Best Sunrise Alarm Clock Set-Up?
September 24, 2015 6:32 PM Subscribe
I'd like to set something up to wake up using light. I've research the recent crop of smart light bulbs and my research has been hampered by lack of detailed operating info and reports that products don't often perform as described. Would love to hear a first-hand account...
...what would be ideal for me is some light bulb that can be set to gradually increase in intensity at a preset time. I need a system that is "fire and forget"--i.e., doesn't require my smart phone to be on all night to function. I'd also like to be able to turn it off and on during the day using my existing wall switch, without messing up the alarm programming.
My only other concern is that the LED bulbs I've seen don't dim very well, so I'd be interested to hear if a color-changing bulb is necessary to get a truly gradual waking effect.
Thx in advance, Jon
...what would be ideal for me is some light bulb that can be set to gradually increase in intensity at a preset time. I need a system that is "fire and forget"--i.e., doesn't require my smart phone to be on all night to function. I'd also like to be able to turn it off and on during the day using my existing wall switch, without messing up the alarm programming.
My only other concern is that the LED bulbs I've seen don't dim very well, so I'd be interested to hear if a color-changing bulb is necessary to get a truly gradual waking effect.
Thx in advance, Jon
Response by poster: oh yeah, forget to mention that I am not considering a stand-alone clock, as the ones I've tried in the past have made a buzzing noise when the light first comes on and/or they have some other annoying feature (e.g., impossible to fully dim the backlight)--but if there's one without those annoying features, that'd be great.
posted by Jon44 at 6:45 PM on September 24, 2015
posted by Jon44 at 6:45 PM on September 24, 2015
I used the non-color changing version of the Philips Hue for this and it worked fine for me (gradual brightening, still happy with the normal light switch, etc). I didn't notice any weird behavior in the dimming/brightening process. I believe that you can set up routines that will fire even when your phone isn't there/on (since one of the things they advertise it can do is change the lights when you're out of town) as long as the wireless bridge can reach the network, but I always leave my phone on and plugged in on the nightstand, so I can't swear to it.
posted by dorque at 7:06 PM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by dorque at 7:06 PM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
I used to have a plug-in light timer thing that would work with any bulb, but now I have a regular sunrise clock, one of the Philips ones, and it rules. I don't know how to set the timer thing anymore and I can't find a link to anything like it, I think they have been supplanted by the smart bulbs. FWIW, the display on my clock is orange light, which is the best for sleep hygiene. I don't cover it at night but it could be done.
posted by clavicle at 7:10 PM on September 24, 2015
posted by clavicle at 7:10 PM on September 24, 2015
So I’ve got a Phillips Hue set that I use for this, and I’m quite fond of it. It’s pretty easy to set up to turn on gradually at whatever time you want every day and doesn’t require your phone or anything once it's set up.
The biggest thing that doesn’t match your requirements is that while you can use the light switch to turn them on or off, you have to make sure to leave them on at the light switch when you go to bed or they can’t turn on in the morning (since they don't have power). I eventually got a Tap that I leave next to my bed that works great to turn them off or activate other presets, but there are also decent apps and a notification center widget for iOS at least. One option is to put a Tap on the wall and tape up / remove the regular light switch.
I haven’t compared them to a dedicated sunrise alarm; I guess one of those would be better at waking one up since I don't know if Hue can output quite the same kind of light, but I like the Hue anyway for it's flexibility.
Also haven’t tried the ones that just dim and don’t change color, but I like the color changing bulbs because I have them set to go red at night to try to help me go to sleep as well. Unfortunately, the color change doesn't take effect unless they're on when it happens (and if you turn them off and back on they default back to white).
I also forget if Hue works with wall switch dimmers if you have those. Their built in dimming works great though.
posted by savagerose at 7:10 PM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
The biggest thing that doesn’t match your requirements is that while you can use the light switch to turn them on or off, you have to make sure to leave them on at the light switch when you go to bed or they can’t turn on in the morning (since they don't have power). I eventually got a Tap that I leave next to my bed that works great to turn them off or activate other presets, but there are also decent apps and a notification center widget for iOS at least. One option is to put a Tap on the wall and tape up / remove the regular light switch.
I haven’t compared them to a dedicated sunrise alarm; I guess one of those would be better at waking one up since I don't know if Hue can output quite the same kind of light, but I like the Hue anyway for it's flexibility.
Also haven’t tried the ones that just dim and don’t change color, but I like the color changing bulbs because I have them set to go red at night to try to help me go to sleep as well. Unfortunately, the color change doesn't take effect unless they're on when it happens (and if you turn them off and back on they default back to white).
