CFL vs LED Bulbs: Which Is Right For You? October 5, 2016 00:00

The light bulb aisle in the hardware store has never been more confusing:  incandescents, CFLs, LEDs, in different sizes, shapes, and colors. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, we don’t blame you.

But we’re here to tell you that, in at least this case, two of the world’s most popular bulb types – LEDs and CFLs – aren’t as complicated as they seem. Here’s how to choose between them.

What are LED light bulbs?

Widely considered to be the future of lighting, LEDs or light emitting diodes are one of the most rapidly developing lighting technologies today. In fact, whereas LED lights today make up about 18% of the global lighting market, 2020 will see LED bulbs representing a whopping 70% of the world’s lighting market.

First developed in 1962 by Nick Holonyak, Jr, early LEDs could only be found in a handful of colors. Red came into being first, later followed by yellow, green, and blue. Due to their long lifespans, LED bulbs were at first used in indicator lights, traffic lights, and TVs. As the push for more efficient LED lighting intensified, funded in part by the Energy Department itself, LEDs became even more efficient and cheap to produce. Even in the last few years LED bulbs have dropped in price more than 80%.

But the question still remains, what exactly are LED light bulbs? The simplest explanation is that a diode is the most basic form of a semiconductor, or a material that conducts electricity but only partially. When an electric current is applied to a particular type of semiconductor, the atoms of the material shift around and in doing so emit a bit of light (for a more technical look at how this happens check out this article from HowStuffWorks).

This process doesn’t produce nearly as much heat as traditional incandescent bulbs. In fact, incandescent bulbs give off about 90% of the energy they use as heat alone. LED bulbs on the other hand barely produce any heat at all, making them much more efficient and giving them a lifespan almost 25 times longer than incandescents.

What are CFL light bulbs?

Compact fluorescent lamps, also known as CFLs, are another alternative to the antiquated incandescent bulb. CFL light bulbs are pretty much exactly what they sound like: a smaller, more tightly packed fluorescent bulb. So instead of those long tubes you see in your office at work or lighting the floor of your manufacturing plant, even your school, CFLs are spiral shaped and plug directly into any run-of-the-mill light socket.

With its early history being based in the 19th century, the fluorescent bulb works off of the basic premise of running an electric current through a vacuum. Although many great minds like Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla tried their hand at improving the output and efficiency of the bulb, Peter Cooper Hewitt gave fluorescent bulbs the push they needed by introducing mercury vapor into the bulb. Various energy crises throughout the 20th century eventually led to the refinement of his idea into the fluorescent bulbs you see today.

CFL light bulbs can also boast a pretty significant efficiency over incandescent bulbs. They only use up about 20-33% as much energy as a typical bulb and have a lifespan of about 8-15 times longer as well.

CFL vs LED: Which is right for you?

Though both types of bulbs are far more efficient that incandescent bulbs and in that sense alone are each better choices than the old-fashioned filament bulbs, both LEDs and CFLs have their pros and cons.

LED pros: One of the clearest advantages of LED light bulbs is the vast improvement in efficiency it offers over both CFLs and incandescents. A typical incandescent is expected to have a lifespan of about 1000-1200 hours. CFLs, at the same rate of energy usage, can last up to 10,000 hours, a decent improvement by comparison. LEDs on the other hand generally boast a lifetime of 25,000 hours, far outweighing either competitor.

LEDs also lend well to additional technological features that CFLs and certainly incandescent bulbs simply can’t accommodate. Due to their small size and concentrated beam spread, LEDs enable lighting manufacturers to add features like Bluetooth and WiFi control, motion sensing automation, the ability to switch between literally millions of colors, and even let you play music right speakers incorporated directly into the bulb.

LED cons: The greatest barrier LED manufacturers face is the cost of producing the bulbs and subsequently, the upfront cost to the consumer. Although LED light bulbs are probably the most expensive type of light bulb on the market right now, costs of LED production are dropping every day and have almost caught up entirely to every other type of bulb out there. Additionally, when the cost of the bulb is taken into account with its overall lifetime, LEDs come out to be cheaper than CFLs in the long run.

CFL pros: In step with the cons of LEDs, one of the biggest benefits of CFLs is their (temporarily) lower shelf price when compared to the competing LED bulbs. Though becoming less true by the day, CFLs are typically available at more locations than LEDs as well as they’ve been around a bit longer.

