Perfect. And even if this might be too much for your tastes, smart lighting lets you cater your lighting to suit the precise mood you’re after with its range of brightness, color options, and transitions. What more could you want?

Let us know what you think!

Do you have any other smart lighting ideas to make this year’s New Year’s party the best one yet? What is your favorite smart lighting tip that you’ll be using at your party? Let us know in the comment section below and get creative with the Flux Smart Bluetooth and WiFi LEDs as well as the Flux Smart Blast Speaker Bulb!

Bring The Movie Theater To Your Home With The Help Of Smart Lighting December 21, 2016 00:00

Photo by Chris Lattuada of Bline Construction via Flickr

Turn Your TV Room into a Movie Lover’s Dream with Smart Lighting

You’ve been waiting for this for years. Ever since you beheld the splendor of the silver screen at the age of 10, you’ve been hooked. You were a regular at the dollar theater, an ace at movie trivia, you even minored in film studies in college.

As your passion grew so too did your expendable income, making that far off dream of your very own home theater more and more attainable. And now that you’ve finally amassed the funds to carve out your own little cinematic kingdom, you need to make sure you’ve got all the details covered, preferably in the cheapest way possible.

When it comes to lighting your home theater, the versatility of smart bulbs provides one of the best ways to transform simply catching a flick into completely immersing yourself in the world of a film.

Controlling the light, control the experience

Photo by Chris & Karen Highland via Flickr

By far the most useful feature of smart lighting is the ability to control your lights remotely from anywhere. The fact that this feature in particular was one of the earliest to be implemented into smart bulbs is testament enough to the functionality and ease of use behind having the light switch to every bulb in your home stored conveniently in your smart device.

And when it comes to your home theater, controlling each light comes in mighty handy. Imagine, for instance, that rather than turning off the lights and fumbling your way back to your seat while tripping over friends, snacks, and loved ones in the process, you can get comfortable in your favorite chair and simply flick the lights off right from your smartphone.

Or consider the scenario where your friend has to jump up to use the bathroom (during the best part of the movie of course). All you have to do is turn on the hall light for him from your smart bulb’s app. Simple. No getting up to guide him through the dark, no stopping the movie to hit the lights for him, and best of all, no missing out on any of the flick.

Control over your home theater’s lighting system can be even more fine-tuned with each bulb’s built in dimming feature, also accessible straight from your smart device. This feature, as long as your smart bulb supports it like many of these do, opens up a world of possibilities. You can keep the aisles of your home theater slightly lit for easier snack and bathroom runs, you can make the ambient light of the entire room a bit higher to help you keep conversation going between friends, or for those of you that may have separate areas to your movie room, you can keep your bar for instance illuminated while maintaining the ambience necessary to appreciate the film on screen.

And for added ease of use, any of your home theater’s smart bulbs can be controlled in groups, making brightness adjustment of entire sections as simple as a flick of your finger.

Immerse yourself in color

Photo by Stephan Legachev via common.wikipedia.org

Another feature that really sets smart lighting apart from the traditional alternative is that many higher end bulbs offer the ability to change the light hue to over 16 million different colors and this too can be particularly useful when figuring out how to light your home theater.

First, there’s the functional benefit: adding a bit of light to make navigating in the dark a bit easier. Modern theaters nowadays have LED strips lining the walkways so you can see where you’re going. And do you know what color they typically are? Green. And do you know why? Because green is one of the most easily detectable colors by the human eye.

And since you’ve got 16 million colors to choose from with your smart bulb, why not try using a soft green light to help your movie buddies find their way during show time?

The huge range of colors can also come in handy when you want the atmosphere to intensify everything you love about a certain flick. Say, for instance, instead of watching all nine hours of The Lord of the Rings trilogy on a backdrop of pitch black, you decided to view it surrounded by a dark green glow.

Or maybe you and your little one decide to turn your theater into an underwater viewing deck during Finding Nemo by filling the theater with an aqua blue light. The possibilities are endless (and if you really want to match your lights to a film’s particular color scheme, use the Camera Mode to mimic the exact hues of any movie).

True surround sound

One of the most exciting new features of smart bulbs like the Flux Smart Melody and Blast is the fact that these bulbs not only incorporate the versatility of a smart bulb, they also offer the sound delivering power of a Bluetooth speaker!

