Customizable color and white light that can be controlled from anywhere and replace your 75W bulbs for lighting throughout your home, in white or thousands of vibrant colors
Turn your lights on/off automatically, make it seem like you’re home when you’re not
Control multiple bulbs at once with one tap
Easily control millions of colors and dimming options with your voice or the Geeni app
These multicolor smart light bulbs have Wi-Fi built right in so you can choose soft white or the perfect color for any occasion
NO required hub or gateway to set up or use
Simply download the app, twist in bulbs, and connect
An energy-efficient lighting option at only 11-Watt but still bright at 1050 lumens, the equivalent of a 75-Watt incandescent bulb
With the Geeni app (iOS or Android) you can control your hubless smart light bulbs from anywhere
Set a schedule, adjust color brightness, and turn on/off with a touch of a button
Lights can be grouped together or kept separate
In addition to the smartphone app Geeni smart bulbs are also compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant, so they can be controlled by voice creating a totally customized home lighting experience
@thechinglish none of the WiFi bulbs that I’ve used support 5ghz. It is absolutely normal to need to switch to a 2.4 network to set up on a home. But afterwards, you can switch back to your 5ghz and it operates as normal.
@sstaver@thechinglish I’ve had the same experience with many smart home devices. Plugs, locks, bulbs. Some routers offer both bands on the same name which gets tricky but still works.
@sstaver@thechinglish Or just keep the SSID the same for 2.4GHz and 5GHz and let your devices choose which to use. The majority of routers, even the cheap crap that your ISP gives you, won’t prevent devices on 5GHz from talking to devices on 2.4GHz.
@sstaver@thechinglish@pricciar I’ve had a much better time with devices that have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi — they seem to get around the 5GHz problem by pairing with the app over Bluetooth, and then the app connects them with the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network.
These don’t have Bluetooth, and the software they use (Tuya) makes pairing over Wi-Fi more of a chore. If your router uses the same SSID for 2.4 and 5GHz and you can’t turn the 5GHz off long enough for them to find each other, you may never get these bulbs to work.
@Aspirant_Fool@sstaver@thechinglish no that’s not correct. Unless there is a Bluetooth component in play during setup (the vast majority of cheap Wi-Fi enabled devices do not use BT, these included), your phone stores a different hashed password for the 2.4GHz network than it does for the 5GHz network even if you set the wireless SSID and password the same. Your phone will see the new device during setup but will send the credentials for the network it is connected to (which is invariably the 5GHz network because your phone prefers higher bandwidth connections when they are available). For routers like Orbi, they are setup as one network, so it can be a pain to first go on to the router’s settings, turn off the 5GHz broadcast, forget your network on your phone where the app is located, reconnect to your (now 2.4GHz) Wi-Fi on your phone, then setup devices like these. Not impossible, but a pain if you have to do this whenever you want to add new devices along the way.
Yes, it is correct. I’m looking around at the 25+ random devices I have connected to my WiFi, and I’ve never once had the issue you’re describing, nor have I ever used Bluetooth for setup. I use the same SSID for 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks, and my cameras, light bulbs, outlets, speakers, etc. are all happily sitting on whichever band they prefer.
Perhaps this is a limitation present in your preferred vendors’ products, but it is absolutely not a universal limitation. The majority of my devices, and the majority of devices I’ve encountered in general, used app-based setup and would broadcast a temporary SSID on first boot. Phone drops off WiFi, connects to temp SSID, app prompts for credentials, device uses credentials to join the band of its preference.
Even the Wemo smart plugs that I bought from here and set up with HomeKit don’t have this issue, despite Belkin having a support article describing exactly this issue.
@Aspirant_Fool@sstaver@thechinglish Sorry, I tried to edit my post to remove that first sentence. It would not let me.
If your phone is already connected to the 2.4GHz network, all of what you describe will work perfectly.
When it is not, it causes confusion and unfair criticism about equipment. My profession is providing technical support for individuals and small businesses, and every week someone has a problem adding a smart device to a Wi-Fi network.
@ohhwell Sure there is, when 2.4ghz is so overly saturated (think crowded neighborhoods, offices, apartments) that these devices can’t communicate effectively.
@hockeyham Lol - my TP-Link smart bulbs did that. It turns out that the recloser logic used in electrical distribution systems (at least in the US) synchronizes well with the on-off-on-off-on sequence that resets the bulb settings.
I was tempted, but I’ll wait for the lava lamp. And a time wasting search shows that LED lava lamps do actually exist. Understanding that meh is the final home of all really stupid products, probably won’t have to wait long…
@ergomeh Got a link?
I’m trying to understand how exactly that’ll work since it’s the heat of incandescent bulbs that melt the wax and make the “lava” move via convection.
@ergomeh@Kerig3 There is no such thing as an actual lava lamp that uses an LED light source. Because lava lamps rely on the heat generated by an incandescent bulb to work, an LED one simply wouldn’t work. I see a few products claiming to be ‘lava lamps’ or lava-style lamps that use LED lights, but these aren’t real lava lamps.
@ergomeh@EvilSmoo@Kerig3 That would completely defeat the entire purpose of using an LED light, unless maybe the heating coil outlasts the easily replaceable incandescent bulbs it’s supposed to take the place of.
@EvilSmoo@Kerig3@PooltoyWolf A much better Meh-centric solution would be to have and LED Lava Lamp with a built in cryptomining ASIC. Said ASIC could be controlled by an app that is no longer supported and won’t run on any modern hardware.
@hchavers That is why I run my IOT stuff on a different network fully isolated from my home network. PFSense is the bomb, and 2.4 WIFI units are 3 bucks at a thrift like Goodwill.
@aryia11@hchavers would these work without internet? I have a sneaking suspicion that, without a hub, the app and the devices would communicate via a server and not directly communicate over the wifi network
I have a couple of geeni/merkury outdoor smart plugs, and maybe a couple of indoor ones as well. They have worked without problem. I’m tempted to try a box of colored bulbs.
@MarkML go for it. i actually got the light bulb first, then i got the outdoor smart plugs for christmas lights, and then i ebay some super generic IR transmitter that uses the Tuya platform to turn on/off my TV.
