There are quite a few smart light bulb brands currently on the market. Philips, for example, is undoubtedly the leading brand, and offers a very complete ecosystem, but also at a price that not everyone can afford. On the other hand, there are other brands that offer their smart lighting products at cheaper prices, and among all these companies, Ikea stands out, which has gradually grown the TRÅDFRI range. But you may be in doubt. Can I use Ikea lighting products with my Amazon Echo ?
How do Ikea smart lighting fixtures work?
Ikea’s smart lighting ecosystem is made up of several elements. The simplest products are light bulbs , which are available in different formats and sockets. They adapt to any device or lamp you have at home. Then, depending on the price, they allow you to regulate the intensity, the color temperature or even set a custom color. On the other hand, the Swedish brand also sells reinforced LED strips for use in kitchens, LED spotlights, panels that simulate windows and plugs, sensors and light intensity regulators.
All of these products need a bridge to be controlled remotely. This device is called ‘TRÅDFRI Connection Device’ is worth 39 euros and connects with an Ethernet cable to your router. It also needs power, although you can power it directly from the router’s USB port, as it doesn’t require too much power—this writer has had the system like this for over a year and has had no problems. On the other hand, you will also need a remote to configure the bulbs in the Ikea Home Smart app and to be recognized by the bridge. The cheapest remote is about 10 euros (STRYBAR) and then you can stick it to the wall to control a set of lights or whatever you want. Once you have configured all the lights with the app, you can control them from Ikea Home Smart or the controls that you have purchased. Oh, and if you were wondering, yes, it can be connected to Alexa.
Ikea lighting products compatible with Alexa
So let’s shed some light on this matter. Which Ikea light bulbs and devices should I buy if I want to use them with Alexa?
TRÅDFRI light bulbs
There are several models of light bulbs within the Ikea TRÅDFRI family. All of them are compatible with Alexa . Of course, you must take into account several factors:
- Cap : TRÅDFRI models are available in various formats.
- To replace the light bulbs of a lifetime, we will buy the models that have the thick cap, that is, the E27 .
- If you have decorative lamps that use a thin base, you can get TRÅDFRI bulbs in E14 format.
- Finally, for bathrooms and studios lit with two-pin bulbs, you can also get TRÅDFRI models with a GU10 connection.
- Intensity : depending on the use you are going to give the bulb, you will be interested in getting a more or less powerful one. GU10 models start at 400 lumens, while some TRÅDFRI E27 bulbs reach over 1,000 lumens. The ideal is that you calculate well how to distribute the light throughout your house, and that you do not depend on a single form of lighting for the large spaces of your home. You don’t need to focus all the lighting on the ceiling; You can place other small lamps in your rooms to create different environments and have variety.
- Color temperature – TRÅDFRI basic bulbs usually have fixed color temperatures, just like Philips models. However, there are also units that allow us to configure the light to our liking, from a cold white to a warm white, passing through a neutral color. In our opinion, these last bulbs are the most interesting.
- Colors : if the budget allows it, you can get the most advanced models, which are the ones that allow you to configure colored lights. Colored lights go a step further than temperature-adjustable bulbs. You can set the color both from the Ikea app, with a remote control or with Alexa. Of course, they do not offer as much variety of colors as Philips bulbs. But they are substantially cheaper.
connecting bridge
Unless you have an Amazon Echo with ZigBee built-in, you will need to purchase the TRÅDFRI bridge to use your Ikea light bulbs with Alexa. The bridge connects with an Ethernet cable to your router at home and allows you to automatically interact with light bulbs and other devices in the Ikea lighting ecosystem.
switches
You will need at least one switch to configure the Ikea light bulbs. Then you can assign the switch in the room you prefer to control the lights. In parallel, there are more advanced switches, as well as shortcut buttons that will do a script. However, everything you can do with a shortcut button you can also do with an Alexa routine, so you can save money if you want.
Other lighting solutions
The list of devices compatible with TRÅDFRI is quite extensive. There are other solutions such as kitchen lighting strips and automated blinds that can be connected to the TRÅDFRI bridge and used automatically with Alexa.
How to connect TRÅDFRI light bulbs to Alexa
Once you have your Ikea lighting devices connected to the bridge and visible in the app, all you have to do is the following:
- Go to the cogwheel in the upper right corner of Ikea Home Smart .
- Tap on ‘ Integrations ‘.
- Choose your voice assistant . At this time, only Google Assistant and Alexa are available. We will follow these steps with Alexa .
- A browser will open where we will have to write the login data of our Amazon account in which we have associated Alexa.
- Once the previous step is done, open the Alexa app . The device will start detecting Ikea equipment, usually with a generic name. It doesn’t matter if you have created rooms in Home Smart, Alexa will detect the bulbs individually.
- Add each device to the corresponding room from the Alexa app.
- Clever. As a final trick, within Home Smart you can move the remote control to the room you prefer. So you can control a small group of devices with the remote, such as the lamps in a living room or kitchen.
