Lumin Smart Panel review

If you want the versatility and control of a smart panel—especially if you’re installing a solar battery—but don’t need to replace your entire breaker box, then the retrofittable, relatively cost-effective Lumin Smart Panel might be worth a look.

You can attach it to any existing breaker box

Most people don’t need an entirely new electrical panel, even if they’re making big upgrades like a solar battery or heat pump. Most people also don’t need wireless control over every single electrical circuit in their home. So a whole smart panel like the Span is often overkill.

The Lumin is faster and easier to install than a whole new panel, which should help save on the cost of installation. It’s a small box (17.5” x 17.5” x 4”) that can be mounted on the wall near your main panel. An electrician can connect it to up to a dozen power circuits. You’ll get wireless monitoring and control over those circuits through a smartphone app. 

It makes your electrical panel smart enough

The Lumin “smarten” all the outlets and lights in your home like the Span does. But it should be enough to cover the most important appliances and electronics, including your HVAC, fridge, EV charger, entertainment center, and all the other stuff you’d want to be able to manage —especially if you’re running your home off of a solar battery during a power outage.

It works great with solar batteries

A solar battery typically can’t power everything in your home all at once, or at least not for very long. You could install multiple batteries, but that’ll easily cost five figures on top of the initial installation costs. So many people only connect their battery to a small number of the most important circuits (aka critical loads). That approach is fine for short blackouts, or to manage your energy better during peak pricing hours. 

If you attach a Lumin to those critical loads, you’ll gain some extra flexibility and control over the energy use. You’ll be able to stretch out your battery’s capacity for longer by setting certain appliances or gadgets to turn off by default when the power goes out or peak energy prices kick in—but you’ll have some flexibility to turn them back on if you need them.

Lumin claims that this will work with any solar battery, though a couple of extra features get unlocked when it’s hooked up to a battery from Tesla, SolarEdge, or Enphase.

It’s not a complete solution

If you really like the idea of having wireless control over every circuit in your home through a single app (even if it costs a lot more) then a full smart panel like the Span is a better bet. 

Or if you’re building a new home or gut-renovating an old one, then it probably makes more sense to go with a whole new panel, even if you only want some smart circuits. The Schneider Pulse or Leviton Load Center could be a fit here.

Smart home products always carry some risk

Like Span, Lumin has been in business for less than a decade. Reviews from owners and installers suggest that the customer service is pretty good, for what it’s worth. If the business goes belly up, it’s unclear whether the Lumin Smart Panel would continue working—it would not be the first smart home device to get bricked after its manufacturer shuts down. Your main electrical panel would still power your home, but you might need to install a new smart controller for your solar battery.

If you're interested in increasing visibility into your energy consumption habits and, specifically, how individual appliances in your home behave, installing a Lumin is a great way to do so. What's more, Lumin's devices integrate seamlessly with solar and solar-plus-storage installations to help you get the most out of your backup power and solar production. While comparing custom solar quotes for your home on the EnergySage Marketplace and connecting with installers, be sure to ask about adding the Lumin Energy Management Platform to your installation.