Key takeaways
- 1A colour is a single look. A scene is a saved look (colours, effect, brightness, zones). A schedule tells the controller when to play a scene.
- 2Build a small library of scenes once (everyday warm white, Christmas, Halloween, Canada Day) and switch between them with one tap.
- 3Dusk-to-dawn schedules follow the real sunset time, so they need no adjusting through the year.
- 4Zones let you treat the garage, the front peaks and the back of the house separately.
- 5Anyone you invite to the app can control the lights from anywhere, without your Wi-Fi password.
Exact screen names vary a little between app versions, and your installer will have shown you the app that matches your controller. The ideas below are the same in every version: you pick colours, save them as scenes, and let schedules run those scenes automatically.
Colours and brightness
Open your controller in the app and you will see a colour picker. Drag around the wheel for any of 16 million colours, or tap a preset. For white light, use the white or colour-temperature control rather than mixing colours: warm white around 2700K is the classic architectural look, 4000K is a cleaner modern white, and 6500K is a crisp daylight white that reads slightly blue at night.
Brightness is a separate slider. Full brightness is impressive but most homes look best somewhere between 40 and 70%. Lower brightness also keeps light out of bedroom windows and is kinder to neighbours.
Scenes: save it once, use it forever
Once a look is right, save it as a scene. Give it a name you will recognise in December ("Christmas red and green", "Everyday warm white"). A scene stores the colours, the effect if any, the brightness and which zones are involved. Switching your whole house between scenes is a single tap.
- Everyday: warm white, 50% brightness, all zones.
- Christmas: alternating red and warm white, slow twinkle, all zones.
- Halloween: orange and purple chase, front zones only.
- Canada Day: red and white, static, all zones.
- Game night: your team colours, front zones, 100% brightness.
Effects and patterns
Because every LED point is individually addressable, the app can run patterns: alternating colours, chases, fades, twinkles and gradients. Two settings matter for a tasteful result. First, speed: slow effects look premium, fast ones look like a fairground. Second, spacing: an alternating pattern that repeats every two or three points reads well from the street, while every point a different colour turns to mush at a distance.
Schedules and dusk-to-dawn
Schedules are what make the system hands-off. A schedule pairs a scene with a start and end time. Start times can be a clock time or sunset with an offset (for example sunset minus 15 minutes); end times can be a clock time or sunrise. Because sunset in London, Ontario moves from about 4:45 PM in December to almost 9:00 PM in June, always use the sunset option for the start.
- 1
Everyday schedule
Scene: Everyday warm white. Start: sunset. End: 11:30 PM (or sunrise if you prefer security lighting all night). Repeat: every day.
- 2
Holiday override
Add a second schedule for Christmas red and green from December 1 to January 6. When two schedules overlap, the app follows the more specific (dated) one. Delete or disable it in January and the everyday schedule takes over again.
- 3
Pre-load the year
Create dated schedules for Valentine's, St. Patrick's, Canada Day and Halloween once. They will recur every year without you remembering them.
Zones
If your home has more than one run of track, or a detached garage tie-in, your installer will have set up zones: separate sections you can control independently. Zones let you light the front peaks in colour while the back stays warm white, or turn the garage off for a party in the driveway. Scenes remember which zones they include, so a "front only" scene is easy to build.
Sharing access
Invite family members from the sharing or members section of the app. Each person installs the app and signs in with their own account; they never need your Wi-Fi password. If you sell your home, remove your account and the new owner pairs their own phone, or call us and we will reset the controller for them.
Firmware and app updates
Occasionally the app will offer a controller firmware update. Run it in the evening when you are home; the lights may go dark for a minute or two while it installs. Keep the phone app updated from the App Store or Google Play as normal.
Voice assistants
Many controllers can be linked to Amazon Alexa or Google Home so you can say "turn on the roofline lights". Support depends on the controller model installed on your home; ask us at your handover or call the office and we will confirm what yours supports and help you link it.
Frequently asked
The app asks for a location permission. Why?
Sunset and sunrise schedules need your approximate location to calculate the right times. You can also type in your city instead if you prefer not to share device location.
Can I control the lights when I am away from home?
Yes. As long as your home Wi-Fi and internet are up, the app works from anywhere in the world over mobile data.
Why do my colours look different from the app preview?
Phone screens and LEDs render colour differently, and light bouncing off a coloured wall shifts the tone. Adjust by eye from the street at night and save the scene once it looks right.
Can I dim to almost nothing for a bedroom side?
Yes. Create a zone for that side and give it its own brightness inside the scene, or schedule it to turn off earlier than the front.