I’ll give you one fan-fucking-tastic use for smart lights that god willing no one else will need, but someone will. When my toddler refuses to go to bed and keeps getting up and turning on her light, I can shut it off through the app without going back in her room. I could tell my smart device to do it, but some nights when she’s particularly persistent, I’d go hoarse.
meh sold these back in 12/2020, 4-pack geeni smart light bulb for $35, and I bought it. Merkury is the re-brand of the same product sold in Wal-Mart. I have bought a few of these randomly when I see Wal-Mart clearance them out and it will work perfectly with the app. You can also use the generic Smart Life app if you don’t care for the Geeni or Merkury branding or the lack of updates in app store. It is now 5/2023 and only one of those bulbs have stopped worked. I will probably buy this deal and I will have enough smart bulbs for the next 10 years of my life.
@azndante Are they the same as the ones sold in March 2021. The genie prisms 1050? I bought a 4 pack. They work well. Except they are in a fixture that has a dimmer and so if they are on white they flicker. So I usually keep them purple, no flicker and I can still see. But it would be nice to occasionally have a normal light without the flickering.
@azndante@DVDBZN I have the geeni app for my geeni bulbs and I have no issues. The app works great. I have set an alarm on it so if my normal alarm doesn’t get me out of bed the lights turning on will. It’s easy to change colors and set. I’ve also got it with Alexa so if I say goodnight it turns my lights off for me.
@DVDBZN I never have any problems with connections or slow. Cheap smart home products all run off the Tuya platform. The app experience is meh. I did switch all my bulbs and light strip over to “Smart Life” app (the generic reference app made by Tuya or “Volcano Technology”), but what experience do we really want from the app? I personally hate additional apps. I only need the app for connection into Google Assistant/Google Home, which I use daily to turn things on or off. I do have automation/timer set in the app, and the color changing rave scenes that can only be activated through the app are fun, but I have forgotten all about it after I played with it just like the write up meh wrote. Since we are talking about it now, looks like Smart Life 5.0 was released on 4/2023. Let me turn on my old tablet that had the app installed and update it. I am probably on a really old version. If you really care to dig behind the scenes - https://developer.tuya.com/en/docs/app-development/changelog?id=Ka6o3br3pb4fo
@remo28 I have one bulb still in original packaging and it says “Geeni is a trademark of Merkury Innovations LLC”. I am not employed by meh so I cannot confirm or deny, but I am going to place my bet on yes it is. The copyright date on the box I still have list 2018. LED bulbs are not compatible with dimmer switch back then, especially cheap ones - which probably is causing your flicker. None of mine are on dimmer and they are perfect. I actually gained the dimmer feature through Google Assistant/Smart Life app with these smart bulbs.
@DVDBZN@mwarren so i never tried tuya-convert because “To ensure the best chance of success, do not connect your device with the official app” and “Unfortunately many devices have already been shipping with the new patched firmware… There is no workaround at this time”… and I already connected with the official app by the time I learned about tuya-convert…
I also want my light to work when it needs to work instead of me hacking it, running on my own server, and having it stop working on me unexpectedly
so my smart life app was still on 4.6.2. last updated 12/2022. clearly i haven’t missed this app for the last 5 months. looks like sms and phone call notifications are the new features.
@azndante@DVDBZN
I have several smart bulbs throughout my house. I think they are GE or rebrand of similar. I used their app (Cync) for the setup and in the two years they’ve lit my home, Alexa voice controls them. When they’ve lost sync all I’ve had to do is power cycle the bulb and it links right back up with Alexa (Now you’ve got me wondering. I need to see if I can set them up only using Alexa… Hmmm)
HTH, YMMV
@azndante but do they flicker on a dimmer? Every frickin’ bulb I have gotten for my parents’ house has that annoying flicker that will give me a migraine every time, and they like having the dimmer because it’s still 1974 in there.
Wait, why do smart bulbs need access to the cloud?
Excellent question! The marketing team would answer that it allows them to provide their customers cloud connected features such as Alexa, IFTTT, Google Home, Apple Home, etc…; remote access from phone apps; and firmware upgrades.
Suspicious customers would answer that it allows the manufacturer to require you to buy an online subscription (Wzye, BMW, I’m looking at you!), allows them to monitor customer usage, opens the door to 'bot net mining operations, and provides a foothold for cyber ops.
The ideal situation would be for all WiFi routers to include a standardized Home Assistant server that IoT devices could attach to and provide privacy preserving, local, low latency control.
If I buy 3 packs and set them all up at once, will they network and become Skynet?
I was looking for plugs once, found some that apparently reset themselves on power loss, how annoying. My Kasa stuff is better.
I’d set my parents up with them, but they’ve used incandescent for decades, explaining to my mom that she needs to control a lamp from someplace other than the light switch is impossible. Then she’ll complain that the switch doesn’t work.
LASTLY… wow 48 energy vampires galore, all sucking wifi power 24/7? Eww.
@EvilSmoo@Lynnerizer
I wouldn’t think that their connection would be noticable. They are only using the private network 2.5Ghz bandwidth when you are changing their state: lights on command, lights off, change color, etc. I believe they will get assigned an IP address, like my wifi printer, may always be “listening” but they shouldn’t be constantly interacting and eating up bandwidth. (I could be wrong, Dad is the network wizard.)
@EvilSmoo@mwarren You know it’s really hard to beat a switch as a user interface for a light. They’re typically conveniently positioned, stuck in place, so you can’t loose them, and don’t reset and stop working. And Amazon doesn’t try to upsell you on some feature every time you turn them on or off.
@ergomeh@EvilSmoo@mwarren I dunno, I’ve lived quite a few places where the light switch locations seems like they threw darts at the home schematic to decide where to put them.
I can’t decide if the fact that my house was built in the earliest days of home electricity excuses the terrible placement or makes it worse because the whole electrical system has been replaced since then.
@EvilSmoo@mwarren@otherstalin An interesting factoid. The NFPA Electrical Code requires that you have a switch at the top and bottom of the stairs that controls a light on the stairs. It does not, however specific that it has to be the same light.
This is fairly impressive. Twenty four bulbs for the price of 1 to 1.5 Philips Hue bulbs. It’d probably cost ya more than $2.00 to get just a bare ESP32 microcontroller that these probably use.