That’s right, forget about the extra pain (and expense) of mounting and wiring speakers throughout your home theater, not to mention all the time it’ll take to setup and calibrate the system. These smart bulbs let you and your audience hear every perfect line, every blood-curdling scream, and every inspiring battle cry from your favorite films in room filling, crystal clear sound.

And all you have to do is screw in a light bulb.

Let us know what you think!

Have any more ideas on how to make watching your number one movie even better with smart lighting? Tell us about them in the comments below, and don’t forget to check out the Flux Smart product line to turn your home theater into a movie lover’s dream.

Why Smart Lighting Makes The Perfect Christmas Gift December 19, 2016 00:00

December 25th is quickly approaching!

Besides hanging ornaments on the Christmas tree and putting up the holiday decorations, that means it’s time to find that perfect gift for everyone one your list, including those few hard-to-shop-for folks.

But if you’re stumped this year about which gift will suit almost anyone’s tastes, make sure to consider smart lighting!

What a gift!

If you really want your gift to stand out this year, smart lighting is a sure thing. Here’s a list of the top 5 reasons smart lighting will make your Christmas shopping a breeze this year.

• Be the cool parent - Shopping for the younger generation is tough. With a new gadget or game coming out every week and the old ones being tossed aside just as regularly, gifting that hot new toy is not only a temporary joy, it’s also a shot in the dark.  

Smart bulbs, on the other hand, combine the functionality of everyday use with a host of cool new benefits that anyone is sure to love, day in and day out!

• Give your loved ones an all-in-one interior design device – With over 16 millions different colors to choose from, the Flux Smart Bluetooth and WiFi bulbs let you light your home in precisely the way you want. Instead of being stuck with just the traditional whites and yellows of most light bulbs, these let you brighten up your home with reds, blues, and greens along with everything in between.

Even just a subtle touch of color in your home’s lighting can change the ambiance entirely! And when you add the fact that the brightness levels of each are fully customizable on the fly, these bulbs offer more design versatility than ever.

Don’t forget about the health benefits associated with these color options as well.

• Automate your home – Ever wonder what it’d be like to live in one of those futuristic homes that responds to your every movement and command, starting up the fireplace, turning up the lights, and preheating the oven when you get home for work?

Well, the fireplace and oven may have to wait a few more years but with smart bulbs, you can designate precisely when and how you want your home to be lit up automatically. And setup is a cinch!

With smart bulbs, you can not only add a bit of sci-fi flair to your home but also wake up more refreshed in the morning and get better sleep at night!

• Control ambience from one place  – Imagine being able to turn down the lights just right for a movie without having to get off the couch. Or never having to drag yourself to the light switch after groggily flopping down in bed.

With smart lighting, you’ll have direct access to each and every smart bulb you own at any time. All you need is a smart device like an smartphone or a tablet and the Flux Smart App and you can adjust the bulb’s color, brightness, lighting pattern, and schedule right from the app. It’s a whole new level of lighting customization and accessibility!

And what’s more, you can set up your smart bulb so that you can remotely control it from anywhere in the world! That means no more wondering if you left the lights on while heading to work, asking neighbors to turn on the lights while you’re on vacation, and no more unreasonable electric bill because your family forgets to flip the switch on the way out. A true bank account benefit!

• Add some life to your music – When it comes time to crank up the tunes there’s no light bulb out there that can turn your deflated get together into an unforgettable party like the Flux Smart Bluetooth and WiFi LEDs. They let you sync your light bulbs’ color changes directly to the beat of your music, changing your living room into a high-profile club!

And if you are really trying to add more life to your bash then check out the Flux Smart Blast. It’s an LED bulb that doubles as a speaker, delivering crystal clear tunes from your smart device to every corner of your home!

Let us know what you think!

Which Flux Smart bulb are you gifting this year? Which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to check out the Flux Smart product line! Happy shopping!

How To Use Smart Lighting To Take Christmas Decorating To The Next Level December 14, 2016 00:00

‘Tis the Season for Smart Lighting!

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas ev’rywhere you go…”

If you’re like most people, you’ve already started outfitting your home with decorations befitting the holiday season, complete with holly, wreaths, mistletoe, and ornaments galore!

And when it comes to figuring out how to illuminate all of your little seasonal touches this year, smart lighting lets you explore a wealth of new lighting options that will make it one of the holly-est, jolliest Christmases yet!

