TechInsights Teardown: Nanoleaf Essentials Matter smart bulb

The smart home has come a long way since the days of just voice controlled smart speakers. Today, if there is a function in the home, there is a device designed to either automate it or make it easier to operate.

Some devices do much more than that as well. Take the Nanoleaf Essentials Matter-enabled smart bulb. The device is designed to work with smart home hubs but also is garnered toward the new Matter standard.

The Matter standard, developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), will allow homeowners to control all their smart home devices — regardless of manufacturer — under a single ecosystem. That means devices from Google, Apple, Samsung, Amazon, Comcast or any other company will work together for the first time.

The smart bulb can be controlled via voice or an app and can produce more than 16 million colors and whites. Because it can be connected to Matter through Thread, it can connect to Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings and many more hubs.

The following is a partial deep dive into the smart home LED device conducted by TechInsights.

Summary

• Matter-enabled
• 16 million colors

Price: $19.99

Released: March 2023

Availability: Worldwide

Target market: Consumer

The main board inside the Nanoleaf smart bulb is the main control unit of the smart home device. Source: TechInsights

Main board

The main board inside the Nanoleaf Essentials Smart Bulb includes the BPSemi’s non-isolated step-down AC/DC buck regulator with MOSFET and a DC/DC converter along with a LED board connector and connectivity subsystem.

(Learn more about discrete components on Globalspec.com)

The LED board includes an LED controller to allow for 16 million colors. Source: TechInsights

LED board

The LED board is the controls for the light emitting diodes that gives the bulb the 16 million colors and various forms of whites. The board includes a five-channel linear LED driver with i2C from Kiwi Instruments.

(Learn more about LEDs on Globalspec.com)

The ZigBee board allows for Matter through Thread connectivity as well as connections through Zigbee and other wireless platforms. Source: TechInsights

ZigBee board

The Zigbee board is the main connectivity PCB allowing the Nanoleaf smart bulb to connect to various wireless options like Thread and Zigbee. The electronic components on the board include:

• Silicon Labs’ Thread/ZigBee 802.15 4g system-on-chip
• Tsingteng Microsystem’s 2 MB of SPI serial flash memory

(Learn more about ZigBee chips on Globalspec.com)

Many of the electronic components found inside the Nanoleaf Essential smart bulb. Source: TechInsights

Major components

• $2.08 — Connectivity subsystem — Nanoleaf (Qty: 1)
• $1.60 — Small active LED (Qty: 32)
• $0.71 — Bulb body (Qty: 1)
• $0.54 — Small active LEDs (Qty: 6)
• $0.50 — Coil (Qty: 2)
• $0.36 — Bulb diffuser (Qty: 1)
• $0.24 — Electrolytic capacitor (Qty: 4)
• $0.19 — Two-layer conventional FR4/HF (Qty: 1)
• $0.17 — Five-channel linear LED driver w/I2C (Qty: 1)