CFL cons: One of the main concerns regarding CFLs is the fact that they each contain mercury, a potentially harmful substance if it comes in contact with the skin or is ingested. Though the amount of mercury in the modern day CFL is significantly less than its predecessors, any amount of a dangerous material in your everyday lighting is enough to make you rethink your purchase.

Let us know what you think!

What kind of light do you prefer, CFLs or LEDs? Can you think of any other advantages or disadvantages of each? Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to check out the wide range of Flux Smart products!

How Artists Use Smart Lighting October 3, 2016 00:00

Every artist knows the heartbreak that comes from finally finishing a piece only to have it fall below expectations – the hours of labor, months of planning, and years of inspiration – all for a creation that leaves you feeling like something’s just not right. Sometimes, the problem isn’t with the art itself, but the way it’s displayed.

Smart lighting might be just the tool you’re looking for to make your art pop. That’s why we’ve created a list of lighting tips for artists that focus on how smart lighting can change the way you create.

Display your art in a better light

The LED revolution has led to a surge in artists across the globe using this versatile yet powerful light source to show their works off in a different kind of light. One lighting best practice for artists is using the more basic functionality of smart lighting to light your piece the way it ought to be lit.

LEDs generally have a more concentrated beam spread than other lights and when coupled with the dimming feature of most smart lighting, you’ll have more control than ever in how your work is displayed. Plus, they’re easy to use and install, an especially handy fact when your venue lacks the facilities you need.

Additionally, many museums are switching over solely to LEDs to light their famous works of art due to the light’s preservative qualities. In the past, institutions had to outfit their priceless works with UV filters to keep the damaging light spectrum produced by traditional incandescents from reducing the life of works like Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers”. LEDs, however don’t produce any UV rays, and when you factor in the efficiency each bulb can boast over every other form of lighting, it’s no wonder museums across the world are making the switch.

Incorporate light directly into your art

Beyond simply using smart lighting as a way to bring out the best of what your works have to offer, artists everywhere are finding out that smart bulbs are uniquely suited for using light itself as another layer for their art.

For instance, smart bulbs like the FluxSmart Bluetooth LED features the ability to switch between over 16 million different colors, whether done directly from your smart device in seconds or by following a preset schedule you can create. What this opens up for you as an artist is an entirely new dimension for what you can do with your creations. Take a look at these murals that completely change depending on what color light is shone on them to get an idea.

The versatility of smart lighting isn’t limited to just the ease of changing the color output either. The technological advancements of lighting have made it easy for artists to incorporate light and the bulbs themselves into the works. With a dazzling display of light in motion set on a canvas of water, a multicolor lit array of 300 floating paper boats, and interactive color changing stepping pads, this type of art, dubbed light art, shows how lighting innovation has contributed enormously to an evolving artistic landscape. Check out this list of light art installations for even more inspiration and awe.

Light for musicians

While smart lighting is perfect for visual artists in that light itself is, well, visual, artists that focus on our other senses may be surprised at how smart lighting can seamlessly transition into their realm as well.

Musicians, for instance, might find it particularly interesting that smart lighting has advanced to the point of being able to incorporate speakers directly into a light bulb, such as with the FluxSmart Melody and the FluxSmart Blast. These bulbs are able to pull tunes directly from your smart device to play surprisingly high-quality audio from anywhere with a light socket, perfect for a low key get together or an apartment packed album release party.

DJs, on the other hand, are likely to know the advantages of having a high-quality light system for their sets. If you want your crowd to get the most from your bass and rhythm you need to have a colorful, dynamic light show to coincide with the beats. Smart lighting is just the ticket, not only because of its range of customizable options like brightness, color, and scheduling, but also because of the many additional features like strobes, fading, and more than anything else the music sync, where your lights will change colors and intensify to the beat of your music.

Tell us what you think

Are you an artist that’s used smart lighting to help share your vision? What kind of ways have smart bulbs changed your work? Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to check out the wealth of smart lighting options from FluxSmart to help you feel inspired!

How Smart Lighting Can Change The Way We Use Light October 3, 2016 00:00



You’ve probably heard that with smart lighting, it’s possible to remotely control any light bulb in your house from anywhere in the world. You’ve probably also heard that smart lighting offers you over 16 million different colors of light to choose from.

But even if you’ve heard of all the amazing things you can do with smart lighting, you may still think of it simply as novelty. Well, think again. We’ve constructed an imagining of how your typical day might look with the addition of smart lighting, and all its benefits, added to your life.

Waking

And so another workday begins and worst of all, it’s a Monday. While many people are still sleeping soundly in their beds, you have an especially long commute each day which means your alarm is typically buzzing long before the sun, or your neighbors, finally rise.