@haydesigner Same. And after counting up all the remaining regular lights that I have in my house, and even after you reminded me of the two outdoor lights, I’m still in the single digits.
I’ve actually been shopping for LED smart bulbs for several weeks, a few times procrastinating just long enough for the current deal of the day to sell out. I sure as heck don’t need 24 of them though, I probably won’t be around long enough to use that many!
Hmm… Maybe my sister would be interested in half of the pack.
¯\(ツ)/¯
Just bought 2 sets of bulbs (48) & 3 outdoor light strings from Amazon, 16 lights per strand, with (E26 base <- important). 48 into 48 = 144ft of PARTY LIGHTS
Wifi, the spec, supports 254 clients. Devices can handle that many if they have the resources but they aren’t required to do so. An ISP-provided wifi router made with the least possible RAM & cpu can support as few as a dozen.
Don’t believe me? Here is an article straight from TPLINK where they say their small office/home office (SOHO) products be limited to 25 connections with triband routers limited to 50.
@Helmet0987@jamesmcp@quattrose
That’s probably the way to go: Get a handful of cheap, used 2.4GHz only routers and set them up for different groups of lightbulbs. Make sure to use different channels, preferably the same frequency your neighbors are using, so you don’t waste unused channels. Then pick seven to eight SSIDs like “hallway lightbulbs” or “bathroom moodlight”.
Your neighbors will be delighted to live next to someone who’s so into cool technology and will certainly try to get in contact with you.
@eric1024 I’d like to know if these can be easily reflashed first. Particularly after reading the comment about an older line being unsupported by the manufacturer.
@HankB33 Yeah after some date it seems the chipset may have changed. Not sure which ones these have. I’d rather flash them and have them local, but if that doesn’t work I think they should still work by connecting them to the Tuya app and using the Tuya integration. We’ll see.
Here’s a thread about this particular model, but who knows if it’s the same hardware revision: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/esphome-for-merkury-innovations-mi-bw210-999w/
@eric1024 Thanks for the link. That was three years ago and there seems to be a good chance things have changed, even the factory firmware may have closed the hole that facilitated the flash.
I am sitting here trying to think of a use for even 1 of these bulbs. Maybe the hallway fixture for the timer function and dimmer capability.
OK whew, sold myself!
But… I think I will pass on this offering, 24 is way more than I need and if the company goes out of business and shuts down their servers, there goes all the programmable features.
@ohhwell Sidedeal has a more appropriate $20 for 10 - I passed because I have absolutely no need for 24 of these but can stomach using 3-5 of these and shelving the remaining 5 for “future” use.
FYI this company used to sell under the iHome brand and then dumped support for all the older devices when they moved to Geeni. Only bulbs connected to homekit could function; all Android owners were SoL with their devices bricked. IIRC, once the app died you couldn’t even bind them to Homekit.
There were grumbles of enforced obsolence on the web then.
I see no reason to expect a repeat would not happen and the presence of entire flats of bulbs on Meh suggests that another bricking event is coming soon.
I get the impression that the color control is stepped, meh. Nothing is said about fade effects or speed, extra-meh. The default color of “white” and its tunability isn’t given, so the default “it will be warm white unless otherwise stated” rule applies; Do Not Want. Give me a way to get 6000K or higher, or I’m not buying. All other bells and whistle are irrelevant if that’s not met. (Costco or Sams recently had some “Daylight” LEDs that claimed to be 5000K, but they’re actually closer to 3700K - YUK! So now I have even less trust than before about color temp ratings.)
@werehatrack Interesting. Just curious, do you have a way of measuring the spectrum of light, or just going by appearance and comparison to other bulbs? I’m thinking there may be apps that can do that with a phone or tablet camera, but haven’t researched into it at all.
@pmarin Estimate based on direct comparison to a number of reference devices whose color temp I know is accurate. (And one that also claims 5000K but actually measured more like 4500 with one of the color temp meters.) I have a color temp sensor in transit at this point; I’m really not happy about the number of times I’ve been scammed about this.
@Tankshock You do you for your spaces, but by Zeus, Odin, Athena, Birgitta, Freya, Cthulhu, Nyar Lat-Hotep and Hastur, I’m going to bloody well have what I want in mine. And I really like 6000K to 6500K light in my working and living spaces.
@ChadP The granularity on the band looks useful enough if all you want is blends of RG or GB or RB, but it doesn’t seem to have a direct way to do all three at the same time, and the default warm-white is just a no-go for me.
@ChadP I see that the specs have been updated to reflect that these have a default color temp of 2700K, way off in the direction I despise. It’s just as well that I was suspicious of them even before I knew that, and now I have an even better idea of why they’ve ended up on Meh.
If you find any instructions on how to flash these with tasmota, it probably won’t work. A couple years ago they changed the wifi module from ESP to WB2L. Not flashable anymore (at least not without opening the bulb).
However, if I knew for certain that these light bulbs were found in a basement that had been sealed off three years ago, this would be a pretty good deal.
@formfeed You can flash them with Tuya Cloudcutter. That lets you either just snip the cloud and use the Tuya local API, use openbeken (Tasmota clone), or the Tuya fork of ESPHome. I put ESPHome on one and it works great. The profile you use is merkury-innovations-mi-bw210-999ww-rgbct-bulb-v2.9.16.json.
There are on Sidedeals now for the same price per bulb (but you only have to get 10).
@naething Great, I have some of these bulbs round and was waiting for OTA. (Don’t like using opened and resoldered bulbs or sealed plug-ins, but have no problem doing it with controllers and switches.) But yeah, unfortunately tuya disabled it again in newer firmware. While OTA works for my stuff and current meh/sidedeals it won’t work anymore once stock rotated. Still great.
Question for those that already have these. Do they retain their last setting if the power cycles? Reason I ask is I’d like to use these in my exterior garage lights that are controlled by a light sensor (on at dusk, off at dawn) and would like to set them to colors of the season (like halloween and christmas).
@ChadP Thank you. My question is that if you have them set to say blue in color, and they lose power by having the light switch turned off, if you turn it back on, do they return to the blue color? I have several hue lights that are supposed to do that, and they do…and then they don’t, lol. At $2 ea, I went ahead and ordered them, but still would be interested to know how they handle power interruptions.
