5 min read
The days are getting shorter and the nights seem darker than ever. Time to brighten up the house and garden with decorations and beautiful lighting. But with the current energy prices it is increasingly important to control the energy consumption. Innr has a smart solution for this Christmas: a more efficient and safer winter is at your doorstep!
The season of lights is here and how we have been looking forward to it. Especially now that we have to stay at home more often, spend more time indoors and work from home, it’s even more important to make it cosy at home. Time to dig into the attic, shed or cellar and bring out the Christmas lights. It’s just a shame that these lights are not so easy to control wirelessly. The socket behind the Christmas tree seems impossible to reach and every time you want to switch the lights on or off, you have to twist your body into an angle that would make an acrobat jealous.
It’s time to make the step to smart lighting! And no, we are not suggesting that you toss last year’s decorations in the trash: you really only need to add one item: the smart plug.
Stop, don't throw out last years Christmas lights! You only need to add one item to make them smart: a Smart Plug!
Wait, a Smart Plug?
A smart plug is a switch that works on the same protocol as most smart lights: Zigbee. For this reason, the smart plug can easily be incorporated into your existing set-up of smart lighting. You can connect the smart plug to the bridge of Philips Hue, SmartThings or Innr, or to a hub like Homey or Hives.
If you are not yet familiar with smart lighting, but you have an Echo Studio, Show or Plus (2nd Gen with a built-in Zigbee hub, check the specs to see if your device has this), then you can operate the smart plug with voice control. How easy is that! All you have to do is plug the smart plug into the wall socket and then plug your Christmas lights into the smart plug. Then you let your hub search for a new device and switch on the smart plug with the button so that it can be found.
Do you want to know more about creating and using timers in the Innr app? Check this video.
Wishing you a merry and energy-saving Christmas
Ok, so with a Smart Plug you can make your Christmas tree lights, stars, winter villages and outdoor lighting smart. But how would that be safe and energy efficient?
Because you can control the Smart Plug remotely, you can easily switch off your lights when you are not at home. So no more worries about whether your lights are still on; with one quick glance at the app you’ ll have it checked and with one press of a button you have switched them off. But it is even easier if you automate your lighting. Then you don’t have to think about whether the lights are on or off.
By making a programme yourself or by using the presets, your lights will switch on when you want them to, for example when it gets dark. In this way, nobody will suspect that you are not at home and you can deter possible burglars.
Comfortable Christmas with the Smart Plug
In 2018, the Dutch manufacturer Innr was one of the first to create a smart plug to be integrated into Zigbee networks. The Smart Plug quickly became a bestseller due to the compact design, and still is.
Not only traditional non-‘smart’ lamps like Christmas lights can be operated wirelessly, but also kettles, radios and a variety of other electrical devices can be switched on and off remotely. Imagine how comfortable it can be waking up with a kettle of freshly boiled water for your morning tea or falling asleep knowing that the fan, router or boiler will be switched off automatically!
