After leaving the customers over and over again without smart control in their lights, the Sengled from Amazon’s Sengled has been running It works with Alexa. like I mentioned for the first time TechhiveStarting from August 1, Alexa’s skill from Sengled to control it LED lamps, plugs, keys, and sensors With your voice and the routine is no longer available.
In a statement to freedom “We are carrying a high tape for Alexa experience. Sengled has seen a series of long interruptions over the past few months that have not been resolved, preventing customers from using the Sengled Alexa skill to control their lighting lamps.”
The future does not seem bright for Sengled, who has been silent since the problems began earlier this summer. It seems that there There is no connection to customers From the company (Amazon communication For her customers about power outages), not any reference to these issues on its website. Repeated attempts by freedom To contact the Sengled, a non -response was faced.
If your lamps are Wi-Fi, you are lucky.
There is some good news. If you have SenGLed lamps that use Zigbee, BLE Network or topicInstead of Wi-Fi, they can still work with Alexa by bypassing Sengled intermittent servers and communicating with A compatible loudspeaker or a Wi-Fi Eero router (This may require its preparation again). Another option is Connect the Zigbee lamps to the third party platform axes This supports the protocol, such as the home assistant, Hubitat, or Aeotec SmartTHings Hub.
But if your LI-FI lamps are for Sengled, you are lucky. This will not connect to Alexa, although it will continue to work with the Sengled app, as long as the Sengled servers are still working. Users began Report problems therealso. All this shows that relying on cloud services to run your lights is a fragile solution.
This is a story that we have often seen in the smart home. Only last month, Belkin closed her home work, and the smart home cemetery is scattered with other examples: IhomeRevolv, Staples Connect, LOWES ‘Iris, Best Buy’s Insignia, and more.
A common thread with this closure is that the products depend on cloud servers. At one time, it was easier and lowest for the company’s development unit -based control unit from a local system, as it does not require a center or bridge and can be more simple in preparation and use.
However, companies must maintain these servers, as well as API connections with smart home platforms and sound aides such as Alexa and Google Assistant, which can be expensive and dense resource. When the business model no longer sets out, history shows us that if they cannot sell it, companies are closed.
This leads me to my best advice to anyone who buys a smart home device today, especially something that is an integral part of the lighting: Make sure it has a local control option. In this way, if the company is exposed or stopped providing the service you have registered in, your device will continue to work (somehow). In addition, locally controlled devices tend to be faster, as they do not have to wait for a response from the server.
Dependence on cloud services to operate your lights is a fragile solution.
As observed, some lamps are not dependent on cloud connection and instead it can work locally in your home. Thanks to a connection via local protocols such as Apple’s HomeKit or Zigbee, some products from those above companies are still operating as well, although their servers are disappeared.
This is one of the reasons why the new material standard is very important for the smart home. Although it faced its problems, the material is based on the foundations of HomeKit, Zigbee and other technologies. It is a completely local protocol, communicating with the Issue Observer (HUB) in your home, not on the company’s cloud.
Although the ecosystems of the material such as Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa and Home assistant can contact the cloud to give control when you are away from home and enable other features such as sound aides, this is a layer in addition to the material. If a device like a smart lamp supports the issue, either via Wi-Fi or an interconnected indicator, you will not need the Internet to turn the lights. If the manufacturer’s servant dies, your device will not do so.
The issue is not the only option here. The Zigbee, Z-WAVE, BLE and BLE network provides local Wi-Fi local control as well. But uniformity of the material, its widespread support, its use of uncommon IP protocols, and the expansion of its compatibility in general and should make it more isolation in the future.
The position with Sengled is just a reminder that for a truly reliable smart house, look for local control. Although the cloud provides benefits, it should be part of your solution for a more intelligent, not the only.
It was developed by Apple, Amazon, Google, Samsung and I am freeMATTER is an open source connection software layer and IP for smart home appliances. It works on Wi-Fi, Eternet and Thread.
The topic is a low -energy wireless network protocol. It works on the same 2.4 GHz spectrum as Zigbee is designed for low -power devices, such as sensors, lights, plugs, and shades. IP -based strands can communicate directly with each other, the Internet, and with other networks using the string boundaries of the thread.
Today, Matter supports most types of major devices at home, including lighting, thermostat, locks, robot voids, refrigerators, dishwashers, dryers, ovens, smoke warnings, air quality chargers, EV shipments, and more.
A smart home tool can be prepared with the material logo and used with any environmental system compatible with the issue through an issue control unit and is controlled by more than one ecosystem with a feature called Multiple.
Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, Apple Home, Home Home, IKEA and Aqra are among the well -known smart home companies that support the material, along with hundreds of hardware manufacturers.