Whereas you used to be roused from sleep by the harsh, grating scream of your traditional alarm, since you’ve put smart lighting into your home you’ve been slowly and steadily awakened by the gradually increasing light from your smart bulbs instead.

This feature is called “Sunrise Mode,” and was developed due to increasing research on the beneficial effects of waking up to more and more light over a period of time, similar to what it would be like to awaken to the rising sun. Due to suppression of melatonin and an increase in cortisol, gradually increasing light as we get up in the morning tends to promote more energy throughout the day.

Morning

Feeling alert and refreshed after a good night’s sleep and a mellow but effective waking, it’s time to get on with the day’s work. You go through your normal morning routine: shower, brush your teeth, put on your work clothes.

Breakfast is just as regimented with a big bowl of oatmeal and an orange. But this time, instead of a piping hot cup of coffee to get you through the day, you’ve got a glass of OJ. Why the change? Because thanks to your FluxSmart Bluetooth LED bulb’s color changing feature, you’ve been equally energized by blue light this entire morning.

While the idea of a colored light being able to give you as much pep as caffeine might sound absurd, research has shown that a one hour dose of blue light enhanced visual accuracy as much as 240 mg of caffeine. And even more astoundingly was the fact that blue light outperformed caffeine in focus assessments.

But despite the attention to detail as well as the energizing effects your blue lighting has inspired, you still manage to forget to turn off the kitchen lights before you leave, a realization that hits you just as you’re stepping out of the car in your work’s parking lot. No problem though, because with your smart bulbs you’re able to turn them off remotely right from your phone, no matter where you are. Problem solved.

Afternoon

Now that you’ve made it to work, it’s time to start another session at the daily grind. As you’re toiling away in your cubicle, your junk mail folder lights up with an email about home security. “With over 2.2 million burglaries in the U.S. each year,” the email reads, “the majority take place between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.” Lucky for you though, your smart lighting has been set to regularly turn on and off in different rooms, ensuring your home looks occupied throughout the day and won’t become another statistic.

Eight hours of staring at a computer can really take a toll on an employee’s focus, not to mention his mood. And before your employers put in the new smart lighting system that emits cool, higher color temperature lighting (blue-white), your day-to-day tasks really took a toll on you. But now, just as research shows, you feel happier, more energetic, extra alert and ultra-productive.

In addition to the focusing effects of blue lighting (mentioned earlier), the white light might help fight off seasonal affective disorder (or SAD) as well. SAD is a disorder that results from your body not receiving enough sunlight during the winter months and is estimated to affect an estimated 10 million Americans each and every year. One of the most effective treatments is called light therapy which essentially mimics increased sunlight exposure. And while office lights alone aren’t enough to completely eradicate the disorder’s effects, as much white light as possible just may help you fight off those winter blues.

Night

After a long day at the office, you’re ready to just come home, plop down in your favorite chair and unwind. As you walk through your front door your lights are already set to a dim and mellow ruby red, shown to be the most relaxing color, all without you having to lift a finger to make your end-of-the-day laze that much more restful. And when you’re ready to read a bit, switch over to a rich emerald hue as it’s the easiest on the eyes.

Don’t get too comfortable though as there’s dinner to be made. With a quick flick of the finger on your smart device you turn up the kitchen lights to a bright white to make all the delicate chopping and sautéing even more precise. After your beautiful meal has been prepped, dim the lights down a bit to make evening dinner conversation a bit more relaxed and a lot more enjoyable.

After cleanup finally comes the time to retire for the evening. On your way to the bedroom your FluxSmart WiFi LEDs automatically shift to a softly lit pink, a color many researchers assert exudes a calming effect unmatched by many other colors. And as time passes, the lighting gradually gets dimmer and dimmer with sunset mode, increasing your melatonin production and helping to ease you into a restful night’s sleep so you’ll be ready for tomorrow!

Tell us what you think!

How do you utilize your smart lighting throughout the day? Tell us some of your favorite uses. And don’t forget to check out the wide range of FluxSmart products!

How To Set Up Your New Flux Smart Light Bulb September 30, 2016 08:24

You’ve heard of how incredible smart lighting technology has become and more than anything else you want to be a part of it: the control, the customizability, the creativity. But for a device with so many features, you know that setup has got to be a long complicated process right? Wrong!

Smart lighting?

For those of you who don’t know, light bulbs are no longer the boring, filament containers they used to be. Before, they were used for bringing a bit of illumination to your world, but today modern light bulbs have advanced to being able to play music, display millions of colors, and even be controlled remotely by your smart device.

