Luckily, the world as we know it changes rapidly in terms of technology improvements, making us enjoy life even more. However, I don’t think that we could ever imagine that one day we could set the lighting according to our current mood, from an app on our smartphone, while in bed. This option is pretty comfortable and made possible by installing a TP-Link bulb in your home. It’s true that today there are a lot of smart options for house or office lighting on the market, especially ones working with Alexa (for those who don’t know this is an Amazon’s voice-commanded virtual assistant), however the TP-Link LB120 seems to be the most suitable and most affordable at the same time.
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TP-Link Bulb models
While the TP-Link bulb, model LB100 has 600 lumens of solely white light with the option to be dimmed, using less than 10 watts, the next model available LB110 offers 800 lumens of white light. Basically, the same thing is expected from a standard 60W bulb, with a difference seen in the energy bill.
However, in this part, I’d like to talk about not any TP-Link bulb, but the LB120 model. Getting this TP-Link bulb offers a plethora of lighting options, including light tuning by color. Yes, you read right! Basically, with this option, you can adjust the color temperature of the bulb using many shades of yellow, for example, starting from a low and delicate glow, progressing towards bright and blue shaded color, best applied to imitate the brightness of the day outside. This TP-Link bulb is the most expensive one of the three, but it offers more options compared to the previous two.
The LB120 smart bulb comes in a TP-Link branded carton, being a bit larger than expected, especially for a light bulb. But once you open it, you will understand that this is needed to keep the device protected from any possible damage during transport. In the package, you should find the TP-Link bulb, a brief start guide, and a survey card. The bulb is also heavier in hand than expected since it comes with integrated electronics needed to connect it with your home network, kept under a piece of round diamond-shaped plastic, placed over a blue ring added for better visual effect.
Main aspects of this product:
- You can fine tune the lighting from soft white to daylight
- Track energy usage in real-time
- Wifi connection with Smart Home systems
- Control lights with free Kasa APP
- Option to set schedules, timers and countdowns
- Voice control with Amazon Alexa
- No hub is required, juts plug ‘n’ play
- Low energy consumption (10W)
Connecting
The coolest thing about the TP-Link bulb is that you don’t need a hub to use it. It can be connected directly with your router via Wi Fi. This is pretty interesting since all of the other competitors out there today, require for you to put an extra effort and plug a hub into your router to properly translate the signals they are using, into the signal that would be understandable for your home network. This can sometimes be a complicated activity, especially if you are not handy.
Thankfully, there is no such requirement with the TP-Link bulb. All you need to do is to screw it in, download the ‘Kasa’ app on your device, available both for IOS and Android, and the application will simply find the smart bulb, letting you choose which network you want to use it on. You should turn on the lamp and in a few seconds, it will blink three times informing you to continue. Hence, your smartphone (or any smart device you’re using) will disconnect from your router, connecting directly to the TP-Link bulb, thus continuing with the configuration. It’s very easy to conclude the configuration by following the proposed steps on your device. That’s it, you can now relax and put your TP-Link bulb to work.
Kasa APP
Using the ‘Kasa’ app is pretty simple as well. All you need to do is to enter it and play with the settings. Besides choosing colors and tones of lighting, you can adjust options like schedules and timers. For example, you can set the TP-Link bulbs to turn on at a specific time of the day. This will leave the impression that someone is at home if you are held up at the office. Having a full daily schedule means that most of us leave the house early in the morning and often come home in the evening. Consciously or sub-consciously we worry about the well-being of the house. So, besides best accessibility and comfort, these options may add an additional layer of home security, and perhaps eliminate part of the headaches.
Set the mood
Since this TP-Link bulb can set a dim and cozy mood in the room, or shine brightly as day with just one touch, you will be in a position to satisfy the lighting preference of several people in your household. Instead of installing and living under one dull type of light, now every member of the household can enjoy the preferred settings. As it’s often the case, there is usually a room in the house that has no windows, no natural light and is always black as night. If you have such misfortune, the TP-Link bulb is the perfect solution.
Natural Daylight
By using the specific settings, the smart bulb can imitate natural daylight and set a less artificial atmosphere while in the room. There are so many modes you can choose from, and one of the best ones provides the option to automatically set the brightness in the room depending on the time of the day. This way you’ll get the feeling that the room actually grew windows while you were sleeping. Pretty neat, right? For those that are not acquainted, some research has shown that setting your lights to a circadian cycle may be pretty beneficial to your health. Accordingly, surrounding yourself with yellow light (not blue) during the evening may help you go to sleep with less tossing and turning.
Let us now look at an example of a situation which is more common than we think. Imagine having the misfortune of a bedroom position that does not really benefit from the sun until later in the afternoon. On top of that, you are not really a morning person and you can’t wake up as easy as the rest of the world. This can just add to your difficulty of getting out of bed in the morning. But, if you set the TP-Link bulb to turn on via a specific schedule in the morning, you can synchronize it with your morning alarm and wake up to a fine-tuned daylight. For most of us it’s sometimes essential how we would start the day in order to determine its flow, so waking up in a dark room is not really an option.
Monitor the energy
On top of everything else, if you are upgrading your home from old-style light bulbs to smart TP-Link bulbs, then you would be pretty pleased to hear about the option in ‘Kasa’, where you can actually see the energy savings. These savings are available right away and can be checked whenever you want to. Just as a comparison, the TP-Link bulb reduces the power usage, consuming solely 20% of the energy usually consumed by a standard light bulb of 60 watts. Basically, you can monitor the power usage each month, create a scheme according to your daily behavior, and set appropriate schedules in order to decrease the power usage even more.
Works with Amazon Alexa
And yes, voice control to add to the convenience. If your house has staircases leading to a dark basement or a garage, you can simply voice control your lights. Just say: “Alexa, lights on” and voila! The TP-Link bulbs offer the option to be controlled according to specific preferences, allowing you to create and save ‘scenes’ in ‘Kasa’. According to this, you can create your own scenes and set the mood for a movie night, or a party or a romantic dinner. Or maybe dim the lights in an instant to lowest during the birthday party of your kid, at the very moment the cake leaves the kitchen and enters the party area with all those little candles on. Searching for the switch at such moments may spoil part of the fun.
Conclusion
As we accept implementing technology in so many areas to facilitate our lives, I think that the same can be done with the concept of lighting. By embracing this TP-Link bulb you may pay a significantly higher price at the start, however, think of all the benefits and savings you’ll enjoy later. Starting from huge savings on your electric bill and going more eco-friendly, to better comfort and overall convenience, but better home safety as well. Regardless of what is your drive to get this TP-Link bulb, the investment is 100% worth it. When you buy it to save on your bills, then great, you’ll see savings in no time.
If you have issues adding natural light to some rooms around the house, then perfect, the TP-Link bulb’s main intention is to do this. If you are worried about being out of the house for too long, then good, arm your house with light. Regardless of how I approach this smart bulb, I cannot seem to find an issue. Go ahead and enjoy yours.
Also, we have reviewed a smart bulb from TP-Link. Check out the review: Smart wifi tp-link plug hs110 with energy monitoring review
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I have over 15 years of knowledge in the technology field. Studied IT systems administration and now installing security cameras and smart home devices into user’s homes and offices.