I’m in the market for RGBW light bulbs but all of the ones I’ve tested have a delay when turning on. When I say delay, I’m referring to time for the bulb to illuminate the bulb when flipping a dumb switch to turn on the light fixture. I have multiple bulbs in the fixture and all dumb LED bulbs turn on immediately but the smart bulbs have a short delay. It’s very noticeable when used next to dumb bulbs. This is even after flashing to Tasmota and removing from the cloud.
I’ve tried various wifi bulb (Lohas, Treatlife, LVWIT, Teckin, etc) bulbs and every one of them seems to have some sort of delay, some more significant than others. Is this expected for all smart bulbs? I don’t see anyone talking or comparing this as a factor in the many comparison videos out there. Anyone have a good experience with delays? I’m currently looking at wifi because of price but open to zigbee as well if the delay isn’t there.
I use lots of Philips Hue bulbs and I don’t see any delay when power is cut and then turned back on. But normally I don’t cut power to the bulbs, only when Home Assistant is down (and there hasn’t been any unplanned downtime in the last 3+ years for me).
Actually… thinking about it, my Lifx lights turn on instantly after power is restored too. That’s their unalterable default behaviour, which means I have had to automate a fix for power outages.
Wow, I can’t believe I didn’t think about that. It makes a lot of sense for most of my use cases and I have smart switches in some of the locations already,
The one that is still an issue is when it shares a fixture with other dumb bulbs. My primary use for RGB bulbs is as a visual reminder/indicator. For example, when the washing machine is complete and ready to be unloaded, a bulb in the main room turns blue until it’s emptied. Maybe my answer is to replace all of the bulbs in that fixture to smart bulbs and go the route of a standby smart switch but that seems like overkill.
I do understand but I also want my lights to function for everyone else in the house without the need for motion, voice, or automation. I realize a smart switch to control the bulbs is an option while keeping power. I’m less interested in the on/off aspect of smart bulbs and more focused on controlling colors and brightness. Most other lights where I need to control on/off are already setup with smart switches but I wasn’t thinking it would be necessary for these bulbs based on my use case.