It’s all part of the “Internet of Things” movement, in which everyday items are outfitted with components that allow them to be more connected with each other, and ultimately, with you. The Internet of Things allows you to see who is ringing your doorbell while you’re away at work, or lets you know whether or not you turned off the oven before leaving home.

One of the coolest things to come out of the movement, though, is the interactivity you can have with your lights, like the Flux Smart WiFi LED light bulb, and how simple setting it up has become.

Connection options

Flux Smart has made setting up your WiFi LED light bulbs easier than ever by offering three different connection options, each with their pros and cons.

1. Screw in the bulb
2. Connect your device to the Flux Smart WiFi Network
3. Download the Flux WiFi app and follow onscreen instructions to skip connecting to a router
4. Now you can control the Flux Smart WiFi LED bulb’s brightness and color from your smart device

Pros: quickest setup method, don’t need in-home Wi-Fi

Cons: since your smart device is using the bulb’s Wi-Fi to connect, your phone won’t be internet capable while connected

1. Screw in the bulb
2. Connect your device to the Flux Smart WiFi Network
3. Download the Flux WiFi app and follow onscreen instructions to connect to your router
4. Now you can control the Flux Smart WiFi LED bulb’s brightness and color from your smart device through your router, enabling you to use the internet at the same time

Pros: Able to stay internet connected while changing the bulb settings

Cons: Need in-home WiFi, takes a little longer

1. Screw in the bulb
2. Connect your device to the Flux Smart WiFi Network
3. Download the Flux Wifi app and follow onscreen instructions to connect to your router
4. Push the settings button in the upper left hand corner and then “Sign In or Create Account”, then “Register Account”
5. Enter an email and password to create your account
6. Now you can control the Flux Smart WiFi LED bulb’s brightness and color from your smart device from anywhere in the world with an internet connection

Pros: Able to control your lighting from anywhere

Cons: Setup takes a bit longer than the other options

What now?

Now that your Flux Smart WiFi LED light bulbs are fully connected, you have access to over 16 million different colors choices as well as dimming functionality. You can even sync your lights to your music to see a light show that matches the beat of your favorite tunes. And of course, all of this is possible to control right from your smart device.

So what now? Simple. Have a blast!

What do you think?

Have any setup tips that we missed? Or maybe some ideas for how to use the Flux Smart bulbs that might come in handy? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to check out the Flux Smart WiFi LED light bulbs today!

The Benefits Of Using Smart Lighting In Your Children's Room September 28, 2016 00:00

You’ve tried that rotating carousel night-light your friends had such good luck with. You bought the slowly strobing orb that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie because all the moms at daycare swore by it. But no matter what you do, your baby just won’t sleep with a light on. And you're exhausted because of it.

It sounds like you should try smart lighting.

A smart night light

New parents are notorious for testing out different products and techniques on their child to see how he or she reacts. Some kids like clowns, others are traumatized by them, and finding out what your child likes and hates is a part of the parenting journey. And finding it out sooner rather than later can really save you a buck in the long run.

When it comes to trying out all the different options for how to light your child’s bedroom, the choices are limitless. There are oodles of night lights out there that claim to have the perfect brightness, the most calming colors, and a host of other features you don’t know will work for your baby until you buy them.

That’s why many smart bulbs’ dimmable feature makes them one of the most effective, and thrifty, options out there for lighting up your child’s room. Instead of having to cycle through ten, even twenty different night lights searching for that perfect brightness level, smart bulbs let you figure out what suits your little bundle of joy the best.

Studies have shown that exposure to bright light before bed will keep your little one up longer. Make use of the smart lighting scheduling feature found in many high end smart bulbs (like the Flux Smart Wifi and Flux Smart Bluetooth LEDs) by gradually lowering the lights automatically while you read your child her favorite bedtime story, making the transition to sleep even more peaceful.

Use colored light to lull your child to sleep

Another feature you’re sure to see out there as you shop around for your child’s night light is the different colors you have to choose from. With blues and greens and polka dots and patterns more intricate than you can imagine, picking out the right night light has never been more confusing than it is today.

Part of the problem comes from how much misinformation is out there. Many parents, for example, tend to believe that a soft blue light is the most calming for their sleeping newborn. After all, blue is a cool, relaxing hue that summons images of clear skies and sitting by the beach. What can get more soothing than blue, right? Well, apparently every other color out there, that’s what.

