In part 2 of our smart home series, we looked at ways to add smart features to an existing house without changing the infrastructure. We took a look at the simple but powerful Smartplug from Zuli

In this post, we’re going to go into something a bit more mainstream—lighting. Now Zuli lets you plug anything that uses an AC source into the Smartplug, so that solution is great for lamps. But for most existing lighting solutions, you’ll need something a bit different. This is where something like Silvair by Seed Labs comes in handy.

This elegant solution allows you to do cool things without messing with ANY existing wires or light switches in your wall. In fact, the entire solution is wireless via Bluetooth, requiring only that your light bulbs are connected to the existing sockets.

I configured two different types of lights: one was your normal dimming light, and the other was an RGB light that could not only dim, but also change color.

The neatest thing about both of them was that there was absolutely NO messing with the lighting panels or wiring and no need to move the conduits in my walls to move a light switch. I didn’t have to replace a thing, nor did I have to touch a single breaker in my house (yup…done plenty of electricity-centric projects around my house to know when to flip the breakers off).

All I had to do was screw the bulb into the light socket, place a small coin-cell battery into the actual Bluetooth device that acts as the switch, and bingo! Pretty much done.

There is also an app that allows you to configure your lighting solution to your hearts’ content. You can create groupings of lights and control them via a single wireless switch or using the app on your phone. Either way, you are wire-free. Plus, the application allows you to set day and night schedules for all of your devices.

Just a few months ago, I moved a light switch in my child’s room from an awkward wall to a more convenient location by the door. I punched a hole in her wall, ran electrical wire through the studs in the wall, and then punched another hole in the wall to place the new switch. Then comes the fun part…drywall repair, mudding, and sanding. If I had only had a solution like this when my wife asked me to move the switch, there would have been absolutely no need for all that work…what a HUGE time saver. Plus, it’s infinitely configurable, so whether my child wanted to move the light switch to another location or control it through her tablet, she’d be able to do it. Solutions like this make configuring the room as she grows much more flexible.

The neatest control I played with was a simple wireless knob. It’s not only wireless, but the knob itself doesn’t even require any mounting. You could actually just place the knob on a table and turn it to change whatever you had it configured to. The knob does have a magnetic back, so you can mount it on a metal surface (like a refrigerator) or use the magnetic mount that comes with it if you want to put it on a non-magnetic surface like a wall). I used the application on my smart phone to configure the knob to the RGB light so I could cycle through the colors. By simply turning the knob clockwise or counter-clockwise, I could cycle through the RGB color variants.

While that may not seem terribly cool, think about this for other smart devices. Not only lights with dimmers, but what about thermostats with Bluetooth controllers built into them? Totally portable, no need to hook into an existing wall or mess with your existing electrical infrastructure, and easy to set up…literally in minutes! And I think that my wife will be happy that I’m not in the electrical and dry wall business any longer.

I expect more and more of these types of solutions to make their way to market over the coming months…I can’t wait! And you can become a part of this exciting market. Download our new eBook ‘Join the Smart Home Movement’ and learn how.

(Credit: Steve Hegenderfer)