Getting started with smart light bulbs

I’ve generally been skeptical of “smart home” technology and the so-called Internet of Things. Though computers have enriched our lives in many ways, they don’t need to be everywhere. We’ve all heard the stories of having to wait for a software update to get a glass of water or make toast. And the “smart” appliances are usually priced out of reach of budget-conscious homeowners.

All that said, I’m being won over by the new generation of smart light bulbs. Smart bulbs aren’t just for new multi-million-dollar mansions. They actually help overcome the wiring limitations of older, more modest dwellings, the kind we actually live in.

What do I mean by wiring limitations? Well, for example, our house doesn’t have overhead lighting in the living room, so we use floor lamps. One of those lamps is behind a large armchair, so I have to reach awkwardly over that chair to turn it on or off. A wall switch would be much more convenient.

Then there’s the light that illuminates our basement stairs. It has a switch at the top of the staircase, but not at the bottom. Sometimes we have guests stay down there, and they would appreciate a switch for that light on the basement level.

In these cases, smart bulbs can work a little bit of magic. I chose the GE Cync brand (formerly known as C by GE), which was recommended to me by a lighting designer friend. The GE Cync smart bulb is more expensive than a regular light bulb, for sure, but a lot less expensive than having an electrician rewire your living room.

The smart bulb communicates with a smart switch using WiFi or Bluetooth; no electrical connection between the two is necessary. In effect, a smart bulb is always “on” in the sense that its circuit is always open, but it will only light up when the user hits the smart switch.

The smart bulb screws into any standard light socket. It is a little longer than a standard bulb, so measure the space where you plan to put it. In our case, it sticks up a little bit over the top of the floor lamp, creating an unpleasant brightness if I look right at it when standing up. Eventually I’d like to get a lamp with a slightly different shade that would better hide the bulb.

The smart switch can attach to the wall with adhesive or screws — anywhere you want to put it! You could even carry it around like a remote control. The switch has its own batteries (2 AAA), which need to be replaced every year or two. As far as I can tell, if you stick the switch to the wall with the included adhesive, you will need to un-stick it to replace the batteries. So it seems to me that using the screws is better.

One other small potential limitation: it appears that the switch only comes in white, though I haven’t researched this exhaustively.

Besides on and off controls, the switch has a dimmer and a temperature control that changes the light to have more red tones or more blue tones. I’ve left it at the normal setting that looks like an ordinary light bulb. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can also get a bulb that can be tuned to “millions of colors.”

The third element in the smart lighting system is the Cync app. This app allows you to group your lighting devices in virtual rooms and pair the bulbs with the switches. The app worked pretty well for this basic process. It has other features that I haven’t yet tried, such as scheduling timed lights and voice control.

One major question that I had about these bulbs was whether they would be finicky. Would the lights go out every time the internet glitched? I have had no issues in the three months since I installed the smart bulb. Now, I haven’t had major issues with my WiFi connection recently, so possibly the system hasn’t really been put to the test. Still, I think that the setup has shown itself to be stable for everyday use.

Sometimes we want new technologies to wow us with features that are completely new and extraordinary. More often than not, though, I like technology to blend into the background of my life. I don’t spend much time thinking about my smart bulb. I’ve gotten used to not crawling over a bulky armchair to turn on a light. And for me, that’s the mark of success for this light.

Reply if you have questions, or if you’ve had your own experience with smart bulbs.

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1 Response

  1. November 22, 2023

    […] Now it would be perfectly fine to turn the light on and off with the switch on the cord, but for us the switch is behind that curtain and not terribly convenient. So we installed these GE Cync smart bulbs and connected them to this Cync smart switch that communicates directly with the bulbs using WiFi. That way we could turn on the pendant when we walk in the room. (For more on smart bulbs, see my blog post here.) […]

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