The perks of decorating your home with smart lighting

In the past few years, many people have replaced their boring old lights with smart bulbs. Part of the reason is that they are so much more efficient than their incandescent and even fluorescent counterparts, saving consumers up to 75% on their home’s lighting energy costs. And when you consider just how long you keep your Christmas lights on, it’s no wonder people are snatching smart bulbs off the shelves more and more each year!

But it’s the versatility and features these bulbs have that will really make your home stand out this holiday season. In addition to the near unlimited possible combinations of both color and brightness directly at your fingertips, smart bulbs like the Flux Smart 2nd Generation WiFi and Bluetooth LEDs let you create fully customizable color transition patterns, assign schedules, and even sync lighting levels to your favorite tunes!

That’s why this season, we’re offering a few lighting ideas to add some pizzazz to your home’s Christmas ambiance and ensure the holidays are as festive and merry as ever!

Image by Cindy Shebley via Flickr

Brighten up your street with the power of smart lighting!

If it isn’t presents and a Christmas tree that people associate with this holiday season, it’s brightly lit and decorated houses. In fact, the practice has become so popular that businesses across the country have sprung up offering to put up your holiday lights for you!

If you’re looking to add something special to your outdoor lighting design this year, look no further than smart lighting! We’ve come up with just a few ideas that’ll hopefully spark your own creativity:

• Use the color-changing features of smart lighting to turn your house into a beacon of festivity! Bathe your home in red, green, and white lighting and add some extra color to your existing Christmas lights for a holiday home that will really pop!

• Or simply substitute smart lighting for your traditional lights altogether, letting you skip all the ladders, nail guns, and untangling. Don’t forget to set your color transitions using Custom Mode. It’ll truly bring your house to life!

• For anyone looking to display even more holiday spirit, use the Music Sync to put on a light show for all your neighbors set to your favorite Christmas tunes! With enough creativity and planning, you may even be able to top this family’s amazing light show!

Christmas color and creativity for indoors

With all the features and variety that smart lighting offers, you now have access to a whole new level of indoor decoration this year. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

• Use smart bulbs as your accent lighting source. That way, you can adjust the brightness levels to whatever works best for your design style. Don’t forget about changing colors as well. With over 16 million different colors to choose from, you can light up your stockings display with red, green, and white lights for some extra festivity.

• Use the same idea to light your Christmas tree but this time, take advantage of Custom Mode to cycle the various hues! Now, instead of a plain old tree with that same lighting style you’ve used for a decade, this year’s tree will constantly be changing between festive colors of your choosing. It’ll be a truly dynamic holiday display!

• Harness the power of sound! Try out the Music Sync feature of your smart bulbs to add a colorful display to your Christmas tunes. You can even use it to create your own personal lightshow while singing carols! And try out a speaker bulb like Flux Smart Blast to deck the halls with holiday favorites, without the inconvenience of bulk speakers.

Let us know what you think!

How are you using the feature-rich, highly-versatile power of smart lighting this holiday season to spread the spirit? Do you have any tips or tricks to make this Christmas even more festive? Tell us about it in the comments below and don’t forget to celebrate the season with the Flux Smart product line! They make great gifts too!

How To Boost Employee Productivity With Smart Lighting In The Workplace December 7, 2016 00:00

Smart lighting has seen an incredible surge in the variety of ways it can be used lately. From artists taking advantage of its limitless versatility to create never-been-done displays to musicians playing their tunes through the impressive speakers contained in some of these innovative bulbs, it seems like the list of ways you can make use of smart lighting are growing by the minute.

And while some people might think the advantages of an ultra-sophisticated light bulb might be limited solely to creative affairs and home-design elements, the truth is businesses all over the world have begun reaping the benefits of incorporating smart lighting into their offices.

Innovations in smart lighting  

For one thing, these bulbs are significantly more efficient than any other lighting device out there, with base models usually staying lit at least 3 times longer than CFLs and at least 20 times longer than incandescent bulbs. And when it comes to cutting down on your business’s expenses, the utility bill is the first place to start.

Some lighting companies have taken the capabilities of smart lighting even further, using the amount of light reflected and the interactivity with motion sensors to map out employee motion patterns. Determining how your workforce navigates can be particularly useful in manufacturing facilities and can end up saving you and your company quite a bit of money next year.

