Christmas lights remote control recommendations.

[Hv&Lv]

I had someone ask me a week or so about this switch remote system on amazon. They are wanting to turn the Christmas lights on/off with a simple remote rather than going to every decoration daily to do this.

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I was reading through here about the remote systems for lighting you guys install.
I’ve only wired Christmas lights on a switch or two in houses. Haven’t really thought about remote controlling them since I don’t have to turn them on or off...

Which system do you guys recommend?

 

[tom baker]

Leviton and amazon have switches controlled by apps, and work via alexa.

 

[paulengr]

Phillips has a patent on holiday lighting but utterly fails to do anything useful with it. The sets you see in Lowe’s and HD is it. There is a company that sells “kits” that control I think up to 16 devices with TRIACs (brightness) that you can program via PC. They network and FM transmitters or audio out is available. More fancy imported systems use DMX and Cat 5 cable (Not Ethernet protocol). The LED strip lights you see used at sports arenas work off the same system with a special controller at the end. Most of the software is free or reasonably priced. Some is more primitive (per light control) and others do blocks or sequences. The thing is you quickly go from home to pro level depending in your budget. Look on YouTube at the Lake Mira show in Wendell, NC for instance. He is using the basic system on a large scale.

 

[mikeames]

What Tom said. There are too many to pick. It depends on the infrastructure that the customer already has. If they use Alexa or Google (I don't) then there are many that will simply plug in.

If they don't then there are stand alone systems like what you linked to, or there are custom setup using open source packages such as Tasmota using devices such as Shelly 1 (Wifi Relay)

Your probably looking for a general consensus since you know the details, but my answer is I don't have a go to because everything is so splintered in "smart home" stuff and it depends too much on the customers needs, understanding, and current usage.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

I got one years ago at Lowes for $12 or there about.