It wouldn’t be Christmas without a little extra sparkle. Christmas lights are an easy way to up the festivity scale in – and on – your home. These days, it’s even easier to create a Christmas light show that will dazzle your neighbours, with smart lights, smart tech and companion apps making it easy to automate the spectacle every night. Follow this guide to light up your Christmas.
How Do I Choose the Right Setup?
Whether you want to light up your house or light up your tree, there are a few things to consider before you purchase your Christmas lights. Firstly, you need to choose the type of light – either incandescent string or LED Christmas lights.
Hot Tip: According to Canstar Blue, LED Christmas lights are much cheaper to run than incandescent lights and if you use the lights for five hours a night every day in December, the show should only add a couple of extra dollars to your electricity bill.
Then, think about whether your lights will be used indoors or outdoors – different lights can handle different conditions. For example, the Brilliant Smart Music Strip Lights can be used inside and outside, while the Philips Hue Lightstrips can be used indoors or in a weatherproof undercover spot (such as on a protected balcony or porch).
Hot Tip: If you have the Philips Hue lightstrips and want to add music to your Christmas light set-up, you can download the free Hue Sync app for iOS or Android. Follow the instructions to make the lights flash and pulse in time with the music.
What To Try
- Brilliant Smart Music Strip Lights 5m
- Philips Hue Lightstrips 2 m Bluetooth
- Philips Hue Outdoor Smart Lightstrip 5m
How Many Christmas Lights Should I Use?
Homeowners are entitled to decorate their house how they see fit – within reason. Each council will have their own set of rules to follow regarding creating a Christmas light show on the outside of your house, so check their regulations before you deck out every inch of your roof. But there are a few general rules of thumb to follow: make sure your lights aren’t too bright and don’t shine directly into a neighbour’s house; and, if you have Christmas tunes playing alongside the show, ensure the volume isn’t too loud and that the songs aren’t played too late into the night. Renting? Seek permission from your landlord and your strata manager before going ahead with your Christmas project.
What Other Tech Do I Need?
To make your Christmas lights “smart”, they need to be connected to your WiFi network, so ensure they are positioned in a spot that your network reaches easily. (Check out this guide for Easy Ways to Boost Your WiFi Signal at Home.) This means you can connect the lights to your home network and control them with your smartphone or a smart speaker.
If the lights themselves don’t have the ability to connect wirelessly, then you can connect them to a smart switch, such as the Philips Hue Smart Plug. This allows the lights to be turned on and off remotely, using bluetooth and your smartphone. If you have a lot of lights, you can always use the Brilliant Smart 4 Port Powerboard to control them. There’s also the Brilliant Smart Double Adaptor which allows you to control two sets of lights at the same time. When plugged into these adaptors, the lights can be controlled using the companion Brilliant Smart App – simply download to your smartphone and follow the instructions.
What To Try
SEE ALSO: Connect 101: How to Set up and Connect a Smart Home
How Can I Sync Lights With Smart Speakers?
You also have the option of controlling your connected Christmas lights via your smartphone or via voice commands through a smart speaker such as the Google Nest Mini Smart Speaker. To make this possible, the lights or smart switches connected to the lights need to be added to the Google Home app.
Open the Google Home app, tap the “+” symbol in the top-left corner and select “Set Up Device”. From here, the app will recognise the lights (if they have WiFi capability) or the smart switch. Google Home will then ask you to choose a WiFi network and enter your password to connect the device to your network and ask you to name the lights and their location (for example: “Front Christmas Lights”). When this process is complete, the device will advise that the lights are connected to your network. The name you give the lights will be what you use for voice commands. For example, to turn the lights on you’d say: “Hey Google – turn on the Philips Hue Front Christmas Lights”.
If you have an Amazon Echo Dot 3rd Gen Smart Speaker or the Amazon Echo Show 5, use the Amazon Alexa app and select “Add Device”. Then find your compatible device’s type and brand. Alexa lets you match the product and can even scan your network to detect the product.
What To Try
- Google Nest Mini Smart Speaker Chalk
- Google Nest Mini Smart Speaker Charcoal
- Google Nest Hub Max Smart Display Charcoal
- Google Nest Hub 2nd Gen Smart Display Chalk
- Amazon Echo Dot 3rd Gen Smart Speaker Charcoal Fabric
- Amazon Echo Show 5 2nd Generation Charcoal
- Amazon Echo Show 8 2nd Generation Glacier White
How Do I Schedule the Lights to Turn On and Off?
Once the lights are connected to your network, you can create a schedule to turn on Christmas lights.
If you are using the Brilliant app, press “Add Home” and give it a name. Connect your phone to your home’s WiFi and click “Add Device” and then choose “Lighting”, then the type of device. You can then turn on your device and it should start flashing to indicate it is ready for syncing. The app should now give you the option to confirm, then type in your WiFi password and press “Confirm”. Once connected, you can then assign a room where the lights are located. End with “Done." Hit the home button and the light should be on the list of devices and you will then be able to schedule when they turn on and off.
