How To Select the Right Smart Home Lighting Control System

Weighing the pros and cons of wired and wireless systems for your Palm Beach home

If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you know we at First Priority Audio are big believers in home lighting control. While we’ve talked about what you can gain from installing a lighting control system, we haven’t yet spent a lot of time talking about the technical aspects of the devices.

That’s what this article aims to fix. Today we’ll break down the two broad categories of lighting control systems – wired systems and wireless ones – as well as the pluses and minuses of each type of home lighting control. If you live in Palm Beach or nearby areas of Florida, don’t miss advice from your local integrator below.

SEE ALSO: 3 Powerful Benefits of Smart Home Lighting Control

WIRED: PROS AND CONS

The primary reasons to go with a wired system are reliability and centralized control. In these systems, every fixture is directly linked to a central lighting switch, which is usually housed in an out-of-the-way spot like a utility closet. A direct, hardwired connection means there’s a minimal chance of communication issues between devices.

However, it’s important to note that a wired system requires more hardware and is more complicated to install than a wireless one. These factors make wired systems more expensive, and better suited to new construction, or at least major remodels, because contractors will have easier access to your walls and wiring.

WIRELESS: PROS AND CONS

While wired lighting control systems are reliable but pricey, wireless systems are cheaper but are more prone to potential technical hiccups. Let’s start with the pros of wireless systems. For one, they’re much easier to install; you can set up the dimmers, sensors and other components yourself in a matter of minutes. Once everything is in place, you can control everything with ease from your phone, a wall panel or a touchpad.

Because wireless systems require fewer components and take less time to install, they’re cheaper than wired systems. If you’re looking for a system to fit an existing home, wireless systems are also considerably easier to install in a retrofit because you don’t need to dig into any walls. However, you are relying on wireless connections between devices, which may cause the occasional glitch.

 

If you want to know more about home lighting control or are ready to upgrade, we have the solutions you’re looking for. You can call us at (954) 650-3074, or you can visit our contact page. If you’d like to speak with a customer service associate right now, click on the chat box in the corner of your browser. For a sample of our work, check out our project gallery.