Use different colors to energize or relax employees

Another aspect of smart lighting that many people have found especially attractive is the color change feature. A good portion of high-quality smart bulbs like the Flux Smart WiFi and Bluetooth LEDs come with the ability to change the light output to over 16 million different colors!

And it’s not just the aesthetics that benefit from this feature either. There have been a significant number of studies conducted that show a strong correlation between mood and energy levels with certain hues of light. Red, for instance, has been shown to have a more relaxing effect while blue has been documented as bringing about a more alert and energized state of mind.

Any business owner knows a boon in productivity for their employees means more money coming in the door so energizing and engaging the workforce should be pretty high on the list of priorities. And if all it takes is shining a different colored light in their workspace, a cheaper alternative is surely hard to come by.

Set brightness schedules to enhance production

Keeping in the same vein with increasing production, smart lighting also allows you to alter the brightness of your bulbs. This can come in handy in a variety of situations.

For instance, business owners could either brighten or dim the work environment to find that perfect level of light to bring about the highest production yields in their workforce. As studies have shown, there is a fine balance between too much or too little light and that sweet spot.

Keep the lights down too low and your employees will not only find their tasks harder to concentrate on, their mood might even suffer as well, leading to more conflicts and insubordination. On the other hand, if they’re too bright you’ll likely see these same effects. When you have complete control over your lighting levels though, you can avoid this problem entirely and get your lights to work for you!

The brightness control of smart lighting can be applied to higher-level positions in your business as well. If, for example, your company is hashing out the complex details involved in implementing your new marketing strategy, try dimming the lights just a little.

As this study shows, bright lights can sometimes aggravate emotions, making upset individuals even angrier and sadder people more depressed. The takeaway here is that, according to the study, dimmer lighting leads to the ability to make more rational decisions. And when you’re determining the course of your business, you certainly want to make a decision based on reason rather than emotion.

Cater to individualized needs and increase efficiency

When you are talking about the efficiency of your workforce, you know that there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy for increasing production and the quality of work. And the main contributor to this variability is the fact that each and every one of your employees has a different set of needs than the person sitting next to them.

So how do you get the best out of your staff when each of them will react differently to anything you put in place? By letting them determine what type environment they want to work in.

This idea of a customizable workspace is becoming increasingly popular in modern corporate America and smart lighting is leading the way! Several companies have implemented programs to give their employees direct control over their lighting needs right through an app on their smart device. The brightness and color of the light directly over their desk can be controlled however they see fit, letting them determine in what light they’ll work best.

A customizable light source can come in particularly handy for a workforce made up of employees old and young. In fact, workers older than 45 years will need twice as much light as a 20 year old to perform equivalent duties. What better way to offer that than giving your employees the reigns?

And don’t forget about headaches, migraines, and eye strain. Anyone who has stared at a computer screen for eight hours knows just how tired your eyes can get throughout the day. When it comes to headaches and migraines, extended bright light can not only aggravate the condition, they can actually cause them entirely!

By letting your workers choose their own lighting needs you’ll likely see a happier, more efficient workforce in no time!

Let us know what you think!

How have you used smart lighting to energize your office? Can you think of any other ways smart lighting can help make your workforce more productive? Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to take your business up a notch with the Flux Smart product line!

How Smart Lighting Saves The Environment November 30, 2016 00:00

Have you ever questioned what kind of bulb (LED, CFL, or incandescent) is best for the environment? Well if you have, the results are in.

In a three-part study funded by the Environmental Department, it was shown without a doubt that LEDs were significantly better for the environment than other lighting options like CFLs and especially incandescent bulbs.

The study took into account a wide range of factors and assessed just how much each bulb affected the air, water, soil, and resources of our planet and LEDs came out significantly ahead.

And it’s no surprise. Smart bulbs consume less energy, have a longer lifespan, and use safer materials than any other bulb out there.

The low energy consumption of Smart Lighting

When it comes to energy consumption, smart bulbs reign supreme.

Traditional incandescent bulbs use up a lot of energy, losing most of it by producing heat in fact. A whopping 90% of the energy required to use incandescent bulbs is lost through heat! That means only 10% goes towards actually producing light.

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) have a substantially lower heat loss factor, which is part of the reason why they use around 75% less energy than a traditional incandescent bulb to create the same amount of light. Instead of using electricity to heat a filament like incandescents, CFLs send a bolt of electricity through a chamber to excite the mercury molecules within, the byproduct of which is light.

