This paper describes a low-cost system to measure the spectral characteristics of a given light source of unknown origin (without vendor-provided datasheets describing the light source properties). For this purpose, we consider using the AMS AS726X family of cost-effective light sensors, one of the latest generations of smart sensors. The data measured with these sensors is collected by a low-cost embedded system. To maintain the low-cost target, the embedded software is based on open-source code. We first validated the sensors using a set of light sources with known specifications and then extended the measurements using other light sources (including some of unknown origin) and validated the measurements with a higher-performance spectrometer.