App Controlled Lightbulbs Kit

Product Description

It's here. The Connected Home Smart Lighting System by TCP allows you to control the lighting in your home remotely and wirelessly. Off, on and dimming. This revolutionary internet based Home Automation system allows you to control the lights in your home or office with the push of a button - by remote control, smart phone, tablet or computer. Remotely access and manage your home or office lighting from anywhere in the world. Works with iOS and Android based system and up to 250 devices on 1 system.

Note: Connected bulbs can only be used with the TCP lighting Gateway.

Top Reviews

Rip Off with Amazon Echo
by rr (1 out of 5 stars)
July 7, 2016

We bought an Amazon Echo last Christmas 2015 along with the Wink Controller and over $100 worth of TCP Connected bulbs. They worked mostly fine until July 1st. Now they no longer work with Amazon Echo or Wink. You can control them with an app, but only inside of the house. That is NOT helpful. I can flip a light switch if I'm inside of the house. I certainly don't want to pull up an app on my phone to turn on the light in the bathroom. The purpose of getting these is so that the house would not be dark when we got home at night and to have the ability to program the lights while we are away. I called the company this morning and was told that they sent out a notice ???? in May and were not longer supported by Wink or Echo. After only 7 months of using $16 to $25 each for light bulbs totaling over $100, they are USELESS. TCP did not offer any discount, rebate, opportunity to return, etc. WHAT A RIP OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!
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No Longer Internet (cloud) Usable
by R. Mikkelson (1 out of 5 stars)
June 30, 2016

As of 06/30/2016 this product is no longer usable over the internet. TCP should offer full refunds to their base of customers, and/or face a class action lawsuit for selling a product that they have deactivated and made useless. They will probably declare bankruptcy, and then re-open for business under a new name.
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Silently updated, permanently broke
by Conrad Nelson (1 out of 5 stars)
December 12, 2014

Interface wasn't great, but it was really easy to get at the API, so no problems there. I haven't had a real issue since plugging them in.

Edit:

TCP has since removed the API without consulting the users, breaking SmartThings integration and every other system that talks to these, and making them completely useless. The update is pushed out automatically over the internet, so there's no way of opting out. You just have to take it. Now that it's broken, they're just incredibly overpriced LED bulbs. Do not buy if you were planning on using these with another system, attaching them to the web, or really doing anything with them other than turning them on and off with your phone through their crummy app. That is, until they remotely disable the Android app for security reasons.
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Watch out, they are making strong handed attempts to lock you in their ecosystem and not play well w
by Scott T. Stevens (1 out of 5 stars)
February 15, 2015

Avoid these if you can. Take a look at ZWAVE switches if your home wiring supports it instead. Unfortunately, it appears that TCP is flexing their muscle and making this system as proprietary as possible. There used to be ways to to integrate the gateway with other systems (or program your own lighting controls). They've since shut this down such that your lights can be controlled ONLY with their app or remote control. Want motion sensors that trigger your lights? Youll have to hope TCP connected supports that since they're going proprietary. Want your garage door opening to trigger lights? Same deal. Its a step in the wrong direction. Another cool technology completely ruined by the corporate need to force users to use their products the way THEY want.
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The reason TCP eliminated its cloud access
by SlashQuixote (1 out of 5 stars)
July 15, 2017

The reason TCP eliminated its cloud access, their CEO was, secretly working with a competitor stealing TCP technology to purposely tank TCP

the Aurora-based maker of lighting products, is suing its founder and former CEO, Ellis Yan, for actions that the company said involve "unfair competition and deceptive trade practices, tortious interference and violations of restrictive covenants in Yan's employment agreement with TCP."

The 104-page lawsuit was filed Tuesday, March 21, in U.S. District Court in Cleveland. It also names as defendants a new company, Quality Light Source LLC, and people associated with QLS.
"This case involves misrepresentations to TCP's customers and the public at large about the facilities, capabilities and products of QLS," TCP said in a news release.

Steven S. Kaufman, an attorney representing Yan, wasn't immediately available for comment on Tuesday afternoon.

TCP contends in the lawsuit that Yan has been working with Solomon Yan - his brother and the company's former vice chairman - and others to set up QLS as a lighting company to unfairly compete with TCP. In the news release, TCP said that through its investigations, it "learned that the defendants have attempted to mislead TCP's customers and prospective customers and influence their purchasing decisions by presenting TCP's long-standing experience in the industry, established infrastructure and product offerings as those of QLS - a brand new company."

The relationship between TCP and the Yan brothers has been tumultuous, to say the least.

Last month, Ellis and Solomon Yan resigned from the board of directors at TCP International Holdings following an investigation conducted by the board.

During the investigation, the board's audit committee found, "among other things, that actions related to certain payments by Ellis Yan and related party transactions involving Ellis Yan and Solomon Yan resulted in a material weakness in the effectiveness of the company's internal control over financial reporting," the company said in February.