While CFLs are pretty efficient in how they use energy, the LEDs in smart bulbs can actually boast an 80% improvement over incandescent energy consumption. This is partially due to the fact that LEDs have a solid-state structure, meaning there aren’t really any moving parts to it. A current is simply sent through a semi-conductor which forces electrons to jump from one place to another, a process which results in the creation of light.  

These energy savings will not only help reduce your monthly electric bill, they’ll also contribute to cutting back on global energy production, making our footprint on this Earth just a little bit smaller. In 2012 alone, for example, U.S. consumers saved over $675 million by switching to LEDs and switching over completely to LEDs by 2032 could save our country over $250 billion in energy costs alone!

The amazing lifespan of Smart Bulbs

An incredibly long lifespan is the second most environmentally beneficial characteristic of smart bulbs. Typical incandescent bulbs will generally last about 1,000 hours, or around one-third of a year for a bulb used around 6 hours a day. CFLs provide a much longer lifetime of around 10,000 hours. That’s about 4 ½ years at that same usage rate.

LEDs on the other hand, offer an amazing 25,000 hours! That means if you left an LED light on for 6 hours a day, it would last almost 11 ½ years, far outperforming CFLs and especially incandescent bulbs.

The benefits of a long bulb life are pretty easy to see. Using one LED for the same amount of time about 33 incandescents would last means we don’t have to produce as many bulbs. That means less landfill use, less production costs, and less transportation consumption which of course means cleaner air.

A mercury-free lighting choice

Another important point to note about the environmental impacts of smart bulbs is the fact that they don’t contain the same harmful materials that other bulbs, namely CFLs, contain.

As we pointed out before, fluorescent lights use the peculiar way the element mercury interacts with electricity to create light. Mercury, as many people know, can have some pretty nasty effects on our health. And as mercury poisoning is most common when it’s inhaled, cleaning up broken fluorescent bulbs immediately is especially important.

In fact, fluorescent bulbs have special disposal procedures to accommodate for this potentially deadly compound. While the amount of mercury in modern day CFLs is much lower than it used to be, exposure to this element should be as limited as possible.

LEDs on the other hand don’t contain any mercury. And although it’s still important to be mindful of a broken smart bulb, you won’t have to worry about breathing in any mercury while you clean up.

But wait, there’s more...

While the energy consumption, lifespan, and safe materials of smart bulbs are a few of the main reasons why these are the most environmentally friendly bulbs on the market, they have a couple other characteristics which can help reduce your footprint even more.

LEDs also have a much more focused light distribution than other bulbs. So while incandescent bulbs and fluorescent bulbs send their light in all directions, LEDs can light up one area without affecting the surrounding environment. Think of other bulbs as a torch and LEDs as a spotlight. That means instead of using 8 incandescent bulbs to light up a room haphazardly, you could instead use 5 well placed smart bulbs to achieve the same effect.

Smart lighting also lets you set schedules for your bulbs so they’ll automatically turn off whenever you choose. So if you’re in a rush to get to work in the morning and forget to flip the switch on your way out, you won’t waste an entire day’s worth of energy keeping your lights on.

The ability to dim any smart bulb in your home can also cut back on a good chunk of your energy use. Instead of being stuck with only one bright setting you can choose to keep lights a bit lower. Over time, you’ll be able to notice how such a simple can really help lower your electric bill.

Let us know what you think!

What else can you do to reduce your global footprint when it comes to lighting? Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to go green with these Flux Smart products!

Filament LED vs. Normal LED: Which Is Better? November 25, 2016 00:00

While the eco-friendly benefits of LEDs should be reason enough to switch to this money-saving bulb of the future, some people just can’t get past its sci-fi style look.

And while the half-glass, half-plastic design might not exactly be your cup of tea, LEDs can come in more elegant forms as well, namely, the filament LED bulb. The large glowing filaments and clear glass enclosures of these special bulbs resemble old-fashioned incandescents. They bring a bit of style to these futuristic bulbs.

This style comes with a price, however. We’ll be discussing the pros and cons of both the traditional LED as well as the filament LED so you can be sure to make the right choice based on your lighting needs.

LEDs: what makes them so unique

In order to detail just what makes filament LED bulbs different than your run-of-the-mill LEDs, it’s important to know how exactly LEDs work.

