Light/dark cycles play an essential role in people's performance, mood and daily rhythm. This study aimed to evaluate an early prototype of a personalised home lighting system including body-worn loggers. A convenience sample (N = 28) wore the devices for 23 h in the field and were given a demonstration of the lighting system components. Participants reported on questionnaires their acceptance of the lighting system and experience of physical comfort and visual appearance of the body-worn loggers. Semi-structured interviews were also held. In a hierarchical linear regression, physical comfort of the loggers explained 35.8% of the variance of ‘the behavioural intention to use the system in the future’, and ‘performance expectancy’ explained 50.6%. The interview data helped understand the reasons for the physical and psychological discomfort of wearing the devices. Many participants reported they were not comfortable about using a mobile phone for presence detection in the home. •Study of factors that predict user acceptance of a dynamic home lighting system.•Expectations of better performance is partly the key to acceptance of technology.•Interviews identified feelings of comfort or discomfort when wearing the devices.•Comfort must be considered when systems involve body-worn devices.