New research has shown that blue light is by far one of the worst light colors for anyone trying to catch a few winks. So while you may have heard about how disastrous using smart devices right before bed can be for our sleep cycle, it’s not just about the brightness, it’s about the color as well.

So if blue is the worst, then what’s the best color to bring on the ZZZs? The consensus seems to be, believe it or not, red. That’s right, the color of passion, anger, and love has actually proven to be the least sleep inhibiting light color out there. That means that at 3am when your child starts his nightly cry session, you can tend to his needs lit by a light that won't make it harder for him to fall back asleep. And every extra minute of sleep he gets means a minute more for you too!

Wake them up naturally

One smart lighting scheduling feature that has really caught a lot of people’s attention is the “sunrise mode”. You may have heard about dawn simulation, essentially an alarm-replacing gradually brightening light, and all the benefits that have been discovered about using it to greet the day rather than a traditional alarm.

Just in case you haven’t though, our bodies respond to light throughout the day by regulating different hormones and chemicals that pump through our blood. One of these chemicals, melatonin, is suppressed by bright light and activated by decreasing light levels. This is the chemical behind what makes us sleepy once it starts to get dark outside and, conversely its absence is what wakes us up in the morning when light shines through our windows.

Some lighting manufacturers have taken advantage of this biological effect by creating dawn simulators to slowly wake us up by brightening the room around us. Greeting the morning this way helps balance melatonin as well as cortisol in our system which will keep us energized throughout the day.

What this means for you as a parent is being able to gently rouse your baby from his peaceful slumber if you need to wake him up at a certain time. And once he gets a bit older, you can set his lights to a schedule so that he may even get out of bed for school himself, without all the moans and groans.

Teach them about colors using lights

Being exposed to and learning to identify different colors is an important part of every child’s development. At the early age of two months, many babies can distinguish between colors and white, and as they age the range of colors they can differentiate gets wider and wider.

Part of what makes colors so integral to a child’s healthy development is the fact that colors help your child make distinctions among the things he sees, to separate an object from the environment around it. So while teaching your child the names of the colors he sees might seem like just a way to put a name to a detail, you’re actually helping your child to experience reality more clearly.

That’s why exposing your child to a wealth of individual colors as well as combinations is so important to do at an early age, and smart lighting makes that easier than ever. With certain color changing bulbs, like Flux Smart Wifi and Flux Smart Bluetooth LED Light Bulbs, you have access to over 16 million different colors, all changeable on a whim. And while we don’t advise you teach your child about every single one of these 16 million different hues, these bulbs will bring a world of color to your baby’s room in one small, easy to use device. 

Tell us what you think

Do you have any other smart lighting tips for new parents? Have you tried out any of the techniques above and, if so, how did they work out 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.

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.

Use Different Color Lighting To Bring Out Your Best Self September 23, 2016 00:00

What if you could change your mood with the tap of a button? What if energy and motivation were just the flip of a switch away?

You may be thinking this all sounds like work of science fiction, and a decade ago you’d have been right. But modern life is seeing all sorts of benefits once thought to be impossible thanks to rapidly advancing technology and innovation. And controlling your mood and motivation is now as easy as turning on the right colored light.

What’s the “Right” Lighting?

You may have noticed a surge in news related to the effects of light on our everyday health. From avoiding blue light before bed to the development of light-based therapies to treat disorders, it seems like every day we’re discovering just how intricately our bodies are tied to illumination.

One such discovery gaining foothold in the scientific community is that different colors of light will have physiological and psychological effects on the human brain, with results ranging from feeling energetic, calm, focused, to even less depressed.

And these findings couldn’t have come at a better time. Smart lighting has seen some exciting developments recently but, coupled with these health benefits, color-changing smart bulbs are more beneficial than ever. With an enormous variety of hues to choose from, and the ability to switch between thousands of different colors right from your smart device, you’ve never had this much control over how you feel.

Check out how to use smart lighting to get started on a technicolor journey to a better you!

Energizing blue

A wealth of studies have been conducted on which types of light kept test subjects focused the longest and most have come to the conclusion that the clear winner is blue light. In one study in particular, a group of hamsters living in an environment lit entirely by blue light were shown to have the most disrupted circadian rhythm (the body’s natural clock). In other words, they couldn’t sleep.

While the implications are that brain cells are more sensitive to blue light than other colors, the applications of this knowledge are quite powerful. Businesses across the world are already considering investing in blue smart lighting to help increase employee efficiency and focus. What this means for you though is the next time you need to get some work done around the house, switch your smart bulb over to blue and for a potential boost in creativity.

