Twinkly Home, Plus and Pro: How to Choose the Right RGB Lights for your Christmas Display

Classic white holiday lights have set the standard for over a century, whether you're lighting a Christmas tree, garland, front yard or lobby.

But what if you could change your light colors and effects with the flick of a finger?

That's where Twinkly RGB LED lights come in. RGB and RGBW lights have revolutionized lighting for the holidays and beyond, and Twinkly smart lights are the solution to controllable RGB technology. If you don't have your own set of Twinkly lights at home to play with, you’re sorely missing out. Twinkly transforms lighting experiences for home and business with the ability to map and control the lights with custom colors, effects and animations.

The Twinkly family is growing with products every year, and the new LED solutions are designed for your home, outdoor area, business, events, and Christmas displays. If you’re interested in Twinkly RGB products for your lighting display, it’s important to understand that there are three categories of lights and controllers available: Twinkly Home, Twinkly Plus and Twinkly Pro. Choosing the right Twinkly lights will depend on your design needs, display goals, and the scope of your lighting project.

We’re here to help you understand the Twinkly product line and decide which type of lights are right for your lighting display. Let’s take a closer look at the similarities and differences between Twinkly Home, Plus and Pro products.

What to Expect From Twinkly Lights

Historically, RGB lighting has been a difficult lighting technology to control and manipulate. But thanks to Twinkly, their app-controlled RGB smart lights can be mapped with a smart device, allowing the bulbs to be addressable and controllable with colors and custom effects. You get the high-grade technology promised with RGB lighting, but without the need for any electrical engineers, special effects installers, lighting designers or software.

The versatility to install, re-install and modify your lights to suit your canvas means that Twinkly lights create a very smart solution for high quality displays and adjustable designs. Basically, once your lights are strung, you have the full control to program the lights with over 16 million color combinations, shapes, patterns and text through Twinkly’s FX Wizard and Effects Gallery. When you can change up the colors and effects of your lights whenever you want, think of the different designs that you could explore with a Christmas tree, foliage or tree trunk wrap!

The takeaways:

1. All Twinkly lights offer automated light mapping.
2. Twinkly Home and Plus offer Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection options. Twinkly Plus 4-port controllers and Twinkly Pro controllers also offer Ethernet connection.

The Size, Scope and Budget of your Twinkly Project

Twinkly Home products are an appropriate choice for residential lighting projects, whether you’re decorating an interior or exterior space. Assuming that the application area has mild-to-medium average weather activity, the majority of Twinkly Home products are rated for indoor use as well as seasonal outdoor use (except for Flex and Line, rated at only IP20). Twinkly Home products connect via WiFi or Bluetooth, and once you plug in the lights, the app makes installation a simple and user-friendly experience. Not only is it relatively easy to design and install your own Twinkly Home display, but the Home products are a great choice for gifts, even if the recipient isn’t super tech-savvy.

Twinkly Pro products are for projects that have a budget of $1,000 or more, such as large residential displays or commercial business displays. Pro products come with Ethernet networking and powerful 6 and 8-port controllers that can connect large groups of light sets. We recommend Twinkly Plus products for business customers who want a smaller lighting display but with the same weather-resistant benefits that comes with Twinkly Pro products. Twinkly Plus controllers feature 1 and 2 port options, connecting groups of lights via WiFi or Bluetooth.

Twinkly Pro lights and controllers are capable of larger groupings that can power lights across very large surfaces. This makes sense for displays that want to showcase thousands of lights across groupings of Christmas tower trees, bush lines, trees, wreaths, or building surfaces. With relatively little set-up time, you can sync these groups together with incredible animations.

The takeaways:

1. Twinkly Home products are a great choice for all residential projects and small business projects. Note that a few products (such as Line and Flex) are IP20 and rated for indoor use only. Other products are rated IP44, and are durable for seasonal outdoor use in mild-medium wet weather climates.
2. Twinkly Plus and Pro products are recommended for large scale displays with a budget of $1,000 or more. The Twinkly Pro line has more powerful networking and grouping options, more weather/traffic durability, and superior performance for commercial outdoor displays.

Standard Bulb Size and Performance

For most products in the Twinkly family, the easiest way to tell the difference between Twinkly Home and Pro lights is the bulb. The string lights, icicles, clusters and curtains in the Home product line feature a 4mm compact, conical bulb with stunning color quality and brightness. (Twinkly Home products that do not feature the standard conical bulb are Festoons, Line and Flex.)

Pro bulbs have a larger 6mm bulb in a capsule shape that produces a brighter light compared to the Home bulbs. The extra brightness and size also helps the Pro bulbs achieve even more vivid color hues, especially when viewed from a distance. Twinkly Pro lights are a better choice for large outdoor Christmas displays, when distance and darkness can impact the performance of your lights. Pro lights were designed for large, commercial installations for the holidays and beyond. The wires and bulbs are more durable to embrace high-traffic areas and heavy wind/rain climates. Need more weather durability for your display? Go with Pro.

The takeaways:

1. Twinkly Home lights feature a 4mm compact, conical bulb (with the exception of a few products).
2. Twinkly Pro lights feature a larger 6mm capsule bulb. The rounded Pro bulb produces a color vividness and brightness that is superior to Twinkly Home bulbs.
3. Pro lights are recommended for displays located in high-traffic or heavy weather outdoor conditions.
4. Twinkly Home and Pro lights are NOT compatible with each other for mapping and grouping.
5. Due to luminosity variance and the technical incompatibility between Home and Pro, we do not recommend mixing Home and Pro lights within the same display.