I have a set from years ago purchased from the amazonians. They’re fine. They drop connection with my wifi even at close range and forget who they are if not turned on at least once every couple of days, resulting in them flashing when you turn on the switch. Then I get yelled at by my wife for installing smart bulbs anywhere at all
Does anyone know if you can trigger these to switch to a scene via automation? I have a bunch of different bulbs that are all different brands, and some of them I can automate to party mode (swap to one of the color changing scenes) and back, a bunch at a time, via Alexa; others don’t have the option in any of the various smart device apps… they only let you switch if you manually set the scene for each individual bulb in the app, one at a time.
ya know i picked up four of these from here like two or three years ago. they’re still going strong fwiw and i didn’t have any trouble setting them up. that said i don’t know if i need 24 more of them
Soo… If ya lose ur phone, can you STILL flip a switch on or off ??
Orr… In a rural area with spotty signal, do ya stay Dark, Flicker, OR in a state of constant enlightenment? (Uhm… I live inTN.can I pls Wish for an enlightenment switch?)
aka… Can they just be used as a REGULAR FKN LED BULB, WITH A REGULAR FKN ON/OFF ELEC. SWITCH?
OBVIOUSLY electricity is needed…
BUT does THAT fkn switch have to be “smart” too? Y’all may think “DUH” but, SOME of us doesn’t Always have access, long enough to be well versed in all this KaKa… Don’t mind paying $2 per bulb, BUT I’d LIKE to be able to USE some of them! IN CASE, I don’t have signal, I loose or break my phone, it’s my ONLY access…Want them?…Will I just be FUKT, if I need to turn on a light to FIND my damned phone?? SOMEBODY TELL ME SOMETHIN’!!!
I can’t be sure but based on my experience the bulb would remain in the state it was in when you lost your wifi. So if the bulb was on when signal lost it would remain on and you could turn it off by using the light switch on the wall (or on the lamp if the bulb is in a lamp) to turn it on or off. However if the bulb was off when signal lost you would not be able to turn it on. My thinking is the bulb would remain in the state it was in when the wifi signal was lost. So if the bulb was in a red or color state when signal lost it would remain red until wifi restored. Can’t be sure though because I haven’t had this occur since I have only started using smart bulbs in the last few weeks. I’m basing this on my experience with smart plugs rather than bulbs.
@dave a This reminds me I need to get off my butt and finish installing these. I’ve done the bedrooms, just need to do the rest of the house. I only wish the lowest setting was dimmer.
Specs
Product: 24-Pack: Merkury A21 Smart Multicolor+White Dimmable Bulbs
Model: MI-BW210-999WW
Condition: New
Works with the Geeni App
What’s Included?
Price Comparison
$143.88 at Amazon
Warranty
One year limited warranty
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Oct 28 - Thursday, Oct 31
Not compatible with 5GHz networks
HahahahahahahahahHhHhHhHhHahahahahahahaahahahahaha
@thechinglish none of the WiFi bulbs that I’ve used support 5ghz. It is absolutely normal to need to switch to a 2.4 network to set up on a home. But afterwards, you can switch back to your 5ghz and it operates as normal.
@sstaver what’s a 2.5GHz network
@sstaver @thechinglish I’ve had the same experience with many smart home devices. Plugs, locks, bulbs. Some routers offer both bands on the same name which gets tricky but still works.
@sstaver @thechinglish Or just keep the SSID the same for 2.4GHz and 5GHz and let your devices choose which to use. The majority of routers, even the cheap crap that your ISP gives you, won’t prevent devices on 5GHz from talking to devices on 2.4GHz.
@sstaver @thechinglish @pricciar I’ve had a much better time with devices that have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi — they seem to get around the 5GHz problem by pairing with the app over Bluetooth, and then the app connects them with the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network.
These don’t have Bluetooth, and the software they use (Tuya) makes pairing over Wi-Fi more of a chore. If your router uses the same SSID for 2.4 and 5GHz and you can’t turn the 5GHz off long enough for them to find each other, you may never get these bulbs to work.
@thechinglish there absolutely no reason for a light bulb to need the higher bandwidth and shorter range of the 5 Ghz band.
@Aspirant_Fool @sstaver @thechinglish no that’s not correct. Unless there is a Bluetooth component in play during setup (the vast majority of cheap Wi-Fi enabled devices do not use BT, these included), your phone stores a different hashed password for the 2.4GHz network than it does for the 5GHz network even if you set the wireless SSID and password the same. Your phone will see the new device during setup but will send the credentials for the network it is connected to (which is invariably the 5GHz network because your phone prefers higher bandwidth connections when they are available). For routers like Orbi, they are setup as one network, so it can be a pain to first go on to the router’s settings, turn off the 5GHz broadcast, forget your network on your phone where the app is located, reconnect to your (now 2.4GHz) Wi-Fi on your phone, then setup devices like these. Not impossible, but a pain if you have to do this whenever you want to add new devices along the way.
@Jonas4321 @sstaver @thechinglish
“no that’s not correct”
Yes, it is correct. I’m looking around at the 25+ random devices I have connected to my WiFi, and I’ve never once had the issue you’re describing, nor have I ever used Bluetooth for setup. I use the same SSID for 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks, and my cameras, light bulbs, outlets, speakers, etc. are all happily sitting on whichever band they prefer.
Perhaps this is a limitation present in your preferred vendors’ products, but it is absolutely not a universal limitation. The majority of my devices, and the majority of devices I’ve encountered in general, used app-based setup and would broadcast a temporary SSID on first boot. Phone drops off WiFi, connects to temp SSID, app prompts for credentials, device uses credentials to join the band of its preference.
Even the Wemo smart plugs that I bought from here and set up with HomeKit don’t have this issue, despite Belkin having a support article describing exactly this issue.
@Aspirant_Fool @sstaver @thechinglish Sorry, I tried to edit my post to remove that first sentence. It would not let me.
If your phone is already connected to the 2.4GHz network, all of what you describe will work perfectly.
When it is not, it causes confusion and unfair criticism about equipment. My profession is providing technical support for individuals and small businesses, and every week someone has a problem adding a smart device to a Wi-Fi network.