I also forget if Hue works with wall switch dimmers if you have those. Their built in dimming works great though.
posted by savagerose at 7:10 PM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
I have the color-changing Philips light therapy wake up alarm clock and LOVE it. It has a sound feature but you can turn that off. (Personally, I like the chirping birds). The light definitely doesn't make any weird noise or anything when it comes on. It starts to turn on 30 minutes before the alarm time and it usually wakes me up about 5 min before the alarm (which is when the sound actually kicks on, if you want it to).
It doesn't involve a smartphone whatsoever... there's just a button on the clock itself to set it. It's super bright when it's on full strength and definitely wakes me up well. Best hundred bucks I ever spent.
posted by raspberrE at 7:13 PM on September 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
It doesn't involve a smartphone whatsoever... there's just a button on the clock itself to set it. It's super bright when it's on full strength and definitely wakes me up well. Best hundred bucks I ever spent.
posted by raspberrE at 7:13 PM on September 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: @savagerose Thanks for the detailed info on Hue--I'm definitely considering it. With the Hue, one attractive aspect of that I have a few other places in the house where color-changing bulbs would be good. In particular, a porch where I have a red light at night so I can see if my cats are out there, but I'd like to have it be a white light in the morning. Is the operation that if you turn off and on the light it goes back to white, or could I program it so that if I turned it on at night it'd be red, and if I turned it on in the morning it'd be white? (Thx).
posted by Jon44 at 7:21 PM on September 24, 2015
posted by Jon44 at 7:21 PM on September 24, 2015
I did a ton of research on this earlier this year, read all the reviews, and bought this one: Philips HF3520 Wake-Up Light With Colored Sunrise Simulation, which is utterly fantastic.
The light starts out reddish, goes to yellowish, then can get as bright as you like (you can set it to end the cycle between a lovely bright and BLINDING white, whatever you prefer). On lower settings (it goes from 1-20, and you can leave it on for room lighting as well), it looks like the room is lit by candles.
It might not meet your light switch requirement (if you hooked it up to a wall switch it *might* retain all of its settings - I've accidentally unplugged it for short period and it's fine, but longer probably won't work). You do need to "set" it each night by pressing a button but I don't find that problematic.
That said, it has made an enormous difference for me. I don't use the radio at all, I like the sounds. The sunrise feature is fantastic (there's a demo function so if you order it you can press a couple of buttons and it shows you the entire process condensed to a minute and a half, so if you don't think you'll like it, you'll know pretty quickly and returning is easy). I didn't expect to use it, but in the darker months the sunset feature is also outstanding. The display adjusts to light as well so the clock is bright in the day, dimmed at night.
I have only two complaints:
- The buttons that run along the outside edge are all the same height, so turning it fully "off" in the morning requires feeling for a particular button. Outweighed by the "snooze" function, though, all you have to do is tap the edge. This is basically the only downside and is well-reflected in the reviews.
- The best of the bird sounds (in my opinion) turns out to be precisely the same birds that flock to the tree outside my bedroom window very early in spring, causing me to wake up at 5AM. I switched to the seagulls as I now live inland, problem solved. So, not really a problem!
From all of my research, no one light was perfect. I really like mine and think it was a good purchase - I don't often buy bigger-ticket items but this was worth it. As with anything, check out the reviews!
posted by mireille at 7:33 PM on September 24, 2015 [8 favorites]
The light starts out reddish, goes to yellowish, then can get as bright as you like (you can set it to end the cycle between a lovely bright and BLINDING white, whatever you prefer). On lower settings (it goes from 1-20, and you can leave it on for room lighting as well), it looks like the room is lit by candles.
It might not meet your light switch requirement (if you hooked it up to a wall switch it *might* retain all of its settings - I've accidentally unplugged it for short period and it's fine, but longer probably won't work). You do need to "set" it each night by pressing a button but I don't find that problematic.
That said, it has made an enormous difference for me. I don't use the radio at all, I like the sounds. The sunrise feature is fantastic (there's a demo function so if you order it you can press a couple of buttons and it shows you the entire process condensed to a minute and a half, so if you don't think you'll like it, you'll know pretty quickly and returning is easy). I didn't expect to use it, but in the darker months the sunset feature is also outstanding. The display adjusts to light as well so the clock is bright in the day, dimmed at night.
I have only two complaints:
- The buttons that run along the outside edge are all the same height, so turning it fully "off" in the morning requires feeling for a particular button. Outweighed by the "snooze" function, though, all you have to do is tap the edge. This is basically the only downside and is well-reflected in the reviews.
