How much does a smart lighting system cost?

2021-08-25

Put it this way: if youre hoping that switching to a smart LED lighting system is going to save you so much in energy bills itll pay for itself in no time, youre going to be disappointed. Smart lighting systems dont come cheap, although they are slowly getting cheaper.

smart control cabinet light

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Lets take the market leader, PhilipsHue. To get up and running you need the Hue 2.0 Bridge - the previous model doesnt play nice with Apples HomeKit - and some bulbs. At the time of writing a bridge and two white E27 (screw cap) bulbs is £49.95, while a bridge with three multicolour bulbs is £146.95. A lightstrip, which is a 2m strip of colour changing LEDs, is £64.99. A plain white bayonet bulb is £14.95, coloured E27 bulbs are £49.99, coloured E14s are £29.95 and coloured GU10 spotlights are £49.95 apiece.

 

British Gass Hive system has expanded to include smart lighting technology under the Hive Active brand.

Looking at a modest living room, weve got one ceiling lamp, three spotlights and a nice place behind the TV to put a lightstrip. That little lot works out at £49 for the bridge, £147 for the spots and £64.99 for the lightstrip. So thats £260 for our living room; using coloured bulbs for the six spotlights in the dining room would add another £300. Ouch.

Thats for an all-singing all-dancing colour system, though, and its using genuine Philips bulbs: third party bulbs are available for considerably less cash and should work okay with the Hue Bridge. We say shouldbecause an early software update accidentally on purpose removed third party compatibility, which Philips eventually restored after a PR storm. We hope history doesnt repeat.

 

OSRAMs Lightify uses the same Zigbee networking as IKEA and Philipssystems, so they should be interoperable.

No matter what system you go for, colour changing bulbs and smart lighting kits are expensive. Youll pay £49 for a Hive Edison Screw colour bulb and £39 for a bayonet fitting, and the Hive starter kit is £99.99 for a hub and two white bulbs. Osrams Lightify bulbs are around £25 for GU10 spots, £22.99 for candles and £41 for the Lightify Gateway.

Does IKEA have the white idea?

If you dont want to change colours then the price drops considerably: dimmable Hue bulbs are around £15 for white ones compared to the £50 for coloured ones, and the same applies to Hive Active bulbs. 

 

IKEAs smart lights are much cheaper than most, but they dont currently offer colours. You can adjust colour temperature, though.

IKEAs new Trådfri system is cheaper still: a bridge - IKEA calls it the Gateway - is £25, and bulbs cost from £9 to £15 depending on fitting. Light panels are £55 to £100, dimming kits are £15 and a remote control is £15. You cant adjust the colour but you can adjust the colour temperature, so you can have warm white for mood lighting and cool white for getting stuff done. Its much cheaper, but we think colour changing is the key selling point of smart lighting, so for us IKEAs one to watch in the long term but not a great investment right now.

Will it be obsolete in a few years?

Nobody can predict that with certainty, but there are encouraging signs that your smart lights wont prove to be a not-so-smart investment in the long term - so maybe the energy savings will end up paying for the kit, albeit over a fairly long period of time. For example, when Philips added HomeKit compatibility to its Hue range with Hue 2.0, that was backwards compatible, so while you had to upgrade the hub you didnt need to buy new bulbs. 

A smart bulb inside an interesting lamp can create something really amazing, as this example from LIFX demonstrates.

Most smart lighting systems use the same ZigBee wireless networking technology. Its called ZigBee Light Link and its used by Philips, IKEA and Osram, which should ensure ongoing compatibility and interoperability between competing systems. LIFX should be fairly future-proof too, as it simply uses your Wi-Fi network. And of course the various systems all use standard light fittings such as bayonet caps, edison screws and GU10 spots.

Is smart lighting worth the money?

That really depends on what you want to do. If money is your priority then non-smart LEDs deliver the efficiency savings without the significant up-front expense of smart lights, and thats by far the most sensible option. But its also the least fun. Smart spotlights can turn a front room into something resembling your favourite bands stage lighting, while lightstrips and light recipes can transform a room without the hassle and expense of redecorating. And if you have kids theyll love messing around with the options and creating their own recipes or using third-party apps to turn your front room into a disco.

For us, smart lighting does something priceless: it makes us smile. Whether were telling Siri that were going to bed, asking for the reading preset, getting the mood ready for a movie or making the house spooky for Halloween, weve found smart lighting to be a constant delight - and its still uncommon enough to impress friends and family when they pop round. We wouldnt recommend replacing every bulb in your house with a Hue, Hive, LIFX or Trådfri bulb, but having smart lighting in a sitting or dining room can be really effective.


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