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Connected Lighting
Basic Concepts of Network Light Bulbs
Network light bulbs work with your light fixtures the same way as standard light bulbs. They are different,
however, in a couple of ways:
•
The lighting element in the light bulb uses energy-efficient CFL or LED technology.
•
The light bulb includes wireless technology that allows the light bulb to connect to a network and be
managed remotely.
Because the light bulbs can be connected to a network, you have greater flexibility in how you use them.
For example, you can program your lighting network so that when you press a button upon arriving home,
an entryway and a hallway light turn on. Or when you go to bed, your remote control can turn off all lights
on the network. You can also use your smartphone to control your lighting network and set up schedules to
automatically turn your lights on and off at predefined times.
Maximum Number of Network Light Bulbs
There is a limit to the number of light bulbs at which the performance of the lighting network begins to
decrease. For example, the time it takes a light bulb to respond may start to increase if too many light bulbs are
installed on the lighting network. Testing has shown that the lighting network should be limited to a maximum of
250 light bulbs to maintain reliability in performance.
Planning Your Lighting Network
Whether you have only one wireless light bulb or you are replacing your entire home with wireless light bulbs,
you should plan how you want the lighting on your network to behave. For example, if you only have one light
bulb you might want to place it in a central location that would be optimum for turning on and off when you are
away or arrive home. If you have multiple light bulbs, however, you might want to set them up in rooms and
lighting groups to be able to better manage them across your home.
Note: Light fixtures that have dimmer controls are not recommended for your network light bulbs. However,
they can in most cases be used if the dimmer level is set to 100%.
Rooms
When organizing your network light bulbs, you can set them up into rooms. Then you can use your smart
device to turn on and off light fixtures in selected rooms. A room is a set of network light bulbs that exist in a
physical room in your home and can be controlled through your smart device or Web browser. For example,
a bedroom in your home might have two light fixtures with network light bulbs and one fixture with a standard
light bulb. The two network light bulbs in that bedroom are organized under that room. If you were to turn on all
lights in that room, both network light bulbs would turn on.
Note: You cannot use your remote control to set up or control rooms.