- The best of the bird sounds (in my opinion) turns out to be precisely the same birds that flock to the tree outside my bedroom window very early in spring, causing me to wake up at 5AM. I switched to the seagulls as I now live inland, problem solved. So, not really a problem!
From all of my research, no one light was perfect. I really like mine and think it was a good purchase - I don't often buy bigger-ticket items but this was worth it. As with anything, check out the reviews!
posted by mireille at 7:33 PM on September 24, 2015 [8 favorites]
i haven't tried it, but the withings aura seems to be aimed at your needs. i use a bunch of the other withings products and they work well for me.
posted by bruceo at 7:57 PM on September 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by bruceo at 7:57 PM on September 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
Nthing the Withings Aura. Picked one up a few months back. It does both a fading red light sleep pattern and a gradually-increasing blue light wake up pattern, both with accompanying sound/music. I have historically had issues both with going to sleep and waking up, and the Withings has done wonders for getting me down and up without hassle.
posted by hanov3r at 10:43 PM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by hanov3r at 10:43 PM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
I have a couple of LIFX bulbs in a lamp. Got them set up to come on automatically in the morning, go through a few different colors, ultimately brightening to bright! white! to tell me to get the heck out of bed. And then they fade to a white/purple combo to provide some mood lighting in the bedroom during the day.
I like the LIFX a lot better than the Hues. Hues have serious problems doing blue and green; LIFX have a pretty decent spectrum coverage.
Turning them on and off at the switch will interfere with the color change though, it comes on as the last thing it heard the Internet tell it to be. Though you can turn the power off for a couple seconds, then turn it back on, to get bright white. I just leave them on all the time at the switch, and control them from the phone/tablets. The time color changes happen from a server on the net, so I don't have to worry about keeping one of my devices on all the time, though.
I also went with it because I'm using a few more in the studio for mood lighting. And one in the foyer with a complex set of ifttt triggers to change color based on the outside temperature.
posted by egypturnash at 11:53 PM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
I like the LIFX a lot better than the Hues. Hues have serious problems doing blue and green; LIFX have a pretty decent spectrum coverage.
Turning them on and off at the switch will interfere with the color change though, it comes on as the last thing it heard the Internet tell it to be. Though you can turn the power off for a couple seconds, then turn it back on, to get bright white. I just leave them on all the time at the switch, and control them from the phone/tablets. The time color changes happen from a server on the net, so I don't have to worry about keeping one of my devices on all the time, though.
I also went with it because I'm using a few more in the studio for mood lighting. And one in the foyer with a complex set of ifttt triggers to change color based on the outside temperature.
posted by egypturnash at 11:53 PM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: For connected "smart" LED's, is there any option/configuration where the default is that the bulb is "off" (when you throw the light switch), then comes on as whatever it's programmed for at that time of day?
(I'd like to be able to manually turn bulb off during day and then have light set to be off at night, but have the option of flicking the light switch or not if I want the alarm and if I do turn light switch to "on", not have bulb light up right before going to bed.)
posted by Jon44 at 4:05 AM on September 25, 2015
(I'd like to be able to manually turn bulb off during day and then have light set to be off at night, but have the option of flicking the light switch or not if I want the alarm and if I do turn light switch to "on", not have bulb light up right before going to bed.)
posted by Jon44 at 4:05 AM on September 25, 2015
So, super basic option, which doesn't have dimming/brightening option -
just plug in a halogen heater to a power switch timer.
Super cheap, simple, easy, warms the room up for you to get dressed, and feels like waking up from a nap and bathing in the hot, hot sun (I'm cold right now, and wistful). And power switch timers are established tech, you can switch from the alarm mode to normal 'on' mode really easily.
You can even have more than one power switch timer, one for the halogen heater, and another for a lamp directly facing you in bed, which would provide a two-stage room lightening effect.
posted by Elysum at 6:28 AM on September 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
just plug in a halogen heater to a power switch timer.
Super cheap, simple, easy, warms the room up for you to get dressed, and feels like waking up from a nap and bathing in the hot, hot sun (I'm cold right now, and wistful). And power switch timers are established tech, you can switch from the alarm mode to normal 'on' mode really easily.
You can even have more than one power switch timer, one for the halogen heater, and another for a lamp directly facing you in bed, which would provide a two-stage room lightening effect.
posted by Elysum at 6:28 AM on September 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: For searchers of the future, the Ilumi "smart" bulb appears to be the smartest in terms of being able to use it with a regular wall light switch (i.e., it comes on at a programmed hue and intensity).
posted by Jon44 at 6:02 AM on September 28, 2015
posted by Jon44 at 6:02 AM on September 28, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by good lorneing at 6:39 PM on September 24, 2015