Can you help me re Alexa and smart lighting?

[lorettalemon]

Not sure where to post but long time MNetter!

I've recently got an echo dot, I was reluctant at first because I didn't like the idea of it spying on me but it seems really good!

Now I've got beyond the novelty of asking it random trivia and to tell me jokes, I want to use it in ways to make things at home work better.

I would like to make it so that I can tell it to switch my lamps on (I've got no ceiling lighting but lots of lamps and it's a bit of a nuisance bending down to switch them all on because my mobility isn't great) and I was wondering if anyone does this and if they know how?

Do I need a smart plug for each lamp, or special lightbulbs as well, or something different? And do you need a different echo dot for each room so you can switch different sets of lights on?

I'm also not sure if it would work with the kind of lamps that have the sticky out switch just below the bulb that you flick the opposite way to turn them on and which way is off/on depends on how you left it when you switched it off at the wall.

I'd be ever so grateful if anyone who does use this system at home could tell me (and also if there are any other clever things it does which might be helpful!)

Thank you!

Alexa works with either a plug or a bulb. With the plug, alexa turns the power at the plug on and off so it is like unplugging the lamp. With the bulb it switches the bulb itself on and off so the lamp is always on.

You only need one echo to control all rooms. You can set a routine so if you say turn off the lights it will turn them all off at once. Or just turn on the lights in one room.

HTH

We have just set MIL up with all her table lamps on her Dot . She has a smart plug for each lamp ( we bought a set of 4 from Amazon) and she just needs to say “Alexa sun room lights on “or “Alexa living room lights on .”

Normal bulbs in each lamp .

Either with the bulbs or the plugs, the bulbs are probably cheaper.

We have alexa bulbs and cheaper combatible ones. I love them. Amazon do great deals

I'd say the advantages of bulbs are that you can change colour and can dim them. Downside is that they need replacing like regular bulbs (albeit relatively infrequently as they're LED). Main upsides of plugs are that you shouldn't need to keep replacing them like bulbs, therefore probably work out cheaper in the long run and you can also repurpose them to work other things like Christmas lights, turn the kettle on etc.

You can set up routines with both, for example we have lamps that come on at dusk and go off at dawn (you can still control them to go on and off outside of this), bedroom lighting is turned on when I make tea in the morning etc.

Thank you ever so much everyone who replied! I'm going to start off with some plugs and see how I go!