![]() ![]() Turn on lights, and set a lighting scene, when Domino’s pizza is out for delivery.There are a ton of different “recipes,” which is what they call the different actions you can do, that you can create. If you haven’t heard of IFTTT, it stands for “if this then that.” It’s a free platform that allows different types of software, smart devices, and a host of other things to work together. You can set the any light to turn on when your cameras detect motion, turn certain ones (or all of them) on and off when Nest senses you’re at home or away, and blink certain lights when they detect motion (to alert you to someone in your driveway, etc) IFTTT Integration If you have Nest cameras in your home, there are some other cool features you can do as well. The bigger your house, the more you’ll enjoy this feature. Not having to walk through both floors of our house searching for all the lights my kids have left on every time I leave the house is amazing. Two of may favorites are a “Turn all lights off” command I use whenever I leave the house, and a “Headed to bed” command that turns off most of the lights, leaving a dimmed light path to my bedroom, and turns on my bedside lamp. ![]() You can even set scenes so you can control multiple rooms at once. We have a few spread through the house, so we can turn on and off lights anywhere in the house with our voice. If you’re going to outfit your entire house with these switches like we have, I’d highly recommend getting an Alexa. The Leviton Switches have even more features to geek out on if you want to integrate it with either Nest, Alexa or IFTTT. If it only relied on the previous used setting, we’d never know how bright the lights were going to be and would inevitably end up turning them on full blast causing a babypocalypse, and no sleep for the rest of the night (if you’re not a parent, you’ll have to trust me on this) Extended Features and Integrations We have the bulb set to the lowest dimmable setting, so we can see what we’re doing, but we don’t wake her up more than we need to. This is another great feature I like to use in my 10 month old daughters room, because we have to sometimes go into her room and feed her at night. It’s one more area that really shows how much thought Leviton put into the features.Īnother option worth mentioning is the option to have the lights come on at the last brightness used or the same one each time. We’re using 5 different types of bulbs in our bathrooms, kitchen, bedroom, etc, and we’ve found the lowest setting on some is 12% while others get as low as 3% without turning off. With normal dimmers, this can be confusing, which is why Leviton let’s you set the maximum and minimum dimmer power for each bulb. That means one may still be bright at 10%, while another may need 13% to even power on. If you’ve ever experimented with dimmable bulbs, you know that each can be dimmed to a different % before they turn off. You can adjust the built in LED, customize the power based on the type of bulb you’re using (Incandescent, LED, CFL, etc.), set the fade in rate when it turns on and fade out rate when it turns off, and even set an auto shutoff timer, which is great for entryway lights or bathroom vents you always forget to turn off. ![]() Leviton has it’s own app that allows you to customize each individual switch or plug. ![]() Now on to the smart features…and there’s a lot of them. With a smart switch, there’s no confusion, and unless they knew better, wouldn’t even realize all the features it’s hiding inside it’s plastic shell. This was confusing for people who didn’t know, because they’d walk into a room and flip the switch on, when it was actually turning them off. Smart bulbs require you to keep their switches turned on at all times so they could be controlled from your phone or smart assistant. Unlike smart light bulbs, these switches don’t confuse my wife or guests. You can use them as regular dimmer switches when you want, or you can geek out like me and set different scenes for when you wake up in the morning, are going to bed, watching a movie or even automatically adjusting throughout the day. That’s one of the things I really like about the Leviton switches. It should simply make your life easier, without requiring anything extra out of you. You shouldn’t have to remember how to use a smart device, nor go out of your way to use it. The best smart home devices integrate into your life without much hassle. I’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying again. ![]()
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