The smart lighting is one of the first steps in the smart home. However, there are questions at the outset, and there are also doubts about which of the wide range of products to choose for a given situation. Let's see where to choose from:
One of Xiaomi's most popular smart bulb families is the Yeelight family of lighting fixtures. And for good reason, as they sell all kinds of lighting fixtures at affordable prices.
Perhaps the second most popular range of products are the Xiaomi-Philips co-production, of which there are a couple.
In the autumn of 2018, the Xiaomi Aqara bulb was released, a Zigbee communicating smart bulb with adjustable brightness and colour temperature, brighter than the Yeelight, in white colour.
These three main branches currently characterise the Xiaomi smart lighting range. There's a lot of overlap, for example, with adjustable colour temperature and brightness in all three 'categories', or the fact that there are four types of nightlights, two of which are similar in appearance.
Which one you need depends on the conditions of the place. It's always worth checking the dimensions of the area to be lit and making your choice on that basis.
You already have lamps and don't want to replace them
In this case, the simplest solution is a smart bulb
If it's smart, it should be RGBW, right?
If the answer is yes, then the Yeelight coloured bulb is for you. There are two generations, the latest was introduced last year. The difference is not significant: the design has changed, the brightness is slightly higher and the new version emits 10-20% less light when switched off. Both versions work in our country with E27 sockets. Available in Hungary as Mi LED Smart Bulb.
All Yeelight devices officially support Home Assistant and most smart home platforms. They can also be controlled by Alexa and Google Assistant.
No, no and no. I want the white one!
In this case, you can choose the Yeelight white bulb. You should do this if you want to control it with the assistants mentioned above, as the following bulbs do not currently support it.
If you find the white Yeelight expensive, an alternative is the Xiaomi Philips E27 bulb, which has an E27 socket, is controlled by the Mi Home app, has adjustable colour temperature and is also available in an E14 socket. These can also be used with Home Assistant, and through that with Alexa and Google.
If you have a Gateway, the Xiaomi Aqara Bulb is also an option. It's brighter than the previous ones, also with adjustable brightness and colour temperature, and is an E27 bulb.
If you want lighting on the ceiling or on the wall
There are also a couple of Yeelight Ceiling lamps. Available in three different sizes, the largest can illuminate the ceiling with a colourful LED strip. These are adjustable colour temperature ceiling lights with Bluetooth Gateway and remote control. They can also be used with Home Assistant, Google or Amazon voice assistants. They can be paired with Mi Band, so you can set the lights to turn off when you fall asleep. They have a moonlight mode, which is more pleasing to the eye. Yeelight ceiling lights come with a Bluetooth dimmer that replaces the light switch.
Xiaomi's Philips Ceiling lamp has similar features: you can also adjust the brightness and colour temperature, pair it with a Mi Band and remote control, and use the light bulb mode.
If you want a lamp for your bedside table
The MiJia Bedside lamps have also gone through two generations. The first one is similar to the Yeelight Bedside Lamp, but the difference is significant: the Yeelight Bedside Lamp only has Bluetooth, while the MiJias have WiFi, and both generations can act as Bluetooth gateways.
You can read more about MiJia bed lamps here:
Mijia Bedside lamp - 1st generation
Mijia Bedside lamp - 2nd generation
The Philips Zhirui nightlight also has similar features to the second generation MiJia: it also has WiFi and can be used as a BLE gateway.
If you want mood lighting
In addition to the Yeelight LED strips, the Candela Light is also worth mentioning, which creates a pleasant atmosphere with its warm white shade. They can also be controlled by Home Assistant, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, in addition to Candela Light. In addition to being longer than the previous version, the Aurora LED strip, which was released last year, can be extended with additional extensions.
If you want lighting on your desk
Yeelight's table lamps come in a range of different models, varying in price, brightness, appearance and function. What they don't differ in is that they can all be controlled by smartphone and have an eye-saving mode. Some have a built-in battery, others can be powered by a Power Bank, and others require a 12-volt power source.
The Philips table lamp has two points of light, so it's easy on the eyes.
Important information about smart lights
- Smart bulbs do not work if you turn them off with the light switch
If you want to use a physical switch, you don't need a smart bulb, you need one of Xiaomi's smart switches, or if you're thinking about a smart bulb, you can use one of the smart switches that can be paired with the Gateway instead of the wall switch. The Aqara cube can control almost all of the lights listed here. - Don't leave your IoT devices unconfigured
There is a security risk if you don't add it to the app when you first switch it on, as the bulb will broadcast an open WiFI network until you finish setting it up. These IoT devices can have a myriad of vulnerabilities waiting to be exploited. - By default, all lights will come on after a power failure
There is a settings option in the app that can be turned off to fix this problem. At least for Yeelights. I have not yet found a solution for this problem with the other lights.
And what was left out
At this year's CES, a new range of Yeelight products was launched, the BLE Mesh lighting. The idea is that the devices form a Mesh network, connected via Bluetooth, first to each other and then to the Bluetooth Gateway. Unfortunately, there are currently few Gateways that support this, and experience has shown that it doesn't always work, or if it does, it works slowly. But the good news is that there is a new Gateway coming soon that is specifically designed for these, so hopefully these problems will be addressed.
The announcement also mentioned that new and existing devices will soon support Apple HomeKit.
It is important to note that I have not presented the full range of products or technical details of the lighting products listed here. Xiaomi's smart home platform is constantly expanding at an extraordinary speed, and there are also some items that would be difficult to obtain in our country.
