Smart plugs are a great way to transform your home into a smart home so that you can control all devices remotely. This means you can easily turn an ordinary home into a smart home by simply adding smart plugs to your house.
Is it really that simple, and can your smart plug work with such things as a touch lamp to control the features included with them? We will take a closer look at smart plugs to see whether you can use them with devices like your favorite touch lamp.
What is a Smart Plug?
A smart plug is an electrical plug you can insert in any electrical outlet or wall switch in your home so you can control any device remotely. This means the smart plug comes included with an app that can be installed on any mobile or smart device.
This setup will then make it possible to turn any home into a smart home that can be accessed from anywhere in the world. Thus, you can convert any plug-in lamp in your home into a smart light fixture.
How Do Smart Plugs Work?
You simply plug a smart plug into any electrical outlet in your home, then you plug any device or appliance in the smart plug. The next step is to connect the smart plug with any smart home assistant, such as Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa.
Alternatively, you can connect the smart plug with the app that comes with it, and that can be used to remotely control the plug. This in turn allows you to control the device or lamp, and even an appliance through your smartphone from anywhere. A physical switch is no longer necessary.
A smart plug is connected to your WiFi network at home wirelessly because these devices use WiFi connection protocols to communicate. You can also use the smart plug app to set a schedule for the lighting so your smart bulbs can be switched on and off.
This can be activated at certain times of the day when you are not home, but make people think you are. You can switch on a light fixture with the remote control and fool potential robbers into thinking they’re not alone.
What Are Smart Plugs Used For?
Smart plugs can be used for any type of appliance you want to control remotely, such as the coffee machine from your bed. You can switch on the space heater from the comfort of your favorite chair or activate the air conditioner without getting up.
For security purposes, it can be used to switch on lamps so burglars can be scared away, thinking you are home. You never need to worry again whether you switched off the oven at home if it is plugged into a smart plug.
The possibilities are endless when it comes to uses for a smart plug inside your home, or for devices at the office.
What is a Touch Lamp?
Touch lamps are smart lights that can easily be activated or switched on by a simple touch instead of throwing a switch. These lamps come included with great features such as tapping once and it will dim to a third of its capacity.
You can further increase the lighting capacity by tapping twice or three times to get the full output capacity of the lamp. This type of lamp will turn any light bulb you may insert in it into a smart bulb with different lighting intensities. You can buy table lamps for this purpose as well.
The controlling is done by a three-way smart dimmer switch installed in the bedside table touch lamp so you can control the brightness level.
Can a Touch Lamp be Controlled by a Smart Plug?
The short answer to this question is: yes, you can control your touch lamp via a smart plug from anywhere. There is one problem, though; you can not make use of the smart touch features included with the lamp remotely.
Since the touch lamp uses an electrical cord that can be plugged into the smart plug, you can switch it on or off. That means you cannot use the features like color spectrums and the brightness level of the touch lamp.
If you want to be able to do that, you need to invest in a smart hub for your home, wherein everything can be controlled. A smart hub in your home can help control the features of your touch lamp, but you cannot use the tapping options.
The smart switch located inside the touch lamp can be controlled via the hub and the smart plug through your smartphone. This way, you can set the brightness level of the touch lamp even if you are not in the room.
If you do not have a hub available, you can always use a separate dimmer switch to dim the light of your touch lamp accordingly.
Final Thoughts
You are a bit limited with a smart plug and a touch lamp when it comes to using all the features. However, you can still control the on and off options of the touch lamp remotely with your smart device, for some basic level of control.
So, go ahead and make your touch-sensitive lamps a bit smarter by using them through the smartphone from wherever you are.
