Smart Bulbs for Outdoor Use: Tips and Recommendations

When we think of intelligent lighting, it is normal to do it in the one we use inside the house. However, there are also lights and other lighting solutions that allow control through applications, voice assistants and automations designed for outside the home . So, let’s talk about it and what you should know if you want to make your home smart inside and out.

Smart outdoor lights, why they’re cool

Smart Bulbs for Outdoor Use: Tips and Recommendations
You may not see it as something necessary to have lighting outside your house . Or, at least, that this is abundant and even more intelligent. Because having a simple focus that allows you to get to the door without tripping over anything will be more than enough. But look at it the other way, if you have a garden, a terrace or some outdoor space where you can organize a dinner with friends or just go out and have some fresh air, why not do it with style and comfort.

As in the interior of the home, what smart lights provide are those small or great benefits depending on how you look at them that go beyond just one more light. Because being able to create the perfect environment according to the tone and intensity of the light, creating automations that turn the lights on at certain times or turn them off from anywhere without having to return to where the physical switch is, always brings advantages.

This is why smart outdoor lights are also interesting:

  • Quality and versatility of light to create environments and scenes
  • Automation options and routines
  • Energy savings by being able to set schedules and more options related to consumption
  • Convenience thanks to remote use via app and voice assistants

What to consider when buying outdoor lights

When buying outdoor lights, the first thing to consider is the safety and resistance they offer. That is to say, they are elements that will be exposed to all kinds of meteorological situations, so they must be able to endure and avoid any situation that may be dangerous for our physical integrity.

Therefore, make sure that it has water resistance through some type of protection such as the use of hermetic housings or special seals together with caps or special fixtures depending on the type.

Likewise, the issue of cables must be resistant so that they are not affected by temperature changes such as the heat of the day and the cold of the night. Although here it will also depend to a great extent on the climate of the area in which you live.

The connectivity technology they use is also important. Although WiFi can be very comfortable, due to range and possible problems derived from interference, the ideal is that they make use of some standard such as Zigbee, Z-Wave and in the immediate future Matter .

First of all because the scope is greater. Also because a mesh or meshed network can be created between the devices themselves that extends the coverage itself. In addition, thanks to products such as the Philips Hue bridge or the Amazon Echo that includes its own HUB, it is very easy to add these types of solutions without much extra expense.

Finally, something that many people do not usually see when buying this type of outdoor lighting is that it is or goes according to the external lighting of the street. That is, for your garden or terrace of course you can use RGB lights that give you all those possibilities that color offers, but if it is going to be a guide light or it is going to be placed on the outside of the access door to the house. , the minimum is that it has a light intensity and tone similar to that of the rest of the street and neighbors.

From here, depending on the use you want to give it, you will find options that project the light in a way that only illuminates a specific area (passage or signaling lights) or everything they can (ambient lights, etc.) and finally those that are more decorative such as LED strips or similar.

The best outdoor lights

The catalog of outdoor lights is almost as wide as the indoor one, there are many brands that offer proposals of all kinds, some of the most interesting in our opinion are the following.

Philips Hue Outdoor LED Strip

One of the advantages of Philips, as we have already said on occasion, is not only its great performance and integration with other connected devices, but also its extensive catalog. Therefore, to each and every one of the indoor lights you can find an outdoor version.

This 2M LED strip is designed to be used outside the home and resist water without any problem. Which is great for its durability.

Philips Hue Lily

Within the Lily family there are different options, a smaller and cheaper version which is this one that we show you and other larger XL ones. They are outdoor spotlights that, when well combined, allow you to create very attractive environments for those dinners or leisure time outside. In addition, the black finish of its case helps to combine well and be more “invisible”. In addition, there are packs with several lights that may also interest you.

Philips Hue Discover

This Philips Hue panel is another of his most interesting outdoor proposals. There are many more, but due to the type of light it is perfect to create that environment you are looking for and in order to place it on an outdoor terrace or patio it is very attractive.

Kolpop Outdoor Garland

This Kolpop outdoor garland is ideal to give a different touch, much more cozy and decorative to your terrace, balcony or garden for when you want to enjoy a relaxed evening outdoors. In addition, it includes 240 LEDs in a total of 26m so that you can place it as you want around or to cover a good part of the wall as a waterfall.

With IP55 protection and without the need to connect to the power thanks to its battery that is charged by solar energy, it is an interesting option with up to 10 hours of autonomy. Of course, it does not give remote control options, but it can still be a good element to combine with others.

Rovlak

Similar to the previous garland, but this time with bulbs instead of small LEDs, this chained of 30 bulbs and 11 m in length can be used to decorate the exterior of the house and use it intelligently through some kind of smart switch that allows them to be controlled on and off.

Additional accessories for outdoor lights

Although having properly intelligent lights like the ones seen above is ideal, it may also be interesting to take into account some accessories that could improve your experience of using the outdoor lights that you currently use.

Among these accessories are, of course, the different sensors that you can add to your home automation installation to achieve things such as automatic ignition depending on the exterior light. For example, as sunrise and sunset at different times depending on the time of year, being able to control the on and off according to the amount of light is interesting due to the savings it could entail.

Then there are movement sensors such as Eglé’s or its own that Philips also has and more brands than for lights that do the guiding and signaling functions are ideal. Because this way the lights are turned on only when really necessary and not vice versa. So again energy savings are achieved that in the long run.

Again, all of the above applies to these accessories: being resistant to climatic changes and offering support to connect to different home automation solutions such as Alexa, Google Assistant or HomeKit is essential. Without forgetting the issue of whether or not they will need their own HUB or allows the use of third parties compatible with standards such as Zigbee or they go directly over WiFi.