The Sunn Light wants to brighten up the smart home

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas — a gigantic nuclear furnace, you might say. The Sunn Light, on the other hand, is a $349 smart LED light fixture that’s currently seeking funds on Kickstarter. Pair it with your phone via Bluetooth LE, and the disk-shaped Sunn Light promises to match the sun’s time — and location — for specific brightness and color temperature. That means you’ll enjoy low, yellowy tones at dusk and dawn, with hotter, whiter shades during daylight hours.

The team behind the Sunn Light is quick to tout the health benefits of syncing your circadian rhythms with the sun’s natural tones, citing studies that suggest the right light quality can help increase alertness during the day and promote better sleep at night. In addition, you’ll be able to adjust the Sunn Light using your Android or iOS device, perhaps to shine some extra daylight during winter months, or to help yourself readjust during periods of jet lag.

You’ll also have the option of incorporating Philips Hue or Lifx color-changing LEDs into your lighting scheme through the Sunn app. With Sunn’s software acting as the brains of the system, your existing bulbs can follow along with daylight’s natural tones, too.

For those who’d rather keep their phone in their pocket, you’ll also be able to turn the Sunn Light on and off the old-fashioned way — via a switch on the cord. The Kickstarter campaign also hints at the possibility of a Bluetooth switch accessory in Sunn’s future.

Another option is to wire the light into a wall or ceiling for a more streamlined look (which is what you’ll see in most of the product photography), but Sunn’s team cautions that you’ll probably need to call in an electrician in order to pull that off.

The Sunn team claims that their light can fill an entire room with bright, evenly dispersed light, and from a quick look at the specs, I’m inclined to believe them. At 19 inches in diameter (about 48 cm), and with a whopping 240 diodes packed inside, the Sunn Light claims a maximum light output of 3,300 lumens — equivalent to more than four standard 60W bulbs.

The Sunn Light achieves that brightness from a stated 30W power draw, which puts it comfortably above 100 lumens per watt. If that’s not enough light for you, there’s also a Sunn Light Plus which ups the diameter to 24 inches (just over 60 cm), amps the power draw up to 50 watts, and puts out a grand total of 5,500 lumens. Both versions of the Sunn Light are compatible with international voltages, though you’ll need a standard plug adapter to use one outside of the US.

No matter where you live, you’ll also need a good deal of money. Even with Kickstarter’s early-bird discounts, the Sunn Light will cost you a hefty $299 (about AU$360 or £190, converted roughly), while the Sunn Light Plus will set you back an even heftier $399 (AU$480, £255). Prices will only go up from there, with the lights ultimately expected to retail for $349 and $449 (AU$420/£220 and AU$540/£285) after shipping to Kickstarter backers.