For over a hundred years, classic white holiday lights have been the gold standard, adorning Christmas trees, garlands, front yards, and lobbies.
But imagine changing your light colors and effects with a single tap.
This is where Twinkly RGB LED lights come into play. RGB and RGBW lights have dramatically changed holiday lighting and more, and Twinkly's smart lights provide a manageable RGB solution. If you haven't yet experienced the magic of Twinkly at home, you're missing out. Twinkly allows you to transform lighting setups for both homes and businesses with comprehensive control over custom colors, effects, and animations.
The Twinkly family continually expands, offering new LED solutions for homes, outdoor spaces, businesses, events, and Christmas decorations. If you're interested in Twinkly RGB products, it's crucial to understand the three categories available: Twinkly Home, Twinkly Plus, and Twinkly Pro. Selecting the suitable Twinkly lights depends on your design preferences, display ambitions, and the size of your lighting project.
We're here to help you navigate the Twinkly product range and pick the perfect lights for your display. Let's delve into the distinctions and commonalities between Twinkly Home, Plus, and Pro products.
What to Anticipate From Twinkly Lights
Historically, RGB lighting was challenging to manage and manipulate. However, Twinkly's app-controlled RGB smart lights can be mapped with a smart device, making the bulbs addressable and giving full control over colors and custom effects. You enjoy top-notch RGB lighting technology without the need for electrical engineers, special effects installers, lighting designers, or intricate software.
The flexibility to install, re-install, and modify your lights according to your canvas means Twinkly lights offer a brilliant solution for high-quality displays and adaptable designs. Essentially, once your lights are arranged, you have complete control to program them with over 16 million color combinations, shapes, patterns, and text utilizing Twinkly's FX Wizard and Effects Gallery. Think of the vast designs you could explore with a Christmas tree, foliage, or wrapping a tree trunk when you can alter colors and effects at any time!
The takeaways:
- All Twinkly lights feature automated light mapping.
- Twinkly Home and Plus offer Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity, while Twinkly Plus 4-port controllers and Twinkly Pro controllers also include Ethernet connections.
The Scale, Ambition, and Budget of Your Twinkly Project
Twinkly Home products are ideal for residential lighting projects, whether indoors or outdoors. Given moderate weather conditions, most Twinkly Home products are suitable for indoor and seasonal outdoor use (except for Flex and Line, which are rated IP20). Twinkly Home products connect via WiFi or Bluetooth, and the app ensures a straightforward and user-friendly installation process. It's easy to design and set up your Twinkly Home display, making these products great gifts—even for those who aren't tech-savvy.
Twinkly Pro products cater to projects with budgets starting at $1,000, such as large residential or commercial displays. Pro products include Ethernet networking and robust 6 and 8-port controllers, connecting large sets of lights. Twinkly Plus products are recommended for business users seeking smaller displays with the same weather-resistant qualities as Twinkly Pro products. Twinkly Plus controllers come with 1 and 2-port options, allowing WiFi or Bluetooth connectivity for groups of lights.
Twinkly Pro lights and controllers support larger groupings, illuminating extensive surfaces effectively. Ideal for sizeable displays aiming to impress with thousands of lights over Christmas tower trees, bushes, trees, wreaths, or building facades, these groupings can synchronize with stunning animations quickly.
The takeaways:
- Twinkly Home products are excellent for all residential and small business projects. Note that Flex and Line are IP20 rated and intended for indoor use only. Other products are rated IP44, suitable for seasonal outdoor use in moderate weather.
- Twinkly Plus and Pro products are recommended for large-scale displays with budgets from $1,000. Twinkly Pro products offer superior networking capabilities, greater durability against weather and traffic, and enhanced performance for commercial outdoor displays.
Standard Bulb Size and Performance
The easiest way to differentiate between Twinkly Home and Pro lights is often by the bulb size. The Home range's string lights, icicles, clusters, and curtains sport a 4mm compact, conical bulb, delivering impressive color quality and brightness. (Exceptions include Festoons, Line, and Flex, which don't feature the standard conical bulb.)
Pro bulbs boast a larger 6mm capsule shape, offering brighter light compared to Home bulbs. This added brightness and size ensure vivid color hues, especially from a distance. Twinkly Pro lights are optimal for large outdoor Christmas displays, where distance and darkness can affect light performance. Designed for extensive commercial installations, Pro lights and their cables are built to handle high-traffic areas and harsh weather conditions. Need more weather resistance for your display? Opt for Pro.
The takeaways:
- Twinkly Home lights come with a 4mm compact, conical bulb (apart from a few products).
- Twinkly Pro lights are equipped with a larger 6mm capsule bulb, offering more vivid colors and greater brightness.that surpass Twinkly Home bulbs.
- Pro lights are suggested for setups in busy or rugged outdoor environments.
- Twinkly Home and Pro lights are incompatible for mapping and grouping together.
- Due to differences in brightness and technical limitations between Home and Pro, it is not advised to mix these lights within a single display.