When it announced that finding in October 2016, it noted that the Yan brothers' actions "were inconsistent with setting an appropriate tone at the top." Ellis Yan previously served as the company's chairman and CEO, and Solomon Yan served as vice chairman. Their day-to-day involvement in the operations of the company ended in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

The lawsuit filed on Tuesday cites what TCP calls "a number of deceptive and unfair practices undertaken by Yan and QLS."

CLEVELAND, Ohio - TCP International Holdings of Aurora, one of the country's leading LED light bulb manufacturers, settled a lawsuit brought by its former lawyer, Laura Hauser, for $3.9 million, according to SEC documents filed this week.

Hauser, the company's general counsel since 2013, sued her boss, former CEO Ellis Yan, in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in February. She accused him of physically assaulting her, of threatening and bullying her, of damaging the value of the company for stockholders, and of unethical and reckless business practices.

Hauser also accused Yan of pressuring company managers to release mislabeled products, of barking orders, ignoring company policies, and of making important decisions without consulting other managers.
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These bulbs can still be controlled remotely if you control the TCP hub w/ a Vera.
by Amazon Addict (3 out of 5 stars)
January 22, 2015

I deleted my original review and I actually came back to say, since I use an Amazon Echo, HA Bridge and Vera Edge to control the TCP hub, I actually didn't notice the drop in functionality that everyone else is complaining about (due to TCP stopping the cloud control function). My bulbs have been steadily working since the Vera has a plugin written to interface with them. I'm actually going to stock up since these are so cheap now and I can outfit even more of my household and still have cheap spares.
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The Perils Of Early Adoption
by Amazon Customer (5 out of 5 stars)
October 22, 2016

**Update 12MAR2018**

I've had three of my bulbs fail since my initial purchase years ago. These bulbs had lived outside in enclosures (not the recommended set up and ran for years through Phoenix, AZ's brutal summers. The person that created the homebrew control interface has expanded upon it and it is now much easier to set up for the layman or inexperienced person. I'd still recommend these, but only if you can find them at a steep discount.

I was an early adopter of this system and at the time of purchase I'd rate this at five stars. Remote control, timers, automation through tasker scripts for Ok Google keywords, and towards the end integration with Alexa through Muzzley.

These bulbs were awesome, then came a security patch no more third party integration with android via Tasker. Then finally the company stopped the online service and they became little more than phone controllable lights.

Periodically I'd check to see if someone had managed to find a way to control these via the internet. Eventually I bought a Phillips hue system. I tried to pawn them off on friends and co workers being honest about the limitations, but most already had a better solution implemented having been inspired by my original purchase.

Recently someone managed to get these going again. Source files TCPLightingWebInterface by bren1818

Essentially its a small footprint interface that pushes commands to the hub. The original project was made for windows however its very easily modified to work with any OS. Using this and chrome to identify the syntax of the URLs each link creates I was able to use another project HA-Bridge by bwssystems to control these lights with Alexa. They work like my hue bulbs now and have a new lease on life.
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I have around over 20 TCP Connected Bulbs (variety) that ...
by Sunny M. (1 out of 5 stars)
July 5, 2016

I have around over 20 TCP Connected Bulbs (variety) that I controlled using Wink App or the TCP Lighting App - Remotely & Locally.

Now, for the last few days, they completely stopped working:
1. Do not work remotely
2. Do not work locally from any Android or IOS app, but they only work using the local TCP Remote control.

I expect that if TCP is discontinuing their service, they should Buy Back all my TCP Lights and Hubs so that I can use the funds to substitute those with lights from other companies that work.
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What a joke. If you are looking for home automation look elsewhere.
by R Howard (1 out of 5 stars)
July 20, 2016

I received the TCP starter kit as a birthday present over a year ago. I liked it so well that I purchased 3 additional wireless bulbs to run on my Wink and Alexa (Echo) home automation systems. Everything worked fine until June 30th 2016 when suddenly everything quit working. This has happened before but usually it was just a connectivity problem and could be worked out by restarting the bridge. Eventually I was directed to the TCP support site by Wink and this is the message on their site.

We regret to inform you that we are making changes to our support model and will be discontinuing the following services associated with the Connected by TCP system effective June 30, 2016:
* Access via the internet and connectivity through cloud services
* Updates of the TCP Lighting App

This essentially means that they are no longer supporting any 3rd party home automation systems. No warning, no messages, no refunds, nothing. I will be removing all the TCP lighting in my house and replacing it with Phillips Hue lighting.
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Lawsuit?
by Melanie L Bosch (1 out of 5 stars)
July 14, 2016

Do NOT buy! Anyone else thinking law suit- false advertisement. A company cant just stop selling a service that many people have already paid for.This is the email from the company- because clearly we all check their website daily
"We made an announcement on our website back in May that effective June 30th the Remote Access portion of the Connected by TCP system will be disabled. This is due to no longer being able to support the cloud service. We're very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

We understand your frustration as the speed of technology with smart systems has continued to evolve and some aspects will be made obsolete or inactive as new apps and systems are introduced to the market. This is an inherent risk in any new technological endeavor. TCP has made every effort to build a quality system and made a significant financial investment in the Connected platform; however external forces have moved us to this decision."

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