TP-Link Smart Wi-Fi LED Bulb for Easy Home Automation

How many times have you settled into a good movie at home, only to notice the main light is still on?  How about sleeping in bed and maybe a pet or loved one is asleep on your shoulder but you just don’t want to reach over to turn the light off and disturb them? Maybe you are out late shopping but want the security of turning the lights on back at home like you are there or having them turned on so you don’t enter a dark house? All of these are options with the TP-Link Smart Wi-Fi LED Bulb.

 

Home automation is usually not for the faint of heart. The majority of devices on the market today take quite a bit of customization and cost to get them working. Expensive hubs, subscription services, and costly elements are the norm in the home automation space, generally requiring a large investment and pricey setup. Is there not a simpler way to get my house involved and running the future of home automation?

Enter TP-Link Home Automation Options. Over the next several months I will walk you through the various setup, logistics, and requirements in taking your home from drab to modern tech-fabulous! If you have wondered how you can get started with home automation, without breaking the bank or hiring a technician, follow along with me folks….

The TP-Link LB130 Smart Wi-Fi LED Bulb is where we will start this journey. This light bulb is slightly larger than a regular sized light bulb you are familiar with as shown in this lovely photo here, but the base of the light bulb is the same. The Technical standards are an A19 Bulb (This describes that the bulb is pear shaped) and E26 base fitting (This is the Medium Standard Base size in North America).

This is important because it means it will fit most standard light sockets in your house with no additional hardware or complicated wiring setups. You are literally just screwing in a light bulb to enter the high-tech automation world.

The lightbulb has Wi-Fi built right into it. It will need to be close enough to your router so that it is “always connected”. This is how the light bulb does all the really cool features. The router is a really important piece in getting a good home automation network setup. I will go over this in detail in upcoming posts, but for now, just know that all your home automation pieces will connect back to your router – the heart of it all, so it needs to be a good one.

The next simple step in the process is to download the control app for your phone – Kasa. It is available on both Android and iPhone. The TPLink Lightbulb also works with Amazon Alexa.

How to Setup Your TP-Link LB130 Smart Wi-Fi LED Bulb

Simply download the Kasa TP-Link app and register your account. Within a few minutes, you will be up in running. Make sure that your mobile device is connected to your home Wi-Fi network and make sure to connect to the band that is 2.4GHz. (The Smart Bulbs only work on the 2.4GHz network.) Next simply screw the lightbulb into your lamp or socket of choice. Make sure the power is off of course! Then follow the onscreen instructions on the App. It’s pretty straightforward for even a not very tech savvy person. All in all, initial setup to working light was about 4 minutes.

 

Nothing could be easier than this setup. The App is very intuitive and makes setting up various schedules or moods a breeze. Check out these screenshots for an idea.

 

Awesome Home Automation Light Bulb Features

These lights have some really neat features that you can use to automate around your house.

Let’s go through some of the highlights shall we?

1. The light bulb is LED based and has the awesome ability to create MILLIONS of Colors. Having a spooky Halloween party? Orange lights. Christmas Time Dinner? Green. Feeling a little Blue… ? Blue up your room.
2. The App includes an Energy Saving Stats Screen. If you are worried about the rising cost of electricity bills, these lights bulbs offer you all the statistic you would ever need to monitor exactly what your lights are doing. Check out your kWh for today, this week and the last 30 days. The expected electricity cost for the YEAR is about $1.32 – based on 11¢/kWh and 3 hrs a day of use!
3. The light bulb can be accessed from anywhere you have a mobile phone signal. Easily turn on or off the lights with one button press. Or even better have an automatic schedule where they turn on and off at the same time every day. There is even a circadian rhythm option that will adjust your light to an acceptable sunrise/sunset level based on the time of day. All of these are easy to set up in a few clicks with the scheduler option in the Kasa App.
4. 
   The lifetime of the bulb is expected to be about 22.8 YEARS. Wow. This is the last light bulb you will need to buy for awhile. Of course this make them really great for those hard to change Light Bulb spots around your house.
5. There is no additional hardware required to get up and going. Lightbulb, App, Done.

 

Amazon Echo Voice Connected

One of the really cool parts about TP-Link products is that they work with Amazon Echo. Now, many of us in Canada have not been graced with the amazing experience that is Amazon Echo so I’ll go over that in another post. If you happen to have an Echo, Dot or Fire Stick though – sync right up with Alexa and Bam! Voice control activated lights.

 

How Much Does The TP-Link Light bulb Cost?

The Cost of the TPLINK LB130 Smart Wi-Fi Light bulb is currently $49.95 at Best Buy Canada. There is no additional cost for setup, no subscription services, and no additional fees.

The TP-Link LB130 Smart Wi-Fi LED Bulb is a great, easy and inexpensive way to get started in the home automation market. The features in the Kasa app are plentiful and you are able to customize and automate lights with ease within a few minutes of setup time. If you have wanted to try out home automation lights, without a huge upfront cost check the TP-Link LB130 Smart Wi-Fi LED Bulb out!

Tp-link has partnered with me to provide the light bulbs I’ve used and this sponsored post. Thoughts as always are my own.