@ohhwell Sure there is, when 2.4ghz is so overly saturated (think crowded neighborhoods, offices, apartments) that these devices can’t communicate effectively.
there’s no way i can eat this many lightbulbs before they expire
@omally It is a best by date not an expiration date.
One brownout and your house becomes a rave
@hockeyham Lol - my TP-Link smart bulbs did that. It turns out that the recloser logic used in electrical distribution systems (at least in the US) synchronizes well with the on-off-on-off-on sequence that resets the bulb settings.
@HankB33 @hockeyham That can’t be right. I have a brown out every morning and my lights are fine.
I was tempted, but I’ll wait for the lava lamp. And a time wasting search shows that LED lava lamps do actually exist. Understanding that meh is the final home of all really stupid products, probably won’t have to wait long…
@ergomeh Got a link?
I’m trying to understand how exactly that’ll work since it’s the heat of incandescent bulbs that melt the wax and make the “lava” move via convection.
@ergomeh @Kerig3 There is no such thing as an actual lava lamp that uses an LED light source. Because lava lamps rely on the heat generated by an incandescent bulb to work, an LED one simply wouldn’t work. I see a few products claiming to be ‘lava lamps’ or lava-style lamps that use LED lights, but these aren’t real lava lamps.
@ergomeh @Kerig3 @PooltoyWolf I suppose if they just use a heating coil and LED light source.
@ergomeh @EvilSmoo @Kerig3 That would completely defeat the entire purpose of using an LED light, unless maybe the heating coil outlasts the easily replaceable incandescent bulbs it’s supposed to take the place of.
@ergomeh @EvilSmoo @Kerig3 @PooltoyWolf
It’s not about purpose. Incandescent, by itself, is evil and wicked. It kills polar bears and butterflies.
Sure, 6 of 1 and half dozen of the other energy wise but your betters have made this choice for you and so you can just sit down and zip it.
@ergomeh @Kerig3 @PooltoyWolf
A “real lava” lamp would be dangerous. And hard to assemble.
@EvilSmoo @Kerig3 @PooltoyWolf A much better Meh-centric solution would be to have and LED Lava Lamp with a built in cryptomining ASIC. Said ASIC could be controlled by an app that is no longer supported and won’t run on any modern hardware.
Hackers Delight in Wifi Lights
@hchavers Mercury: because crypto ain’t gonna mine itself
@hchavers That is why I run my IOT stuff on a different network fully isolated from my home network. PFSense is the bomb, and 2.4 WIFI units are 3 bucks at a thrift like Goodwill.
@aryia11 @hchavers would these work without internet? I have a sneaking suspicion that, without a hub, the app and the devices would communicate via a server and not directly communicate over the wifi network
Meh, you @#$% up my life.
So, wait, 24 Chinese spy balloons for $48?
I have a couple of geeni/merkury outdoor smart plugs, and maybe a couple of indoor ones as well. They have worked without problem. I’m tempted to try a box of colored bulbs.
@MarkML You can’t say “Colored”
@MarkML go for it. i actually got the light bulb first, then i got the outdoor smart plugs for christmas lights, and then i ebay some super generic IR transmitter that uses the Tuya platform to turn on/off my TV.
@azndante @MarkML I just read that the app to run these bulbs is a minimum of $65/month. Is that true???
@chris1958 @MarkML what app you talking about? I have not paid anything at all.
@MarkML, different app, same name “Geeni”. Tried to delete comment but it wouldn’t let me!
I can’t come up with 24 places to put light bulbs. This package is just too big.
@kevinrs Yep, that’s more bulbs than I’ll ever need. If it were 12 I’d consider buying.
@kevinrs
/image the rent is too damn high
@kevinrs That’s what she said…
@kevinrs @quattrose Came here to say that. Beat me to it. (Geez…I just realized there’s a lot of innuendo in my comments…)
I’ll give you one fan-fucking-tastic use for smart lights that god willing no one else will need, but someone will. When my toddler refuses to go to bed and keeps getting up and turning on her light, I can shut it off through the app without going back in her room. I could tell my smart device to do it, but some nights when she’s particularly persistent, I’d go hoarse.
@mtb002 Unfortunately, when you turn these on and off again (twice) they start blinking and lose their config. Not great.
meh sold these back in 12/2020, 4-pack geeni smart light bulb for $35, and I bought it. Merkury is the re-brand of the same product sold in Wal-Mart. I have bought a few of these randomly when I see Wal-Mart clearance them out and it will work perfectly with the app. You can also use the generic Smart Life app if you don’t care for the Geeni or Merkury branding or the lack of updates in app store. It is now 5/2023 and only one of those bulbs have stopped worked. I will probably buy this deal and I will have enough smart bulbs for the next 10 years of my life.
@azndante
How are the app experiences? I’ve always had bad experiences with cheap smart home apps, always bad at connecting, or slow to load.
@azndante Are they the same as the ones sold in March 2021. The genie prisms 1050? I bought a 4 pack. They work well. Except they are in a fixture that has a dimmer and so if they are on white they flicker. So I usually keep them purple, no flicker and I can still see. But it would be nice to occasionally have a normal light without the flickering.
@azndante @DVDBZN I have the geeni app for my geeni bulbs and I have no issues. The app works great. I have set an alarm on it so if my normal alarm doesn’t get me out of bed the lights turning on will. It’s easy to change colors and set. I’ve also got it with Alexa so if I say goodnight it turns my lights off for me.