Twinkly Grouping and Compatibility Restrictions
We've extensively discussed the capabilities of Twinkly Home, Plus, and Pro products. However, it's crucial to highlight some important compatibility challenges that may affect your choice of products for your display.
Home/Plus and Pro Controllers Are Not Interoperable
Twinkly Home and Plus controllers can be grouped together, but Twinkly Home and Pro lights are incompatible. Consequently, they cannot be arranged on the same mappable canvas or interconnected for collective effects.
When assembling a group of Twinkly lights, it's essential to use either Home and Plus or Pro controllers per project. The choice of controllers hinges on the lights used and their connections. Consult one of our Twinkly experts to identify the optimal product for your project.
2023 Update: RGB and RGBW Lights Can Now Be Grouped
For both Twinkly Home and Pro products, you have the option of RGB or RGBW technology. RGBW products feature an additional white diode alongside the red, green, and blue diodes. While RGB diodes generate over 16 million color variations, including white, the white diode produces more accurate white values, enhancing the color range. Some Twinkly Home products, like strings and icicles, are available with either RGB or RGBW bulbs… although RGBW products are typically more expensive.
If you already own Twinkly lights such as strings or icicles, and you need to determine if they are RGB or RGBW, look for a white tip on the bulb, which distinguishes RGBW products.
Prior to 2023, Twinkly couldn't group RGB and RGBW products in a display. However, a significant app update now allows you to group RGB and RGBW products. This improvement means you can now interconnect the products in the Twinkly app and synchronize animations, simplifying your display management.
The takeaways:
- Twinkly Pro and Home products are not cross-compatible.
- When using Twinkly Home, Plus, or Pro products, RGB and RGBW lights are compatible with each other.
Mobile Compatibility and Special Effects
Twinkly Home products' WiFi controllers work with the Twinkly app on both Apple and Android devices. Twinkly Plus and Pro products, however, are only compatible with Apple devices, such as iPhones and iPads. This limitation is due to Twinkly Pro products' access to the Twinkly Cloud Pro Console, which is accessible from any computer. The Twinkly Cloud Console is a robust tool for Pro Twinkly users who want to synchronize various installations with effects.
Once you're in the Twinkly app, both Home and Pro devices can access special effects. Every Twinkly device can utilize the full range of animations in the Effects Gallery and FX Wizard. You can also download the latest effects by tapping the cloud download icon at the top right corner of the Effects Gallery.
Twinkly Pro lights offer an additional feature: video import into the effects gallery. This feature permits synchronization of your light show with video files, allowing you to project a video through the lights onto your mapped canvas. This tool is especially useful for businesses and organizations wishing to showcase impactful video content in their light displays.
The takeaways:
- Twinkly Home, Plus, and Pro products are compatible with Apple mobile devices.
- Twinkly Home products work with both Apple (iOS) and Android devices.
- Plus and Pro products are compatible exclusively with Apple devices but have access to the Twinkly Pro Cloud Console, usable on desktop computers.
- Twinkly Home, Plus, and Pro devices have full access to the Effects Gallery and FX Wizard.
- Twinkly Pro devices support video/audio uploads through the Pro Cloud Console. Learn about the Twinkly Pro Cloud Console here.
Twinkly Controller Capacities
Twinkly Home products employ one WiFi or Bluetooth-compatible controller per device, except for Festoon lights (which can connect two sets per controller). With Twinkly Home controllers, up to 10 controllers can be connected per group.
Twinkly Plus controllers are also capable of connecting up to 10 per group. Plus controllers are offered with 2-port and 4-port WiFi capabilities, along with Plus Y splitters.
Twinkly Pro controllers consist of a 6-port Ethernet controller and an 8-port switch hub. The Pro controllers also accept Pro Y splitters, supporting up to 250 lights per port. The number of controllers that can be grouped for Twinkly Pro depends on the ports available on your network switch. Standard switches come with 5 ports, but models with up to 52 ports are available!
For expansive displays needing unified RGB lights, Twinkly Plus and Pro controllers provide the optimal solution for light management and grouping.
The takeaways:
- Twinkly Home products use one controller per device, with the capability to connect up to 10 controllers per group.
- Twinkly Pro products can group between 1-50+ controllers depending on the number of ports on your network switch.
Selecting the Best Twinkly Products for Your Needs
Twinkly has transformed RGB lighting for Christmas and beyond. These products combine smart app technology with innovative user control, simplifying Christmas lighting. In short, Twinkly is a must-have for your holiday lighting setup.
We hope our key points assist you in deciding which Twinkly Home or Pro products are ideal for your Christmas display. Twinkly Home suits everyday users and beginner-to-advanced holiday decorators, while Pro is ideal for enthusiasts and professional installers. For further assistance, our team of Twinkly experts in the customer success department is ready to help. Contact us at 800-391-5280 or email us at [email protected] to get started.
Whether you set up a few Twinkly Home strands in your living room or create a grouped Twinkly Pro display for your business, share your setup on Facebook or Instagram and tag us at @ChristmasDesigners.
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