Relaxing...red?

That’s right, contrary to popular belief surrounding yourself in red is actually calming for the nerves. Red’s gotten a bad rap for inciting particularly impassioned emotions in individuals, and while the basis for this association (blood, lust, red in the face with anger) may have been around for years, studies have shown that spending time in a red lit room will likely relax you more than any other color.

In the same experiment mentioned above, hamsters were also subjected to red light for a prolonged period. These hamsters showed significantly reduced disruptions to sleep patterns and mood disorders compared to the other colors. The takeaway from all this? Don’t let red’s bad reputation stop you from taking advantage of its calming effects after a hard day at work.

Healing white

You might be thinking, “if I could change my lights to any color at all, why would I pick plain old white light?”. And true, with thousands of colors to choose from with your smart bulbs it’s hard to imagine you’d ever want to go back to basic white.

But, as boring as it might look at first, white light can have a pretty powerful effect on certain ailments. You may have heard of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) for instance, a condition that makes those affected  depressed during the winter months.

Did you know though that SAD affects half a million people every year? And did you know that white light therapy is the leading treatment for the disorder, proving effective in up to 85% of diagnosed cases? While the white light must be at least a certain level of brightness to be a certified treatment, it’s clear that white light isn’t as dull as you may have thought.

Pacifying pink

The quieting effects of pink on the mind might be the most documented and reported on of all the psychological characteristics of colors. From the incredibly popular Drunk Tank Pink by Adam Alter to the numerous accounts of using pink rooms to both calm tantrum-throwing juveniles in probation centers and ease opposing football teams into a relaxed stupor, the power of pink is being utilized for an enormous range of purposes.

The psychology behind this one might be a bit more complex, probably having to do with an interplay of both the physical calming effects of red as well as the innocence implicit in the color reinforced by pop culture. What really matters here is it works, so put pink to use!

Gentle green

The effects of green aren’t as well documented as the other colors but evidence showing that green is in fact the easiest color on the eyes is based more in physical science than most. The hard facts come from the physical makeup of our eyes. Inside each of our eyeballs are millions of cones and rods that help us detect color, which are broken down into three different specialized color categories: blue, green, and red.

Whereas the blue cones primarily only pick up blue light, the green and red tend to overlap a bit, picking up a large range of colors from red to green. When this overlap is taken into account, the majority of the cones that are found in the eye will detect green over red. That means that our eyes are hardwired to see green easier than any other color, making it the color that creates the least amount of eye strain.

So if you’re sitting down to a good book and want to keep your eyes as relaxed as possible, switch your smart light over to a soft,  soothing green.

Tell us what you think

Know of any other colors that can help bring out your best? Have you tried lighting your home with any of these and if so, how did it turn out? Let us know in the comments below and check out the Flux Smart Bluetooth LED and Flux Smart WiFi LED Light Bulb to add some color to your life!

Light Up Your Home With Smart LED Bulbs September 21, 2016 00:00

If you were looking for a way to upgrade your home’s decor with lighting in the early 2000s, your  options would have been limited to Christmas lights and dimmer switches. And if you’d ever installed a dimmer switch, you probably would’ve opted for Christmas lights.

With the development of smart lighting, though, an entire world of options has been opened up to those who either couldn't afford it or didn't have the technical know-how.

We've compiled a list of game-changing smart lighting techniques to make sure you get the most out of your bulbs, and all the rooms in your home.

Relax with dimmable lighting

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If you’ve ever come home from a stressful day at the office, you understand the urge to turn down the lights and veg on the couch to recoup. Recent studies show that there’s a reason for that.

As it turns out, we’re naturally more relaxed in dimmer lighting. And with dimmable LED lights, you can use every lamp, sconce and chandelier to create an environment of pure relaxation.

What’s more, you can even set your home’s lighting on a schedule to dim at a certain time of the day. Then, take it one step further by outfitting your home with sensor-containing smart bulbs and all you’ll have to do is walk through the door and your home is perfectly lit, making your time to unwind just a bit more carefree.

Make your rooms look bigger

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It’s an age-old trick of interior decorators -- utilizing light in certain areas of your living space can give the appearance of a roomier abode.

To maximize the effect, you need to spread out the light. Instead of installing harsh, shadow-creating overhead lights, try using a few lamps or pendant lights around the room. When done correctly, you’ll create a more evenly-lit area with less space-consuming dark patches.

Another trick that’s gaining some popularity is overhead cabinet lighting. Overhead cabinet lighting helps create space in the same way as before: by reducing dark patches, just in harder to reach places. And the results are pretty impressive.