@DVDBZN I never have any problems with connections or slow. Cheap smart home products all run off the Tuya platform. The app experience is meh. I did switch all my bulbs and light strip over to “Smart Life” app (the generic reference app made by Tuya or “Volcano Technology”), but what experience do we really want from the app? I personally hate additional apps. I only need the app for connection into Google Assistant/Google Home, which I use daily to turn things on or off. I do have automation/timer set in the app, and the color changing rave scenes that can only be activated through the app are fun, but I have forgotten all about it after I played with it just like the write up meh wrote. Since we are talking about it now, looks like Smart Life 5.0 was released on 4/2023. Let me turn on my old tablet that had the app installed and update it. I am probably on a really old version. If you really care to dig behind the scenes - https://developer.tuya.com/en/docs/app-development/changelog?id=Ka6o3br3pb4fo
@remo28 I have one bulb still in original packaging and it says “Geeni is a trademark of Merkury Innovations LLC”. I am not employed by meh so I cannot confirm or deny, but I am going to place my bet on yes it is. The copyright date on the box I still have list 2018. LED bulbs are not compatible with dimmer switch back then, especially cheap ones - which probably is causing your flicker. None of mine are on dimmer and they are perfect. I actually gained the dimmer feature through Google Assistant/Smart Life app with these smart bulbs.
i pulled the trigger
/giphy lost-foul-ravioli
@azndante @DVDBZN How well does tuya-convert work to free these bulbs from the cloud?
@DVDBZN @mwarren so i never tried tuya-convert because “To ensure the best chance of success, do not connect your device with the official app” and “Unfortunately many devices have already been shipping with the new patched firmware… There is no workaround at this time”… and I already connected with the official app by the time I learned about tuya-convert…
I also want my light to work when it needs to work instead of me hacking it, running on my own server, and having it stop working on me unexpectedly
so my smart life app was still on 4.6.2. last updated 12/2022. clearly i haven’t missed this app for the last 5 months. looks like sms and phone call notifications are the new features.
@azndante @mwarren
Wait, why do smart bulbs need access to the cloud?
@azndante @DVDBZN
I have several smart bulbs throughout my house. I think they are GE or rebrand of similar. I used their app (Cync) for the setup and in the two years they’ve lit my home, Alexa voice controls them. When they’ve lost sync all I’ve had to do is power cycle the bulb and it links right back up with Alexa (Now you’ve got me wondering. I need to see if I can set them up only using Alexa… Hmmm)
HTH, YMMV
@azndante but do they flicker on a dimmer? Every frickin’ bulb I have gotten for my parents’ house has that annoying flicker that will give me a migraine every time, and they like having the dimmer because it’s still 1974 in there.
@azndante @DVDBZN @mwarren According to my research these bulbs don’t have an ESP in them and don’t work with tuya-convert.
@azndante @DVDBZN
Excellent question! The marketing team would answer that it allows them to provide their customers cloud connected features such as Alexa, IFTTT, Google Home, Apple Home, etc…; remote access from phone apps; and firmware upgrades.
Suspicious customers would answer that it allows the manufacturer to require you to buy an online subscription (Wzye, BMW, I’m looking at you!), allows them to monitor customer usage, opens the door to 'bot net mining operations, and provides a foothold for cyber ops.
The ideal situation would be for all WiFi routers to include a standardized Home Assistant server that IoT devices could attach to and provide privacy preserving, local, low latency control.
@yeppers
Oh… can you provide more details?
@azndante @DVDBZN @mwarren does not work. They got the new chip.
.! Now what to do with 23 bulbs I can not use.
If I buy 3 packs and set them all up at once, will they network and become Skynet?
I was looking for plugs once, found some that apparently reset themselves on power loss, how annoying. My Kasa stuff is better.
I’d set my parents up with them, but they’ve used incandescent for decades, explaining to my mom that she needs to control a lamp from someplace other than the light switch is impossible. Then she’ll complain that the switch doesn’t work.
LASTLY… wow 48 energy vampires galore, all sucking wifi power 24/7? Eww.
@EvilSmoo I was wondering about that, will I notice the difference on my already overloaded and dragging WiFi?
@EvilSmoo Your Mom has the right idea. When the switch is flipped off, these bulbs can’t draw any power!
@EvilSmoo @Lynnerizer
I wouldn’t think that their connection would be noticable. They are only using the private network 2.5Ghz bandwidth when you are changing their state: lights on command, lights off, change color, etc. I believe they will get assigned an IP address, like my wifi printer, may always be “listening” but they shouldn’t be constantly interacting and eating up bandwidth. (I could be wrong, Dad is the network wizard.)
@EvilSmoo @mwarren You know it’s really hard to beat a switch as a user interface for a light. They’re typically conveniently positioned, stuck in place, so you can’t loose them, and don’t reset and stop working. And Amazon doesn’t try to upsell you on some feature every time you turn them on or off.
@ergomeh @EvilSmoo @mwarren I dunno, I’ve lived quite a few places where the light switch locations seems like they threw darts at the home schematic to decide where to put them.
I can’t decide if the fact that my house was built in the earliest days of home electricity excuses the terrible placement or makes it worse because the whole electrical system has been replaced since then.
@EvilSmoo @mwarren @otherstalin An interesting factoid. The NFPA Electrical Code requires that you have a switch at the top and bottom of the stairs that controls a light on the stairs. It does not, however specific that it has to be the same light.
This is fairly impressive. Twenty four bulbs for the price of 1 to 1.5 Philips Hue bulbs. It’d probably cost ya more than $2.00 to get just a bare ESP32 microcontroller that these probably use.
@GLaDOS Get out of my head!
Nice deal I just don’t have the need for 24 light bulbs.
The reviews on Amazon are pretty great, surprisingly. You know what, I’ll give them a try.
/giphy sparkling-active-polish
@The_Tim So Jamie Hyneman approves of these?
@The_Tim Thanks. That sparkly mustache just triggered a seizure.
@The_Tim @Trinityscrew
I can’t stop looking at that mustache…
And I’m not even buzzed yet!
I just went over this in my head… I think have just one indoor light and three outdoor lights that these would fit.
Wouldn’t go through 24 of these in three lifetimes.
@haydesigner Same. And after counting up all the remaining regular lights that I have in my house, and even after you reminded me of the two outdoor lights, I’m still in the single digits.
/giphy barefoot-ambiguous-crowd
/image barefoot-ambiguous-crowd
Looks like everyone will get smart bulbs for their birthdays.
I’ve actually been shopping for LED smart bulbs for several weeks, a few times procrastinating just long enough for the current deal of the day to sell out. I sure as heck don’t need 24 of them though, I probably won’t be around long enough to use that many!
Hmm… Maybe my sister would be interested in half of the pack.
¯\(ツ)/¯
@Lynnerizer At the very least, anything you don’t use would make great stocking stuffer/white elephant gifts?
