The RGBW bulbs on the exterior of my home have a clear purpose: decorative coloration for holidays and special events. However, the RGBW bulbs and light strips in my home feel…gimmicky. Maybe that’s not the right word. I don’t know.
Currently, I have a WebCore piston switching my under-cabinet light strips to color-rotation at a dimmed level when there is no motion in the kitchen. The rest of my bulbs turn on at 3000K temperature at full brightness. Yay (sarcasm). It’s like using Oathkeeper to spread butter.
I’m looking to you, Community, for inspiration! What are some practical or even fun uses for your RGBW bulbs/light strips?
I’ve seen the suggestion to use colors to communicate warnings - e.g. turn the lights blue if there’s a water leak somewhere, turn something red when the doorbell rings or when a door is left open. I haven’t picked up any smart bulbs for this reason but I’d love to hear a compelling use case…
A red porch light to indicate that you’re either using your entire house to develop photographic film, or are re-enacting Tom Cruise’s role from Risky Business.
This question comes up about once a year. I think the short answer is that people who use them for anything other than decorative purposes are using them for notifications.
I’ve mentioned in the past that we have an issue at our house where sometimes if I’m coming in by myself, without my service dog, the wheelchair might get stuck in the yard or not be able to get the gate open and can’t get into the house.
I can’t text my housemate because when he’s playing video games he doesn’t check his phone.
We have a Hue light strip on the entertainment center under his television. When I come through the front gate it turns light blue. When I come through the front door, it turns off again.
If it turns blue And stays blue for more than a few minutes, he knows I’m probably having an issue and he will come and check.
Because a colored light is a persistent but not very intrusive alert, it works a lot better for us than a siren or a voice alert. It doesn’t bug him too much if it does come on and then shuts off again quickly. But he does notice it if it comes on and stays on for awhile.
Other people use it in a similar way for a mailbox alert, or laundry alert, or anything where you’re not necessarily going to jump up immediately and resolve the issue, but you do want the persistent reminder.
You can synchronize the color of your bulbs with what you might be watching using Hue Sync software or something similar. It’s the next step after surround sound.
Lights can also be synced to music for the disco party effect.