Short for “light emitting diodes”, LEDs are becoming the most likely successor to the lighting world throne. Where incandescent bulbs fell short in terms of lifelong hours, offering an average of 1,000 hours of light, LEDs have overtaken them with an amazing 50,000 hours.

The longevity of LEDs is due in part to its unique characteristic of being a type of solid-state lighting. In other words, while incandescent bulbs rely on the light produced by heating a filament and fluorescent lights excite the molecules of gas in order to illuminate, LEDs create light by passing an electrical current through a semiconductor.

Don’t be scared off by the term semiconductor,  though! While it may sound a bit technical, a semiconductor is basically any material that partially conducts electricity, meaning there are positive and negative charges along the material. And when electricity is sent through such a material, certain areas switch back and forth between a positive and negative charge. This jumping back and forth between charges is what creates the light you see in LEDs.

The entire process is much more energy efficient than heating a filament like traditional incandescent bulbs. In fact, most incandescents only use 10% of the required energy for light. The other 90% is given off in the form of heat. So a bulb that can cut back on any amount of this kind of loss, like an LED does, is going to have a longer life in general.

The only drawback is LEDs, in contrast to incandescent bulbs, can’t produce as wide of a light angle since half of the bulb is required for the chip and heat sinks themselves. That means if you put a sphere around an LED bulb, only half of it would be lit up. A small setback for an amazing bulb, but a setback nonetheless.

The filament LED difference

Now that you know just what an LED is doing when it is producing light, we can get down to what makes a filament LED so different from your average LED.

With the design of traditional incandescent bulbs in mind, filament LEDs have a pretty neat retro look about them. Instead of a container made only partially of glass like other LEDs, the enclosures of filament LEDs are made entirely of glass, just like old-fashioned incandescents. Inside, very small LEDs are placed along a glass or sapphire cylinder, the appearance of which mimics a filament.

Generally, filament LEDs have several “filaments” in them as just one would not be enough to produce a usable amount of light. As a result, many bulbs will have over four different strands of LEDs inside, giving the look of an antique Edison-style bulb.

The main difference between filament LEDs and regular LEDs is in the placement and number of individual LEDs in each bulb. While regular LEDs might use one large LED or a group of LEDs packed tightly into a small space, filament LEDs spread the diodes along several different lines or “filaments”. This arrangement also means smaller heat sinks (mechanisms to take heat away from the diodes) are needed.

The result of these differences is that where traditional LEDs only have a 180 degree light angle as discussed above, filament LEDs have the same range as incandescent bulbs, meaning they can light up all the corners of a room better than a normal LED.

Filament vs. traditional LEDs: the pros & cons

So what does it all mean? Which is the better option? While it’s impossible to say for certain what the best bulb choice is for you as not everyone is going to use their lights for the same thing, there are some clear pros and cons for each of these bulbs that might help you make the decision.

Pros of filament LEDs

• Require smaller heat sinks. That means more of the enclosure can be glass, leading to light exposure in almost 360 degrees.
• Have a trendy retro style that some consumers might find attractive.
• Most models offer the same dimmable quality of other LEDs.

Cons of filament LEDs

• Typically have a shorter lifespan than other LEDs, ranging from 15,000 hours all the way to 40,000 hours.
• Have not yet been incorporated into smart lighting designs.
• Are not offered in a variety of colors.

Pros of traditional LEDs

• Have a lifespan of around 50,000 hours.
• Are used in conjunction with smart lighting, offering remote control from a smart device as well as other features.
• Come in a variety of colors, with certain models being able to reproduce over 16 million different hues of light.

Cons of traditional LEDs

• Have a unidirectional, focused light output area rather than the multi-directional lighting of filament bulbs due to the large heat sinks needed in traditional LEDs.
• Do not offer the retro style found in filament bulbs.

So while traditional LEDs offer more in terms of versatility and bulb life, the elegance of the filament LED might be reason enough to choose it for your lighting needs. Either way, the applications for LED lighting technology have never been more numerous than they are today.

Let us know what you think!

Which kind of LED bulb do you prefer? Traditional or filament? What kinds of situations do you think each would be best for? Let us know below in the comments and don’t forget to check out the Flux Smart product line!

Make Thanksgiving Unforgettable With Smart Lighting November 23, 2016 00:00

Fall is here!