Just bought 2 sets of bulbs (48) & 3 outdoor light strings from Amazon, 16 lights per strand, with (E26 base <- important). 48 into 48 = 144ft of PARTY LIGHTS
@bugger Total Cost… $188
@bugger With tax in CA $231
@bugger Plus installation added $690
@bugger Plus buying a friend to come party with me added in $5900 & one hooker for 6 hours $9369
What a good time I may have…
@bugger Forget the friend just the hooker adjusted cost of $4369. The friend cost too much…
@bugger OOOHHH BOOOYEEEE
@bugger Strangely, this was the post that convinced me.
@mwarren lmao. Sometimes I just need to shut up. But. Honestly done right you can make the best of this deal.
/showme smart lights being smart with a banana for scale
/showme smart lights being smarter than Einstein with a banana for scale
I bought 2 of these years ago and they were junk. Food for thought. Also most routers can only support so many WiFi devices
@Helmet0987 Yes, only so many. Like 250+.
@Helmet0987 @quattrose yeah, but it can only communicate with a couple at a time, so more devices means more time each spends waiting for its turn.
@Helmet0987 @quattrose
Wifi, the spec, supports 254 clients. Devices can handle that many if they have the resources but they aren’t required to do so. An ISP-provided wifi router made with the least possible RAM & cpu can support as few as a dozen.
Don’t believe me? Here is an article straight from TPLINK where they say their small office/home office (SOHO) products be limited to 25 connections with triband routers limited to 50.
https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/201748
So this box of bulbs plus the phone to control them can max out Wifi-5 routers that are maybe 3 years old.
@Helmet0987 @jamesmcp @quattrose
That’s probably the way to go: Get a handful of cheap, used 2.4GHz only routers and set them up for different groups of lightbulbs. Make sure to use different channels, preferably the same frequency your neighbors are using, so you don’t waste unused channels. Then pick seven to eight SSIDs like “hallway lightbulbs” or “bathroom moodlight”.
Your neighbors will be delighted to live next to someone who’s so into cool technology and will certainly try to get in contact with you.
Only 24 colored bulbs??? If it were a more reasonable number like a 100 pack I’d be interested.
In for 24 attempts to connect these to Home Assistant.
/giphy magical-blighted-rooster
@eric1024 I’d like to know if these can be easily reflashed first. Particularly after reading the comment about an older line being unsupported by the manufacturer.
@HankB33 Yeah after some date it seems the chipset may have changed. Not sure which ones these have. I’d rather flash them and have them local, but if that doesn’t work I think they should still work by connecting them to the Tuya app and using the Tuya integration. We’ll see.
Here’s a thread about this particular model, but who knows if it’s the same hardware revision: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/esphome-for-merkury-innovations-mi-bw210-999w/
@eric1024 Thanks for the link. That was three years ago and there seems to be a good chance things have changed, even the factory firmware may have closed the hole that facilitated the flash.
I am sitting here trying to think of a use for even 1 of these bulbs. Maybe the hallway fixture for the timer function and dimmer capability.
OK whew, sold myself!
But… I think I will pass on this offering, 24 is way more than I need and if the company goes out of business and shuts down their servers, there goes all the programmable features.
@ohhwell Sidedeal has a more appropriate $20 for 10 - I passed because I have absolutely no need for 24 of these but can stomach using 3-5 of these and shelving the remaining 5 for “future” use.
FYI this company used to sell under the iHome brand and then dumped support for all the older devices when they moved to Geeni. Only bulbs connected to homekit could function; all Android owners were SoL with their devices bricked. IIRC, once the app died you couldn’t even bind them to Homekit.
There were grumbles of enforced obsolence on the web then.
I see no reason to expect a repeat would not happen and the presence of entire flats of bulbs on Meh suggests that another bricking event is coming soon.
@jamesmcp these work with the Tuya app as well as Geeni
/buy
@Seeds It worked! Your order number is: tearful-present-anger
/image tearful present anger
@mediocrebot
/giphy tearful present anger
Sticking with my Hue
Will they work as normal white 75 watt bulbs if you don’t set them up as smart bulbs?
@silverqueen yes
@silverqueen I’d be shocked if they were actually that bright, though.
So obviously no homekit support but there should be no reason these wouldn’t work with Homebridge?
/giphy cynical persuasive vampire
/showme smart lights being stupid with a banana for scale
I get the impression that the color control is stepped, meh. Nothing is said about fade effects or speed, extra-meh. The default color of “white” and its tunability isn’t given, so the default “it will be warm white unless otherwise stated” rule applies; Do Not Want. Give me a way to get 6000K or higher, or I’m not buying. All other bells and whistle are irrelevant if that’s not met. (Costco or Sams recently had some “Daylight” LEDs that claimed to be 5000K, but they’re actually closer to 3700K - YUK! So now I have even less trust than before about color temp ratings.)
@werehatrack Interesting. Just curious, do you have a way of measuring the spectrum of light, or just going by appearance and comparison to other bulbs? I’m thinking there may be apps that can do that with a phone or tablet camera, but haven’t researched into it at all.
@werehatrack It’s a warm white. Probably in the 3000k range.
Colors in the app are on a slider. It’s pretty responsive and fast.
@werehatrack lol why would I want 6k light? I’d feel like I’m in a dentist office lol
@pmarin Estimate based on direct comparison to a number of reference devices whose color temp I know is accurate. (And one that also claims 5000K but actually measured more like 4500 with one of the color temp meters.) I have a color temp sensor in transit at this point; I’m really not happy about the number of times I’ve been scammed about this.
@Tankshock You do you for your spaces, but by Zeus, Odin, Athena, Birgitta, Freya, Cthulhu, Nyar Lat-Hotep and Hastur, I’m going to bloody well have what I want in mine. And I really like 6000K to 6500K light in my working and living spaces.
@ChadP The granularity on the band looks useful enough if all you want is blends of RG or GB or RB, but it doesn’t seem to have a direct way to do all three at the same time, and the default warm-white is just a no-go for me.
@ChadP I see that the specs have been updated to reflect that these have a default color temp of 2700K, way off in the direction I despise. It’s just as well that I was suspicious of them even before I knew that, and now I have an even better idea of why they’ve ended up on Meh.
