Crestron’s tunable LED light fixtures and Solar Sync sensor bring circadian rhythm lighting to its smart home

Image: Crestron

Crestron Home is adding lighting to its high-end residential platform. The company announced this week that it will be releasing a new full-color, tunable downlight light fixture in August. Smart lighting isn't a new feature for home automation, but lighting that automatically adjusts throughout the day in tandem with the natural changes of the sun is taking it up a notch.

There are some off-the-shelf smart lighting options that work with Apple HomeKit. Crestron's competitors in the pro-install space include Savant and Control4. The smart home has been slow to adopt this use-case for tunable smart lighting, which is often used in commercial spaces.

image: Crestron

The lighting routines can be hard to set up and implement. The Crestron Solar Sync is an outdoor sensor that will communicate the outside temperature to the Crestron Home platform in real-time. This allows your indoor lighting to mimic the exact light outside in your garden with little to no set-up needed.

According to John Clancy of Crestron, the company first developed the Solar sync for a retail customer who traditionally builds their stores with lots of glass. They have translated that tech into a residential setting. Users can pair Crestron's new light fixtures with the Solar Sync for a set-it-and-forget-it implementation or set up more personalized lighting changes in the Crestron app.

Image: Crestron

Scientific research shows that the human body responds to lighting changes and natural shades in the sun, which can make you feel happier and healthier. The right lighting can help you get more done during the day, make you sleepy in the morning, and aid you in winding down as the sun sets.

Crestron's new fixtures give users the control of hue, saturation, color temperature, and intensity of light, as well as the ability to adjust the time of day. They aren't smart bulbs you can retrofit, and they aren't cheap. Clancy says that the in-ceiling downlights are designed for new construction or remodels and will cost approximately $900 per fixture.

The company is partnering with third-party fixture manufacturers to create other lighting options, such as linear, chandelier, and sconce-style fixture with native Crestron Home integration.

Crestron's new battery-powered shades can be used to incorporate sunlight into lighting scenes. It's not always the best for task lighting to use asynced lighting for your body clock. Crestron now has the ability to switch between the two, with the system automatically reverting the lighting to where it should be when it goes back to the normal setting.