Every home should be at the heart of many celebrations over the years. Think back to all the children’s birthday parties, supposedly hush hush teenage house parties, family Christmases, spooky Halloween fancy dress parties, to name but a few. Now, imagine how you could enhance each of these beautiful occasions with the introduction of ‘the perfect co-host.’ Today, we will party like it’s 1999, with the smart technological advances of 2021. Well, what are you waiting for… let’s party!
An intimate dinner party
So, you have the champagne chilling, and you get instant notifications on your smartphone when the oven is at the right temperature to start cooking the main course. Start by welcoming your guests with canapes and champagne in the garden before dinner. Switch on the garden fountain while your guests arrive. Use dawn and dusk triggers to brighten the garden lights whilst the sunsets. Preset the Smart Thermostat to automatically heat the dining room to the perfect temperature before your guests sit down to eat, create a chilled intimate dinner party playlist, and command your smart assistant to play it in the background at the perfect volume. Allow your perfect co-host to create ‘scene lighting.’ Create an intimate ‘scene’ by recalling different preset lighting combinations at the touch of a button.
A surprise birthday bash
So everybody is hiding in the living room. Suddenly, you hear the electric gates open, and the birthday star has arrived home. Order the Smart Dimmer to turn off the lights, ready to surprise the guest of honour. Want music to set the scene? Create a birthday playlist and use your voice to command the smart speaker to play happy birthday as the door opens, or you could even program the playlist to start at the same time as you use a Smart Dimmer to turn on your birthday lighting. Stop your guests from getting too hot whilst they dance the night away by controlling the smart thermostat to turn down the living room’s temperature. You can even preset a bright and fun birthday lighting scene using the Lightwave App to create the perfect atmosphere for your birthday bash. Turn up the volume on your specially designed birthday playlist by a simple voice command to your virtual assistant.
A Family Movie Night
The movie choices have been deliberated over and selected, the snacks are ready, and everybody else has changed in their comfy PJs. Running late from work? No problem. Set a command in advance for the Smart Thermostat to heat the room to the perfect temperature fifteen minutes in advance. It is easy to make fresh popcorn at the touch of a button. Now all you need is for your ‘perfect co-host’ to help control the intensity of the cinema room lighting, and by voice commands alone, you have the power to turn the lights off as the movie starts and on again when the credits roll. Need extra surround sound? Easy, for seamless integration, using the assistance of Apple HomeKit, Google Home or Amazon Alexa, you can ask for the volume to be increased to create the feeling of being in the cinema!
Every great party needs a magic button.
Imagine a co-host that doesn’t steal the limelight but is always by your side at the touch of a button. Now visualise a smart device that could regulate all sockets and lights in your home. All you need to achieve this reality is the Lightwave Link Plus. You can create an automation called an ‘If-Do’. In simple terms, it means that ‘when this happens > do this’. For example, a Lightwave Smart Dimmer can be used as the ‘trigger’ for this automation, with several devices called ‘actions’.
Here is how to set up an ‘IF-DO’ automation. This example uses a “Magic Button” as the Trigger. First, open the Lightwave App, click the ‘+’ button, select ‘Automation’ and select an ‘If Do’. Next, tap on Add Trigger and select the device you would like to be the Trigger from the list. It is crucial to choose Switch as the trigger command, so you have the option for On or Off. You can tap the box that says ‘ON’ to change the Trigger, then tap on Add action. Now select the devices you would like the Trigger to control. Once completed, you can view a summary page where you can change the states of the devices and add time conditions. You have the option to select the days and times you would like the Trigger to operate. Insert the automation name and press Done. Once the automation is complete, you will see an icon on the automation page, and your Magic Button is ready to become activated.
Lightwave PLUS members are able to take the Magic Button concept one step further with Custom Multi-Press. This allows you to program different scenes and group triggers from a single button; double press for your ‘movie time’ scene, triple press for your optimal temperature setting.
Any Lightwave Smart Series device can act as a Magic Button, including Smart Dimmers, Smart Sockets, and even our Smart Heating Switch. Apple HomeKit, Google Home and Amazon Alexa all have their own versions of automations or routines that can be set up to reflect almost the same level of control as the Lightwave app. With voice control, you can ask your ‘perfect co-host’ to set the party in motion.
So now you have met your perfect co-host and can hold wonderful parties together in your smart home. Have fun!