It’s smart home Christmas time! With only a few weeks left until the big day, many people are busy putting up Christmas trees and outdoor lighting. Fortunately, there are now smarter ways to manage these festive decorations without the hassle of plugging and unplugging lights manually.
The Evolution of Christmas Light Timers
If you were a kid in the 70s, you might remember the thrill of seeing timers on Christmas lights. As long as the power didn’t go out, those lights would turn on and off at the same time every day. It was awesome!
Find one here!
Next came digital timers that could be programmed for multiple on/off times and even different days of the week. These timers also had battery backups for power outages, solving the major drawback of manual timers. No more resetting the time on every clock and timer in the house!
You can find one of these beauties right here!
Modern Smart Home Solutions
Today, with all the various smart home gadgets available, there are multiple ways to control your Christmas lights using Alexa, Google Home, Apple HomeKit, or custom home installations. These devices typically connect to Wi-Fi and can be controlled through cloud-based services, providing voice and app control.
You can find these here!
For the do-it-yourselfer who wants a flexible, custom program with set-it-and-forget-it control, devices compatible with SmartThings, Hubitat, or similar hubs are the best solution. Our home controller is a Hubitat Elevation, which offers local web access, apps for both iOS and Android, and local programming, ensuring that the internet isn’t required for most functionalities (voice control always requires an internet connection). These devices can also be controlled via Alexa and Google.
Find the indoor version here (available as a dimmer or just a switch)
Find the outdoor version here!
Recommended Smart Home Programs for Christmas Lights
1. Christmas Tree Lights:
- Turn them on with your regular morning routine and off with your usual bedtime routine.
- Our morning routine starts at 6 am during the week and at 8 am on the weekends.
- Our bedtime routine is activated by double-tapping one of several smart switch off buttons in the house.
- This routine arms the alarm into night mode, closes the garage door if left open, waits 2 minutes, and then shuts off all house lights except for the driveway lights. The two-minute delay gives us enough time to get into bed before the lights go out.
2. Exterior Christmas Lights:
- Turn them on at sunset and off with your regular bedtime routine.
- On Christmas Eve, turn them on at sunset and off at sunrise.
Enhancing the Christmas Mood with Smart Color Bulbs
Other fun things you can do include using smart color bulbs to change outdoor lighting fixtures and interior lights throughout your home into various Christmas colors to enhance that festive mood.
- We use smart color bulbs on our front porch and change them to red and green for the Christmas season (these serve multiple purposes, as we change them to orange and yellow for Halloween).
We use Sengled smart bulbs with Zigbee communications that work with our smart home hub. They are great bulbs, and you can find them here:
Find Sengled smart bulbs here!
Smart homes are not only incredibly economical and convenient but also add a touch of fun and festivity during the holidays.
Here’s to a Merry Christmas and hoping your home’s IQ is raised during the festivities!
No responses yet