Outdoor HomeKit Lighting: products to buy and automation setup

Cupertino, April 24, 2020

One of the areas in my HomeKit lighting setup that I ignored for a long time was outdoors. Honestly, I didn't have a real need until recently, when I received a new puppy. If you have ever had a puppy, you know that he spends a lot of time outdoors trying to train his dog to use the bathroom outside. It has become clear that we do not have enough lightning in the open air when we take it out late at night and early in the morning. As any smart fan of the house would do, I looked to solve this problem free use an expensive electrician and add HomeKit support in this process. This week, I'm going to explain my HomeKit outdoor lighting setup.

Weekly HomeKit is a series focused on smart home accessories, automation tips and tricks and everything to do with the smart frame for Apple.


Homekit lightning outdoors in the front yard

Before I get to what I did in the backyard, I want to explain to you how easy it was to add HomeKit activated lightning to existing headlights. In my front yard, I have a standard projector that the manufacturer has introduced. All I had to do was change the existing bulbs to two Philips Hue outdoor flood lights that are paired with the Hue Outdoor motion sensor. If you do not have any Hue lights at this time, you will need the Hue Bridge to start using the products. Hue also offers a starter kit for a little more, which also includes two interior bulbs. If you need them, it's a better deal.

From the point of view of HomeKit automation, I set it where at 19:00, the motion sensor becomes active and automatically turns on the headlights, if it detects movement. It goes out after ten minutes. The idea here is to create a path if I come home after dark to go to the front door. If it is not someone in my family, the hope is that the headlights will defeat whoever comes to our door.

The installation process was very easy. After screwing in the lights, I turned on the switch and then used the Hue app to scan them. After they were added, I installed a software update, then I was up and running. It is much brighter than it was before.

Hue headlights

Lighting in the yard

In my yard, I have a flood light similar to the one in the front yard, which was not shielded on one side of my deck. All we did was add two more Hue Outdoor headlights, which turn on automatically in the dark if the back door is open. It will stop after 15 minutes. I use a home alarm system in my home so all the doors are exposed in the HomeKit (see the accommodation review).

Due to the location of the existing light, the vast majority of our yard is black at night. It was annoying for my kids when they wanted to play at night, but it became super annoying when I took the dog outside. As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to add a headlight that was HomeKit enabled and connect it without using an electrician. I knew I wouldn't be able to fish it at a light switch, so I had to get more creative with my outdoor HomeKit lighting setup.

The first problem I faced was that all the HomeKit flood lights I found were not the right color. Our shade is white, so it has to fit. Then I came up with a very fun solution. I bought a generic light in the right color and decided to connect it to an external HomeKit connector. I mounted the flood light next to my gutter, ran the outside power cord behind the gutter and under my screened porch. I then pulled the wire through the bridge next to the wall, put an external socket on it, and connected it to the HomeKit outdoor socket.

The socket (marked as “light” in the Home app) is connected to an automation where it lights up at night for 15 minutes if the back is opened. I can also use my HomePod to say "Hey Siri, turn on / off the lights in the backyard"

HomeKit Automation

Wrap in HomeKit outdoor lighting

I'm happy with our HomeKit outdoor lighting setup. All my Philips Hue products worked well. The only problem I got is one of the projectors presented as "non-updatable" in the software updates. I knew I had to update them due to a recent vulnerability. The solution was to delete the light from the application, turn off the button and turn it on again and add it again. As soon as I did that, the update appeared.

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