Twinkly Grouping and Compatibility Limitations

We’ve covered a lot of ground on what both Twinkly Home, Plus and Pro can do. But it’s important to note a few key compatibility issues that could impact which products you choose for your display.

Home/Plus and Pro Controllers Cannot be Grouped Together

Twinkly Home and Plus controllers can be grouped together. However, Twinkly Home and Pro lights are not compatible with each other. This means that they can’t be installed on the same mappable canvas, connected together, or grouped together for collaborative effects.

When you are building a group of Twinkly lights, it's important to only use either Home and Plus or Pro controllers per project. The controllers you use depend on the lights you use and how they'll be connected. Talk to one of our Twinkly experts to determine the best product for your project.

2023 Update: RGB and RGBW Lights Can Be Grouped Together

For both Twinkly Home and Pro products, the lights have either RGB or RGBW technology. RGBW products contain an extra white diode in addition to red, green and blue diodes. RGB diodes create over 16 million color combinations including white. However, the white diode creates more precise white color values, giving a bit more color range to the product. Some Twinkly Home products, such as strings and icicles, are offered with a choice of either RGB or RGBW bulbs... the difference is that RGBW products are slightly more expensive.

If you already have Twinkly lights such as strings or icicles, how do you tell if they're RGB or RGBW? RGBW products have a white tip on the bulb, designating them apart from RGB products.

Prior to 2023, Twinkly was unable to group RGB and RGBW products together in a display. However, Twinkly released a big app update that now allows you to group RGB and RGBW products together. This means that you can connect the products together in the Twinkly app and sync animations together with grouping, making your display a lot easier to manage.

The takeaways:

1. Twinkly Pro and Home products are not compatible with each other.
2. When you work with either Twinkly Home, Plus, or Pro products, RGB and RGBW products are compatible with each other.

Mobile Compatibility and Effects

For Twinkly Home products, the WiFi controllers are compatible with the Twinkly app on Apple and Android devices. However, Twinkly Plus and Pro products are only compatible with Apple devices, such as iPhones and iPads. This is because Twinkly Pro products have access to the Twinkly Cloud Pro Console, which can be launched from any computer. The Twinkly Cloud Console is a powerful tool for Pro Twinkly users that want to group different installations together and sync them with effects.

Once you’re in the Twinkly app, the special effects are accessible to both Home and Pro devices. Every Twinkly device has access to the full range of animations in the Effects Gallery and the FX Wizard. You can also download the latest effects by tapping the cloud download icon in the top right corner of the Effects Gallery.

Twinkly Pro lights have an extra special feature: you can import video into the effects gallery. This incredible feature allows the ability to synch your light show with video files, allowing you to display a video through the lights and onto the surface of your mapped canvas. This is an amazing tool for businesses and organizations that want to show off powerful video content through their light display.

The takeaways:

1. Twinkly Home, Plus and Pro products are compatible with Apple mobile devices.
   1. Twinkly Home products are compatible with Apple (iOS) and Android devices.
   2. Plus and Pro products are compatible with Apple devices only, but they have access to Twinkly’s Pro Cloud Console, available on desktop computer.
2. Twinkly Home, Plus and Pro have full access to the Effects Gallery and FX Wizard.
3. With the Pro Cloud Console, Twinkly Pro devices support video/audio upload. Find the Twinkly Pro Cloud Console here.

Twinkly Controller Capacities

Twinkly Home products use one WiFi or Bluetooth-compatible controller per device, with the exception of Festoons (which can connect two light sets per controller). With Twinkly Home controllers, you can connect up to 10 controllers per group.

Twinkly Plus controllers can also connect up to 10 per group. Plus controllers are available with 2-port, and 4-port WiFi capacity, and with Plus Y splitters.

Twinkly Pro controllers include a 6-port Ethernet controller and 8-port switch connection hub. The Pro controllers also accept Pro Y splitters, connecting up to 250 lights per port. The number of controllers you can group together for Twinkly Pro depends on the amount of ports on your network switch. Your standard network switch comes with 5 ports, but there are network switches with up to 52 ports!

For large-scale displays that need unified RGB lights, Twinkly Plus and Pro controllers offer the best solution for light management and grouping.

The takeaways:

1. Twinkly Home products use one controller per device, and you can connect up to 10 controllers per group.
2. Twinkly Pro products can connect 1-50+ controllers to a group, depending on how many ports your network switch has.

Selecting the Best Twinkly Products for the Job

Twinkly has revolutionized the world of RGB lighting for Christmas and well beyond the holidays. The products merge smart app technology with innovative user control that streamlines Christmas lighting. Simply put, Twinkly deserves a place in your holiday lighting solution.

We hope our takeaways will help you determine which Twinkly Home or Pro products are best for your Christmas display. Twinkly Home is for the everyday home users and beginner-to-advanced holiday decorators, while Pro is a good choice for enthusiast decorators and pro installers. If you have more questions, we also have a dedicated department of Twinkly experts in our customer success department. We can help guide you towards the best products for your project, and we can also help you troubleshoot any of the Twinkly products that you purchase from our store. Please give us a call 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 display on Facebook or Instagram and tag us at @ChristmasDesigners.