And despite the beautiful weather, the gorgeous foliage, and finally being able to wear sweaters without drawing strange looks from coworkers, all these wonderful things may also instill a deep sense of dread in some of you. Why? Because this year, you’re hosting Thanksgiving…

But don’t worry! Even though you may still be dealing with arguing relatives, annoying second-cousins, and hard-to-please parents for a few days, if you’ve outfitted your home with smart lighting then at least you’ve got the ambiance covered.

Here’s a quick guide to make sure your holiday lighting is one less thing to worry about this Thanksgiving!

Use Sunrise Mode to start your Thanksgiving preparations!

For those of you who have ever had to be the one in charge of creating a delicious and memorable Thanksgiving meal spread, you know that doing so takes time, usually more than you think!

And depending on what time you and your family decide to sit down for the feast, that could mean starting preparations before sunrise. And if you aren’t used functioning in the dark hours of early morning, you’ll need all the help you can get.

What better way to jumpstart your body into wide-awake cooking mode than tricking it into thinking it’s actually day time? With Sunrise Mode, your Flux Smart lights will slowly brighten at a time of your choosing, mimicking the rising of the sun and letting your body adjust to the idea of actually getting out of bed.

If the idea of gently being woken isn’t enough to convince you to toss that harsh, jolting alarm clock, the science behind this method shows that there’s no better way to feel more energized in the morning too.

And after the meal is over and the turkey (and wine) have their sleep-inducing hold on you, wake up from that mid-afternoon slumber feeling more refreshed than ever and ready for seconds with Sunrise Mode.

Create truly memorable decorations this year with smart lighting

If you’re a decoration aficionado, then you’re probably scouring the internet as we speak to find the perfect seasonal décor to leave your guests OO-ing and AH-ing all Thanksgiving long. Well search no more!

The versatility of smart lighting can help turn your run-of-the-mill design scheme into a truly spectacular autumn display. In addition to being able to dim any bulb at a whim, letting you fine tune your accent lighting to create just the mood you’re after, higher end smart bulbs like the Flux Smart Bluetooth and WiFi LEDs let you choose from over 16 million different colors to light your home with!

So while a simple holiday decoration might typically only have one way it can be displayed, when this same decoration is lit with a smart bulb it can literally have 16 million variations! And while you probably won’t want to highlight a seasonal gourd display in neon pink, there are thousands of different hues in red, orange, and yellow!

And if the colors alone didn’t provide you with enough design ideas this year, many high-end smart bulbs let you create custom schedules with transitions for your lighting. Imagine sitting down to dinner as your centerpiece slowly and gradually changes from red to orange and yellow to brown. You might be the first person in the family to have a truly dynamic Thanksgiving decoration!

Don’t forget about applying these features to your outdoor decorations too!

Use the remote lighting and scheduling feature to create the perfect mood

While color changing decorations might liven up your Thanksgiving embellishments, don’t forget to take into consideration the ambient light in your home this year as well.

Nothing ruins the mood of a get together like inadequate or over the top lighting. Too dim? People won’t be able to see each other clearly and the conversation will probably suffer. Too bright? Your guests will gradually start to get more and more annoyed, leading to even more holiday arguments than usual.

The solution is knowing what lighting levels need to go with each activity. The kitchen, for example, is a pretty easy one. With all the sharp utensils and precise chopping, cutting, sautéing, and mashing going on in one place, it’s best to keep your lights shining bright. And once all the food is finally finished, adjust your kitchen’s lighting scheme like so to bring out its best features.

Next is the most important and the most complex: the dining room. There’s a lot of different activities going on in here, as well as a lot of shifting of moods.

At the beginning of the meal it might be a good idea to keep the lights bright, at least until everyone’s situated. If there is a prayer or grace before chowing down, turn the lights down a bit, maybe even use one as a spotlight on whoever is leading.

Once everyone starts to dig in, start bringing the lights down little by little. In fact, with the convenient scheduling feature you can simply set the room’s lights to do this automatically!

And as your guests start putting down their utensils and picking up conversation, create a relaxing, at ease atmosphere by lowering the lights even more. Not too much, just enough to make sure no one starts talking politics!

Finally, as we mentioned before, no Thanksgiving is complete without the mid-afternoon nap! Take the lights down a bit, sit back, and relax knowing you put on another spectacular Thanksgiving!

Let us know what you think!

How have you used smart lighting to liven up your holiday meal? Do you have any decorating tips to make this Thanksgiving especially amazing? Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to feast your eyes on the Flux Smart product line!