I want to get some home automation set up on my outdoor porch lights

Buy smartthings. Change out switches periodically with smart switches.

Can you change out a single switch on a gang? One of my switches I want to change is on a 4 switch gang.

Thanks for the rec. I've been wanting smartthings and now have a good reason.

I start with a hub? Is there any other necessary components to get started? Other than the switches?

Swapped out my switch with this LINK. Cheap & easy. I literally never think about them anymore, but the lights are always on when I get home after dark and off when I leave in the morning.

They also have a backlit version. I opted out since I wouldn't need to touch it but one time. No regrats

Same - can lights

I recently replaced my floods with LED floods that have a photocell on them.


As long as no one turns off the switch, they come on at dusk like clockwork

Where did you find them?

That's originally what I was looking for when stumbling upon the switch. I installed regular LEDs into the can after giving up on the thought. Also thought that the cell might be at the base of the bulb, making it dark all of the time

I've been looking for a similar solution. A couple things I've found:

1) Phillips Hue lights are not rated for outdoor use. Looks like they will work but at a reduced lifetime. Of course depends on how much weather they actually see: recessed cans in a overhang vs spots exposed to weather directly. I need 7 bulbs so @ $50 each I'm hesitant to spend that much as an experiment.
2) Illumi makes a outdoor rated LED bulb but apparently their app isn't great. The LED has the different colors available similar to Hue bulbs.
3) IFTTT works for both Hue and recently Illumi bulbs.

The solution I'm buying this week is the Illumi Bulbs and using the IFTTT proximity locator to turn on the bulbs when I, or family, get close to home. I also decorate the house with Christmas lights so these will fit in for that also. Also plan on making a IFTTT for LSU football games which will turn the lights purple and gold when LSU plays.

Oh okay. Yeah, not sure how a photocell would work then


I would just put them on a timed switch. They have some that already know sunset times from now to eternity

quote:

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The solution I'm buying this week is the Illumi Bulbs and using the IFTTT proximity locator to turn on the bulbs when I, or family, get close to home. I also decorate the house with Christmas lights so these will fit in for that also. Also plan on making a IFTTT for LSU football games which will turn the lights purple and gold when LSU plays.

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I've been looking for the exact same setup to integrate with my wink hub and stumbled across these bulbs tonight. From my understanding they don't work with wink or smartthings so they rely on a connection with your phone to work... If your phone isn't at home how will ifttt "talk" to the bulbs?