Use smart LED bulbs to create accent lighting

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One indicator of a well-thought-out interior design is the presence of accent lighting. This decorating device draws the eye to a certain aspect of the room. It could be a statue, a picture, a plant – whatever it is you want to draw attention to. And by doing so, you give your room character.

Smart bulbs are especially useful in creating accent lighting because every bulb in your house can double as a fully customizable accent light. Adjust the brightness of a dimmable bulb and you can make that portrait pop. Plus, if you’re whole home is dimmable, you can adjust what part is accented at a whim.  

What’s more, you can use sensors and scheduling features to gradually illuminate and dim to correspond with the ambient light to, for example, bring your favorite painting to life as the sun sets.

Create a party pad with speaker bulbs

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It might be hard to believe, but lighting companies like Flux Smart are now putting out smart bulbs with built-in speakers. And even more surprising? The quality of their sound

They can pick up the jams from any smart device and make sure the party goes on, no matter what room you’re in. Some even will double as a colorful strobe light, pulsing reds, blues, and greens to every beat of your favorite song!

Optimize your bedroom for healthy sleeping

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More and more people are starting to realize the impact lighting has on your daily health. From the discovery of sleep affective disorder to the effects of various colors on our moods, light plays a bigger part in our day-to-day routine than most realize.

If you’re like a lot of people and have a hard time waking up in the morning, you might benefit the most from dawn simulation. Our bodies are constantly adjusting chemicals and hormones that encourage us to either sleep or wake up, and a lot of how it decides what to do is based on the amount of light your body receives.

With dawn simulation, a feature becoming more and more prevalent in smart lighting, you’ll be gently roused from your slumber by a gradually brightening light. No more being ripped from your dreams by that terrible shrill buzzing day in and day out, and no more falling asleep at your desk because of it.

Match your room's function 

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There are three categories that every type of lighting falls under: task, ambient, and accent.  We’ve already talked about how accent lighting can draw your eye to a certain part of the room, but where do the other two come in?

Ambient light is produced for the general purpose of seeing what you’re surrounded by. If you walk down any given hallway, chances are you’re stepping through ambient light.

Task lighting, on the other hand, is devoted to helping you finish a task. The kitchen, for instance, is usually full of task lighting because of all the delicate and precise maneuvers that are performed there.

Smart lighting helps you bring your desired lighting type to any space in the home, and helps you better support its purpose. Whereas bright lights underneath your kitchen cabinets might make it easier to chop up some veggies, a soft dimmer light might be more appropriate while conversing with guests over the dining room table. No matter what you decide, you’re in control.

Create a brilliant bathroom

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If you’ve ever slammed your knee into a corner while wandering through a pitch black room towards the bathroom, then you’ve probably thought, “there has got to be a better way." Thanks to smart lighting, now there is.

Many smart bulbs are now outfitted with motion sensors, which means the next time you wake up in the middle of the night, you'll be guided to restroom rather than fumbling around in the dark.

What's more, studies have shown that bright light exposure in the morning helps you stay more alert throughout the day, while dimmer lighting before bed ensures a better night’s sleep. And what better place to put these tricks to use than where we spend a fair chunk of time in both the waking hours and right before bed? 

Smart lighting takes away the need for entirely different lights and lets you adjust the brightness of your bathroom to your desire, to start and end your day the right way.

Tell us your smart lighting design ideas and tips!

How have you used smart lighting to spruce up your home’s décor? Which technique has been the most effective for you? Let us know in the comments, then try using these tips with the Flux Smart WiFi LED and Flux Smart Bluetooth LED Lightbulb!

Lumens vs Watts: What's The Difference? September 19, 2016 00:00

You’ve probably heard that LEDs can cut your energy bill by as much as 80%. You’ve also probably heard about how LEDs are improving our environment by lowering carbon emissions.

Still, despite knowing their benefits by heart, and the innumerable ways they improve upon the traditional incandescent, standing in the lighting section at the store and staring quizzically at the box of your first LED, all you can think is, what the heck is a lumen?

While it’s true that LEDs have a bit of a different system for measuring brightness than traditional bulbs, it’s nothing to shy away from. We’ll show you how easy it is to become an LED aficionado and make the most out of this exciting new wave of home illumination.

LEDs vs Incandescent Bulbs

Before jumping into how to find an LED to match the light output of your old fashioned incandescent, it might be helpful to look at what exactly makes the two bulbs so vastly different.

