5 Easy Ways To Control Your LED Lights Without a Remote

Can’t seem to find your LED light remote when you need it the most? Can’t be bothered to look for it?

No worries; you can still control your LED lights even without a remote.

Here are 5 ways to control your LED lights without a remote:

1. Plug the LED light directly into the outlet.
2. Install a manual controller. 
3. Use your smartphone or tablet.
4. Utilize your PC or Mac.
5. Use Alexa or a Google Assistant device. 

Read on to learn more about these ingenious approaches in detail.

1. Plug the LED Light Directly Into the Outlet

No remote? No problem!

You can still use your LED lights by plugging them directly into an electrical source. Power is the main thing your lights need to power themselves up. 

Granted that not all LED lights allow this feature, but there’s a possible workaround. You can remove the receiver and plug the light into the outlet. 

While this alternative is effortless, it shouldn’t be your long-term solution! 

Remember, LED lights are meant to reduce the impact of climate change and global warming.

Leaving it connected to power most of the time will do otherwise. 

Worst of all, plugging your LED lights would mean a slight increase in your utility bill. 

On average, a 5-meter (16.4-feet) LED light strip will only use 6.5 watts. If you have a 10-meter (32.81-feet) strip, it’ll consume 13 watts.

In essence, leaving your LED light plugged in would likely double these figures.  

So if you keep your 5-meter (16.4-feet) LED light plugged in for 10 hours every day, you’ll end up consuming 25.55 kWh.

That’s only $3.07 a year, which is a manageable price.

But think of this: it would’ve only been $1.53 a year (12.775 kWh) if they were remote-controlled rather than plugged. 

If you want to compute your LED lights’ power consumption, click here. 

In addition, repeated plugging and unplugging can be inconvenient.

Doing this also cuts your ability to change the lights’ hues and intensities — as you can with a remote. 

If you don’t plan on finding (or buying) a new remote any time soon, it’s better to follow the next tip. 

2. Install a Manual Controller

Do you remember the early days and how you used to control your lampshades?

You could press a button to turn it on or off. Likewise, you could run a dial to brighten/dim the light.

Good news: you can do the same thing with your LED lights! You can install any of these controllers to manipulate them:

• Inline On/Off Switch: Simply plug one end towards the light and the other towards the outlet. Using this device, you can turn your lights on and off as you wish.
• Dial Dimmer: If you want to change your LED light’s intensity, then you’ll want this controller. It comes with a dial that allows you to dim or brighten the lights. 
• Touch Dimmer: If you dislike running a dial, a touch dimmer may suit you. Just tap on the dimmer to brighten or dim your light.
• Inline RGB Controller: This device often comes with 3 options: Mode, Color, and Speed/Bright. You can animate your lights, change colors, or make them flicker faster/longer with it.

Learn more: How to connect Merkury Light Bulb to WiFi?

3. Use Your Smartphone or Tablet

Thanks to technological advancements, you may manipulate your LED lights using an app. 

Here are some top-rated programs you can download for your smartphone or tablet:

Editor’s pick: WiFi or Bluetooth Led Lights? Discover 13 Pros & Cons

Remote for LED Lights

As long as your device has an infrared function, you may download this app to control your LED lights. 

All you need to do is choose a remote similar to what you have in the app. That’s it.

Now, you have a smartphone remote to adjust the colors and intensities. 

LED Remote Control

Offered by Frillapps, this is another program you can download for your LED lights. 

To start, you need to provide the requested data on the ‘My Remote is Missing’ page. 

Type in your name, email, and the company that made your remote. You may have to upload an image of your remote as well.

After doing so, you can choose from the ‘remotes’ available. Select one that’s nearest to yours to get started! 

4. Utilize Your PC or Mac

On the off chance that you don’t have a smartphone or tablet — you can still control your LED lights without a remote. 

You can use your PC or Mac computer to do so, but you need to download an emulator first.

As the name suggests, it makes your PC act as if it’s another device.

This is necessary because most LED light apps are for smartphones or tablets.  

Once you’ve installed an emulator, you may download any of the following:

Remote LED RGB

Suitable for Windows 10 or Mac software, this option can help you control any of the following: 

• Chinese LED RGB light bulb
• Chinese 24-key LED RGB strip lights 
• Magic Lighting 24-key strip lights

If your LED light brand is Sylvania or any other, you should download the program below. 

LED Remote Control 

It works similarly to its smartphone equivalent. All you need to do is type in your particulars and choose your digital remote. 

Since LED remote control needs an infrared (IR) blaster, you have to make sure your PC has one too, but most laptops and notebooks do.

If you’re not sure of your PC’s IR capacity, you can check for it. Look at the back of your laptop and search for the IR blaster. It should look like a dark red window. 

To double-check your blaster, you need to:

1. Click on the Start button > Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance. 
2. Once the window opens, double-click the ‘System’ icon. 
3. Go to the Hardware tab > Device Manager. 
4. Browse the screen and look for ‘Infrared devices.’ If you see this option, it means your PC has one. 

You may install the LED remote control program once you’ve confirmed that your PC has an IR blaster.  

5. Use Alexa or a Google Assistant Device

Alexa and Google Assistant have simplified many things. With this, you can control outlets, door locks, and alarm systems, among many other things.

You can use either device to control your LED lights. The caveat, however, is that your LED lights must be compatible with your assistant device. 

One such example is Govee Smart LED strip lights (available on Amazon.com), which you can control through voice commands. 

With Alexa or Google Home, you can manipulate your LED lights to: 

• Turn on and off 
• Get brighter 
• Change color

To connect your LED lights, download the Govee App. Create a Govee Home account if you don’t have one. 

Follow these steps to link your lights to Google Assistant:

1. Open the Google Home app.
2. Click on the ‘Add button.’ 
3. Choose ‘Set up device.’ 
4. Tap on ‘Have something already set up.’ 
5. Link your Govee Home account. 
6. Click the option Govee LED lights. 
7. Choose where the lights are located. You can also add a Custom Room by typing in its name and clicking next. 
8. Create a unique name for your Govee LED lights. 
9. Wait for the light to set up. It might blink every so often. 
10. Click on ‘Done’ once your light has been connected to your Google Home account. 
11. Test and control the lights through voice commands, such as “Turn on/off Govee Light” or “Dim/brighten Govee Light.”

Follow these steps to link your lights to Alexa:

1. Go to your Alexa app.
2. Add your Govee skill and enable it. 
3. Wait for the app to redirect you to the Govee account page. 
4. Link your Govee account.
5. Configure or change the device name. 
6. Set the voice commands you’d like to use to control your LED lights, such as “Alexa, set Govee Light to 25%” or “Alexa, turn on/off Govee Light.”
7. Check the settings by trying out any of the voice commands mentioned above.

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