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Smart bulbs could benefit you greatly if you replace all your traditional bulbs with smart bulbs.
Smart bulbs bring ultimate convenience besides conserving electrical energy, thus saving you money.
What’s more, smart bulbs could help bolster your home security. Therefore, smart bulbs have a place in any home.
But sometimes, you might buy smart bulbs from different manufacturers. And you might wonder if you can get them to work together.
For example, you might purchase various smart bulb brands and place them in your light fixture. Then you will want to control them at once without having to control each one individually.
You can mix smart bulbs and control them as one from the same platform, such as Alexa Google. Amazon Alexa, for example, allows you to create a “Group.”
You can then place your smart bulbs in the same group to control them with a single switch. Also, you can sync the smart bulbs to change their colors as the music rhythm changes.
But you will need a control platform to get your smart bulbs to work together. Read on for more information!
Controlling Various Smart Bulbs with Google Home
Google Home is a platform that allows you to control smart bulbs from different brands. You will add your smart bulbs to Google Home.
But first, you will set the smart light bulbs in their apps. Each smart bulb brand has an app you will use to set it up.
So, setting up the smart bulbs in their apps is very straightforward. But the setup process is similar.
You will open the Google Home app and tap the Add button on the home screen. You will then select Set Up Device and select one of two choices.
Google Home app will ask if you have something already set up. You will confirm that you have set up your smart bulbs to proceed.
Then you will add and link the service to your Google Home account. Your smart bulbs will be discoverable, and you will tap on the names of the smart bulbs to add to a room in Google Home.
Once you’ve added your smart bulbs to Google Home, you can control them in various ways. First, you can control the colors of color changing bulbs by the sound of your voice.
And this will require a smart speaker such as Google Nest Audio.
Also, you can turn all the smart bulbs on/off in your smart home if you’ve grouped them in Google Home.
At least, this means you don’t have to control each smart bulb separately. And this is where convenience comes to play.
A smart speaker with google assistant also allows you to dim or brighten your smart lights through voice commands.
As such, Google Home is a platform that also serves the purpose of a dimmer switch. Since Google Home allows you to group smart bulbs, it allows you to mix them and control them.
What Alexa Allows You to Do with Smart Bulbs
Alexa is another platform that allows you to mix smart bulbs. But this time around, you will use a smart speaker such as amazon echo to control your smart led lights from different brands.
That means you can mix your Philips Hue bulbs with LIFX bulbs and control them as one.
Amazon Echo uses Wi Fi connectivity to communicate with smart LED bulbs.
However, you will set up the bulbs first using their respective apps then add them to the same group in Amazon Alexa.
But you will also need a few more smart home devices to control your smart bulbs with Alexa as a platform of choice.
Smart bulbs such as TP Link LB100 use Wi Fi to communicate with other smart home devices.
Since your Amazon Echo smart speaker also supports Wi Fi connectivity, you can control the TP Link LB100 alongside other smart bulbs through voice commands.
If you’ve invested in smart bulbs with communication protocols that support Amazon Echo, you will control the bulbs through voice commands.
Once you’ve grouped the bulbs in Alexa, the smart speaker will help you to control the smart bulbs as one.
Besides allowing you to switch your smart bulbs on/off, Alexa could also schedule the smart bulbs. As a result, your smart bulbs will turn on/off at specific times, depending on your set time.
Therefore, Alexa is yet another platform that allows you to mix smart bulbs and control them as one.
Smart Hub
A smart hub is the best control platform for smart bulbs from different manufacturers. Usually, smart bulbs communicate with the smart hub wirelessly.
While many smart bulbs use Wi Fi to connect to the hub, some use ZigBee and Z-Wave. Also, some smart bulbs use Bluetooth to connect to the hub.
The hub allows you to control different smart bulbs remotely. The smart bulbs communicate with the hub wirelessly, as we’ve already seen, and the hub connects all bulbs to your home router.
Then the Wi Fi router connects to the cloud, where you can control the hub remotely via its app.
However, you will plug your smart hub into your home router to remotely control the connected smart bulbs.
When buying smart bulbs from different manufacturers, you want to check their wireless communication protocols.
If your smart hub supports the wireless network, you can add the smart bulb to the hub.
Since smart hubs also work with smart speakers, you can control different smart bulbs through voice commands. But this requires that you’re within your home.
But still, a smart speaker connected to a smart hub brings hands-free control of the smart bulbs.
Therefore, you can use a smart hub to control your smart bulbs from different manufacturers.
Controlling Smart Bulbs with A Smart Switch
Smart switches could also help you control your smart lights. Like smart plugs, smart switches connect wirelessly with your smart bulbs, allowing you to control your home lighting system.
Smart switches allow you to schedule your smart lights to switch on/off at specific times.
Smart switches outperform ordinary light switches with their increased functionalities. But you want to ensure your preferred smart switch supports your smart bulbs.
You want to check if your smart bulbs use the same communication protocol(s) as the smart switch.
Besides, you could connect your smart switch to a supported voice control device and use your voice to control your smart bulbs.
Therefore, smart switches could also help you control your smart bulbs, even if they’re from different manufacturers.
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking to smarten your smart home, you might want to start with the lighting system. That means smart bulbs will be your starter kit.
But you might buy smart bulbs from different brands. Fortunately, you can use various smart home devices to control your smart bulbs.
With the right control devices, you can mix smart bulbs and control them as one. Your wall switches might not control your smart bulbs remotely, but a hub will do.
Besides a smart hub, Google Home smart speaker and Alexa Amazon Echo will control different smart bulbs through voice commands.
So, you can just mix smart bulbs and use the right control devices to control them from a single switch or platform.
