TP-Link Smart LED Bulbs

etgohomeok wrote: ↑ I have 8 of the dimmable white bulbs set up in my apartment along with a few Google Home minis. They work pretty well and integrate well with Google Assistant. The ones that are farthest from the router sometimes struggle a bit since the 2.4 GHz band is pretty congested in my building (the bulbs do not support 5 GHz) but it's uncommon for them not to work, and I suspect that in a house with less WiFi congestion this would be even less common. But I would make sure you have a good router that can handle lots of devices if you want to get a bunch of these.

redkulat wrote: ↑ Wouldn't it have been cheaper to get a hub system for that many bulbs?

Freakatola wrote: ↑ Quick question for owners, is there some sort of override like a double switch flip to bypass the WiFi switch? I’d like to use these where I have a 4-pole switch setup, but if there is no manual override it could cause some problems for my use case.

Exp315 wrote: ↑ TP-Link offers 4 dimmable WiFi bulbs: LB100 (50 watts), LB110 (60 watts), LB120 (adjust white balance), and LB130 (change colour). They go on sale fairly frequently. The current sale is not quite the best ever, but close enough if you want one.

I got the LB100 last year on sale for $17. Most of the time it works fine, but a couple of observations:
- Every couple of weeks it loses its network connection and doesn't get it back until reset. No idea why - it gets a decent WiFi signal at its location.
- The brightness scale is very non-linear, i.e., 20% requested is about 60% actual, so automatic brightening schedules don't work well. I wish TP-Link would have calibrated it better.
- Control is via the Kasa app and TP-Link's Kasa internet service, so you are dependent on an outside service to control it (except that it can execute a pre-set schedule locally)

Via Kasa it is supported by Google, Alexa, IFTTT, Stringify, SmartThings etc.

If you are going to buy several smart bulbs, you might want to reconsider whether WiFi is the right way to go - a ZWave or Zigbee system has the up-front cost of a hub, but the bulbs are cheaper and they won't be adding traffic to your WiFi network.