When your smart light turns on by itself, it can be confusing, frustrating, and inconvenient (not to mention a waste of energy and money).
What could possibly cause it?
When a smart light turns on by itself, it may be faulty, due to a power outage, outdated firmware, loss of WiFi connection, or mistakenly activated routines. Possible solutions include adjusting the app settings, updating your smart light’s firmware, and updating the WiFi password, to name a few.
In this article, we’ll take a look at some common reasons for your smart light turning on by itself and how you can fix these problems.
Let’s get started!
1. Power Outage
It’s normal for smart lights to turn on by themselves during a power outage as they’ve been designed this way.
This is a safety feature to allow you to see in the dark when there’s no power.
But it can be annoying if the power outage happens in the middle of the night and you’re sleeping.
During a power outage, the smart light will typically illuminate according to the last brightness level before the outage.
When this happens, it’s a sign that your smart light is working as it should, even though it can be annoying.
How To Fix
The good news is that you can program your smart light to not turn on during a power outage.
You’ll need to adjust the settings in the app controlling your smart lights to fix this issue.
Navigate to the settings section in the app, and select the “power-on behavior” tab.
This tab controls what the smart light should do during a power outage.
You can then select the most suitable action for your smart light during a power failure.
2. Your Smart Globes Don’t Have Updated Firmware
If your smart light’s firmware hasn’t been updated, this can cause it to turn on unexpectedly.
It’s a common reason for smart lights turning on randomly, but luckily it’s easily fixed.
Outdated firmware has old microcode that can cause the smart light to behave strangely.
It may also contain bugs and negatively affect the smart light’s performance.
How To Fix
This is solved easily by updating your smart light’s firmware. It only takes less than ten minutes and isn’t too complicated.
You should regularly check for firmware updates in your smart light’s app so that it can function optimally.
Updating the firmware on a regular basis saves more time than if you leave it for too long as there’s less to update.
To update the firmware, turn the smart globe off, and open the app that controls your smart light.
Navigate to the settings section in the app, and select the tab for updating the firmware.
Once the firmware is up-to-date, your smart light shouldn’t turn on accidentally.
3. The Smart Light Is Intermittently Losing Its WiFi Connection
Smart lights can sometimes intermittently lose their WiFi connection to your home’s router.
This can cause them to go into “safe” mode and then automatically switch on.
If you’ve recently upgraded your WiFi router, your smart light may be experiencing problems connecting to the new signal.
Older smart lights aren’t able to work at certain frequencies.
Otherwise, it could be out of range and too far from the router. In this case, the connection might be too weak for it to work as it should.
Another common cause is if you’ve recently updated your WiFi password but haven’t updated it on the smart light app.
Reading tip: How To Turn On Smart Lights Without the Internet? #1 Fix
How To Fix
The first WiFi troubleshooting tip is to move your smart light closer to your WiFi router.
Wait a day, and check if the smart light comes on accidentally after this.
If it doesn’t turn on by mistake, you’ve solved the problem!
If you have an older smart light and a new router, the smart light may not be compatible with the new WiFi signal.
In this case, you’d need to replace the smart light or use a compatible WiFi router.
For recently updated WiFi passwords, open your smart light’s app.
Navigate to the settings section, where you’ll be able to update it with the new password.
4. You’ve Accidentally Enabled Certain Routines
When smart lights turn on by themselves, it’s sometimes because you’ve accidentally enabled them.
Or it could also be that you set up a routine in the app that controls them.
It might seem like the smart light is randomly turning on, but it’s simply obeying the app’s instructions to turn it on at the specified time.
It doesn’t mean that there’s a problem with your smart light.
How To Fix
Open the app that controls your home’s lighting, and navigate to the “routines” section, where you’ll see all your current routines.
Check if you’ve accidentally enabled the smart light to turn on at a particular time.
If this has happened, you can clear the routine, and the smart light shouldn’t turn on by itself again.
5. Your Smart Assistant Accidentally Turns On the Smart Light
If you have a smart speaker, such as Alexa or Google Home, someone may have accidentally instructed it to turn on a smart light.
Alexa, Siri, and Google Home sometimes mistakenly hear the keyword that wakes them up.
If it thinks it hears “Alexa”, for example, it’ll follow any instructions uttered after this.
Sometimes, your smart assistant can even accidentally set up new routines for switching on your smart lights.
How To Fix
To temporarily prevent your smart speaker from performing unwanted tasks by accident, you can mute the microphone.
This isn’t a permanent fix. You should check your smart assistant’s app to see if someone accidentally gave it a command.
If you think a routine may have accidentally been set up, navigate to the settings section in your smart assistant’s app.
Select the routines tab and then check the list of activated routines. Any unwanted routines can be deleted, which should solve the problem.
Continue reading: How To Get Alexa To Turn On Multiple Lights at Once
BONUS: The Smart Light Is Faulty
Although this doesn’t happen often, smart lights are sometimes faulty and need to be replaced.
In addition to turning it on when you don’t want it to, a faulty smart light might also stop working when it’s supposed to be on.
Faulty smart lights may also not connect to the WiFi router or shine at the correct brightness.
How To Fix
Before deciding if your smart light is faulty or not, you should first turn it off entirely and disconnect it from the WiFi connection.
Power it on again and reconnect it to the WiFi router.
If the firmware has been updated and there are no unexpected routines associated with it, it may be faulty.
Depending on where you bought the smart light from, it could still be under warranty, in which case you can get a replacement.
If your smart light isn’t under warranty, you may need to replace it.
Luckily, this normally only happens with older model smart lights and is rare with newer ones.
You might also like: Will smart bulbs work in any fixture?
Summary
When a smart light turns on unexpectedly, it can be annoying and a waste of your money.
You may even believe that your smart light is broken or that it needs to be replaced.
However, before replacing your smart light, consider the above common causes and solutions.
Try the troubleshooting tips first and see if you can get your smart light working again.
If all else fails, the smart light may be faulty, and you could receive a replacement if it’s under warranty.