As most people know, an incandescent bulb is basically a housing of a tungsten filament that’s heated up by an electric current to produce light (if you’re looking for a more in depth explanation of how it works, check out this article from HowStuffWorks.com).

For a while, our only lighting option was this type of bulb. Decade in, decade out, the incandescent stood strong. Then, as our technological and manufacturing prowess advanced, other types of bulbs came onto the scene: fluorescent, neon, halogen. All had their benefits, but all had their drawbacks as well.

It was the focused development of light emitting diodes (LEDs) though that really overthrew traditional incandescents as the new champion of the lighting world. These bulbs contain semiconductors which convert electricity directly into light, and up until recently used to cost a fortune.

As industries began seeing the enormous benefits of the bulb, research efforts grew to develop a cheaper way to manufacture the bulbs. The Energy Department itself has even been investing in ways to produce low-cost LEDs since 2000, an effort which has contributed to LED prices dropping from $200 to the $5-$20 range of today.

Benefits of LEDs Over Incandescents

The reason behind the shift from incandescents to LEDs, and indeed the reason incandescents are currently being phased out by law, is that the old fashioned bulbs you grew up with simply aren’t efficient enough. In fact, 80% of the energy it takes to illuminate a traditional filament bulb is wasted on heat alone.

LEDs, on the other hand, are much more energy friendly. When compared to incandescent bulbs, modern LEDs:

• have a lifetime of 25,000 hours, 25 times more than an incandescent
• use 75% less energy
• give off significantly less residual wasted heat
• could save the U.S. $250 billion in energy costs by switching over entirely to LEDs, as well as prevent 1,800 million metric tons of carbon emissions

With all of these benefits, it’s no wonder more and more people are switching out their bulbs for LEDs. A slight problem in doing so, however, comes from negotiating the transition from watts to lumens.

Lumens vs. Watts

You may have noticed that LED bulb boxes have an unfamiliar system of light measurement called “lumens” where the watts used to be on the old incandescent bulb boxes. While the term itself sounds a bit strange, almost sci-fi, it’s nothing to get confused over.

Here’s a nifty little chart to give you an idea of lumens to watts equivalents from Cnet.com.

Seems pretty simple right? So the question is, why the new system? Well, as pointed out earlier, LEDs require significantly less energy than an incandescent to create an equal amount of light. This amount of light is actually measured in lumens, where watts measured the amount of power running through the bulb.

If you look at the chart above, you’ll see that in order to create 2600 lumens, an incandescent would need to use 150 watts while an LED would only need 25-28 watts. So instead of creating even more confusion by measuring the brightness of LEDs in how much power they use like traditional incandescents, manufacturers went with the more universal measure of the actual light produced.

If the system seems confusing at first don’t worry, it’ll get easier. As incandescents make their way out of general production, the wattage measurement will become less and less frequent. To add to that, most LEDs have a lifetime of several decades so lightbulb shopping won’t be too common of a chore anyway.

What to Consider Before Switching to LED Bulbs

Before you switch over to the more energy efficient and longer lasting LED bulbs, there are a few things you should consider:

• Make sure you know what lumen you’re after. Bringing along that handy chart included above, or even just writing down the proper conversion, can save you from a possible return to the store.
  
  
• Be aware of color temperature. Light bulbs come with an associated color temperature, represented on the box by a number measured in K (i.e. 2700 K). This is an indication of yellow/white light, with lower numbers being more yellow. Here’s a little guide from Westinghouse to help you find what you’re looking for.
  
  
• Don’t assume it’s dimmable. While some LEDs can boast a dimmability that other modern bulbs usually can’t (like compact fluorescents), just because it’s an LED doesn’t mean it’ll work with your dimmer switch. Make sure it says on the box whether it’ll work with dimmers.
  
  
• Watch out for overheating. Although LEDs don’t produce a lot of heat, that doesn’t mean leaving one on in an enclosed fixture won’t hurt its life hours. If you’re looking to install an LED in an area with very little air-flow, make sure the box says it’s approved for such a space.
  
  
• Consider investing in the more interesting features. One benefit of LED bulbs is their ability to be outfitted with perks not usually found on light bulbs. Color changing, music playing, and smart device interfacing bulbs are all becoming more and more commonplace, not to mention more affordable. Check it out!

Have You Made the Switch to LED Light Bulbs?

Do you still use incandescent bulbs? Have you made the switch and seen your energy bill drop? Let us know in the comments, then check out the energy-saving LED
bulbs you can get from Flux Smart  Lighting.