A few months ago, our friend, Terry texted us a great deal offered by the Hawaii Energy Marketplace that she said might run out. I looked into it. For $10, you could get a couple of LED night lights, a smart plug, an outlet plug with ON and OFF switch and 2 smart Wi-Fi enabled LED lightbulbs. Sounded like a good deal so we ordered it.
And yes, it did run out because I was going to tell someone about it and they'd stopped offering it.
Once it arrived, I wasn't sure what to make of it exactly because we've never used one.
First, there's these Wi-Fi enabled LED light bulbs that work with the Echo Dots. Uuumm... I left it to Art to figure it out and by golly! He did. He downloaded the app on our phones and we can now tell Alexa to turn on and off the light in two rooms. The lights can also be changed to different colors.
The plug thingy with the on and off switch is actually helpful because I don't keep water in the pot and there's always a worry that mom will turn the water kettle on by mistake. She's been making a lot of mistakes lately when we're not there so this is one precaution. The plug also prevents bleeding energy.
As for the night lights, I was stymied at first because there's no bulb. I had a bulb that I thought I'd have to screw in. But nope. You don't need a bulb and it costs about $4 a year in electricity.
And then there's this smart plug that is... again... yup... Wi-Fi enabled.
We plugged it in for the living room light because it's really dark in winter when we go downstairs.
Before going down, I tell (Echo Dot) Alexa, who is upstairs to turn on the living room light downstairs and she says, "OK" and does it.
Then I tell the kitchen Alexa to turn off the light and she does it.
So OK.
We like it. 😄
Thank you, Terry. This was fun!
We have some Alexa-controlled lights and some on old-style timers. Someone helped us with the Alexa ones, and Sue does the timers. I just sit around looking dumb. 😊
ReplyDeleteWe have a couple smart plugs that I mainly use around the holidays to turn on and off the holiday lighting so it just runs for a few hours during the high traffic hours and then automatically turns off. The app lets you program the schedule.
ReplyDeleteNo Alexa controlled lights but we did switch all our bulbs inside and out to LED and have seen the difference in our electric bill.
ReplyDeleteOne of these days Alexa id going to run us out of business or do everything for us.
ReplyDeleteJust amazing products love the night light. My problem is that all these apps take up iphone storage. Our home security apps too. Oh well
ReplyDeleteLin Floyd says wow wonder what else we can tell Alexa to do...
ReplyDeleteThanks to John, I have a bunch of those lights and plugs; I love my routine of "Alexa, goodnight" and she turns off all the downstairs lights. My grandsons love the color changing bulb I have in the family room.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting! And sold out - sigh. I will keep my eyes open. For now, I am in love with solar motion lights and solar lights that decorate my outdoor trees, fence, etc.
ReplyDeleteThat smart plug and those WiFi light bulbs look interesting! I've never seen them, but I have several of the night lights and really like them. Our electric company sent us free energy saving kits about 5 years ago with the night lights, LED bulbs and low flow shower and faucet heads.
ReplyDeleteFree? That is absolutely awesome! You have a wonderful electric company. I wish our HECO would send us free stuff.
DeleteThis is really interesting! You do have to be careful with your mom.
ReplyDeleteWell, Alexa doesn't live at our house, so I guess it's ok that they are sold out. Very interesting though.
ReplyDeleteThat was quite a good offer.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought: I'd aim that hall light to brighten the floor area instead of beaming up the wall into your eyes. Not sure I want to talk to my lights, but I have several in my rooms with dimming/off sensors when it's daylight. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteLeave it to Art to figure out how to talk to the lights. :-)
ReplyDelete