If you find any instructions on how to flash these with tasmota, it probably won’t work. A couple years ago they changed the wifi module from ESP to WB2L. Not flashable anymore (at least not without opening the bulb).
However, if I knew for certain that these light bulbs were found in a basement that had been sealed off three years ago, this would be a pretty good deal.
@formfeed Yeah. I want these if I can flash them. If I can’t they’re landfill food, so maybe not worth the risk.
@formfeed You can flash them with Tuya Cloudcutter. That lets you either just snip the cloud and use the Tuya local API, use openbeken (Tasmota clone), or the Tuya fork of ESPHome. I put ESPHome on one and it works great. The profile you use is merkury-innovations-mi-bw210-999ww-rgbct-bulb-v2.9.16.json.
There are on Sidedeals now for the same price per bulb (but you only have to get 10).
@naething Great, I have some of these bulbs round and was waiting for OTA. (Don’t like using opened and resoldered bulbs or sealed plug-ins, but have no problem doing it with controllers and switches.) But yeah, unfortunately tuya disabled it again in newer firmware. While OTA works for my stuff and current meh/sidedeals it won’t work anymore once stock rotated. Still great.
I don’t want or need a light bulb to be connected to my Wi-Fi. For me, it’s added fluff “look what I can do” app junk.
@pwetmore So how do you change the color of your hallway light without getting off the couch? See, there is so much you are missing out on.
@formfeed @pwetmore
Paintball full of dye, preceded by one full of bleach if necessary.
Question for those that already have these. Do they retain their last setting if the power cycles? Reason I ask is I’d like to use these in my exterior garage lights that are controlled by a light sensor (on at dusk, off at dawn) and would like to set them to colors of the season (like halloween and christmas).
@beachhead I had to set mine up twice on wifi but have had good luck since then.
@ChadP Thank you. My question is that if you have them set to say blue in color, and they lose power by having the light switch turned off, if you turn it back on, do they return to the blue color? I have several hue lights that are supposed to do that, and they do…and then they don’t, lol. At $2 ea, I went ahead and ordered them, but still would be interested to know how they handle power interruptions.
I have a set from years ago purchased from the amazonians. They’re fine. They drop connection with my wifi even at close range and forget who they are if not turned on at least once every couple of days, resulting in them flashing when you turn on the switch. Then I get yelled at by my wife for installing smart bulbs anywhere at all
@guyfromhawthorn don’t worry about being yelled at by the wife. She’s just training you to ignore her…so she can yell at you for ignoring her (lol)
I want to want these, but I’d probably just use the white. Unless they flash to music, then it’s party on
What incandescent equivalent wattage are these rated for? 60, 75, 100?
@scottpfanstiel 75
Does anyone know if you can trigger these to switch to a scene via automation? I have a bunch of different bulbs that are all different brands, and some of them I can automate to party mode (swap to one of the color changing scenes) and back, a bunch at a time, via Alexa; others don’t have the option in any of the various smart device apps… they only let you switch if you manually set the scene for each individual bulb in the app, one at a time.
@drewskig Can confirm that these do work with Alexa and can be run via routines.
/giphy fit normal wizard
ya know i picked up four of these from here like two or three years ago. they’re still going strong fwiw and i didn’t have any trouble setting them up. that said i don’t know if i need 24 more of them
ugh it’s only because i’ve had a decent experience with these that i’m committing fifty dollars to lightbulbs
/giphy cantankerous-transient-raspberry
/giphy exhausted-spicy-circle
@louisdi That is an awe some giphy.
Soo… If ya lose ur phone, can you STILL flip a switch on or off ??
can I pls Wish for an enlightenment switch?)
…Will I just be FUKT, if I need to turn on a light to FIND my damned phone?? SOMEBODY TELL ME SOMETHIN’!!!
Orr… In a rural area with spotty signal, do ya stay Dark, Flicker, OR in a state of constant enlightenment? (Uhm… I live inTN.
aka… Can they just be used as a REGULAR FKN LED BULB, WITH A REGULAR FKN ON/OFF ELEC. SWITCH?
OBVIOUSLY electricity is needed…
BUT does THAT fkn switch have to be “smart” too? Y’all may think “DUH” but, SOME of us doesn’t Always have access, long enough to be well versed in all this KaKa… Don’t mind paying $2 per bulb, BUT I’d LIKE to be able to USE some of them! IN CASE, I don’t have signal, I loose or break my phone, it’s my ONLY access…Want them?
@mammy87 I don’t know the answers to this, but I like your phrase: enlightenment switch
@mammy87 Yes.
SEE?? Couldn’t finish & send til TODAY
STILL wanna know, in case they pop up for sale again!!! So, YES, IT’S A "DUH"
but would still like the info
@mammy87
Maybe @Troy can answer?
@mammy87 yes, It’s a duh!
I can’t be sure but based on my experience the bulb would remain in the state it was in when you lost your wifi. So if the bulb was on when signal lost it would remain on and you could turn it off by using the light switch on the wall (or on the lamp if the bulb is in a lamp) to turn it on or off. However if the bulb was off when signal lost you would not be able to turn it on. My thinking is the bulb would remain in the state it was in when the wifi signal was lost. So if the bulb was in a red or color state when signal lost it would remain red until wifi restored. Can’t be sure though because I haven’t had this occur since I have only started using smart bulbs in the last few weeks. I’m basing this on my experience with smart plugs rather than bulbs.
Hi folks! Coming from the Merkury LED light strip thread, I decided to throw in to test these out.
TLDR; they are flashable via cloudcutter and can be loaded with ESPHome via libretiny.
I’ve posted the ESPHome stuff here: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/support-for-the-merkury-light-bulb/53456/73
Hopefully someone else can refine it but that should give you a working bulb pretty quick.
I haven’t been able to get these to connect to my alexa or the app due the manufacturer. I am so disappointed. Anyone want buy them off me?
@customers Heads up - we’ve got 12-packs of these Merkury Smart bulbs up over on SideDeal today if you want to stock up on more.
@dave a This reminds me I need to get off my butt and finish installing these. I’ve done the bedrooms, just need to do the rest of the house. I only wish the lowest setting was dimmer.