Everything You Need to Know About Smart Home Technology

What is a Smart Home?

Before we begin introducing gigantic technological terms, let’s get a simple definition of what a smart home is. We’ve had many technical improvements over the years, primarily focusing on the network innovations, and these new introductions are brought back home. Through voice recognition and connected devices, you can now speak commands to a portable device instead of having to head to the smart home control panel each time.

The likes of heating, entertainment systems, lighting, entryways, etc., can easily be changed by a command by mouth. How you’d wake up to switch the light on or off or how you’d typically operate the thermostat can now be done through voice commands from your smartphone. It’s such a spread automation system that it qualifies a place to be a smart home throughout the house. Now, this sounds more like it, and probably you’ve seen that in movies.

We’ve got it all, no more trips to the door and light switches!

The ideal smart home setup involves an entire network of intelligent devices that gives you the power to control and monitor your home’s aspect effortlessly. You can easily do so whether you’re in or out of the house. Some of these devices, such as motion sensors, appliances, and doorbells, can be linked to the same cellular frequency or using the same WiFi connection to a wireless hub or your smartphone. That will give you control over all the devices you can operate through a smart speaker or smartphone.

There’s never a particular concept in a smart home since it differs depending on the homeowner. Some people prefer to link only a few appliances and gadgets, while some want smart home systems that control the entire house. It all depends on the needs of the homeowner. Now that you’re up to speed with what a smart home is, let’s learn more about the basics.

What Does a Smart Home Do?

Smart home automation provides efficiency and convenience in your stay in the house by helping you do most of the typical chores. It makes life more straightforward as you have some spare time off the ordinary home assignments to do other things. So what do these smart home systems add to your house? Maybe the likes of smart home thermostats and smart home lighting are the much you know about the technology, but there’s much more to that.

Some of what the smart home setup does include;

1. Entryways – You can easily lock and unlock all doors in the house. The garage doors kind of sense the car, and they automatically open when you approach the driveway. Video doorbells, on the other hand, will show you who is coming to your home. This is a perfect smart home security strategy to use.
2. Entertainment – Some of the entertainment devices in the smart home system include the TV set and sound system. The TV will turn on with the command on your phone, and you can tell what sound system and music to play when you walk into the room.
3. Landscaping – You can connect the sprinklers to pour the amount of water that you want, and you can have a robotic lawn mower that’ll do justice to your front yard.
4. Lighting – You can give different commands on the lighting system, both interior and exterior. You can choose to do them on and off from your smartphone or set controls such as they can turn on and off at scheduled times. e.g., turn on when you enter the house or at sunset, and off when you leave or at dawn.
5. Kitchen – You can connect your dishwasher and washing machine to alert you when they’ve completed doing a round of cleaning. You can also schedule your coffee maker to start the brewing process when you hit the showers in the morning.
6. Family and Pets – You can install smart indoor and outdoor cameras to monitor the movements of your kids and pets. That’ll help you know if your kids got home from school perfectly and if your infant is doing just fine in the next room. All these are accessible from your phone. You can also have smart pet feeders that’ll do the refilling on the bowls for you once your dog or cat has completed its serving.

Google play Ed Sheeran Perfect and turn on the AC

The one benefit of these smart home products is that most of the commands can be given through vocal utterance, so it is crucial to enable a smart speaker. You’ll only need a couple of settings to put it into fully operational, and comfort is yours to enjoy. All you have to do if you want the best out of your smart home devices is to go through some advanced settings.

Here are examples of the magic that smart home can make;

• Imagine being held up in the backyard doing your barbecue session with your old man and your boys, and someone rings the doorbell. All you have to do is to check out the video doorbell’s camera to see who is there, command the door to open, and tell the speaker to direct the person to the backyard. See the soft life there?
• You’re probably from a hard workday, and you get home all worn out. As you pull up in the driveway, the garage doors open, you pack, and as you’re heading to the door, you command it to open, the lights go on, and your smart home thermostat begins to prepare the perfect temperature for you. And if that’s not enough, you enjoy some soft relaxing music to ease the pressure of the day.

The Pros and Cons of Smart Homes

Often referred to as 21st-century homes, smart homes have tons of benefits to enjoy as homeowners. However, there are some disadvantages along the way as you prepare your smart home systems. So let’s check out the pros and cons.

Pros

Some of the benefits of a smart home setup include;

1. Security – The beauty of smart home systems is that they can be remotely operated from as far as you can go. It all depends on your setting, and it doesn’t fixate you to be within a certain distance or any regulations. Every connected device is linked to your smartphone (the smart home controller), which helps you monitor every activity on the installed cameras. You can find other smart home security options here.
2. Entertainment – Using simple commands, the system will search for the particular program on TV, and you can enjoy it with comfort. Similarly, you can always command the sound system to play the kind of music that you want. Picture this; you are planning a surprise dinner for your wife, and you set commands in such a way things will play out as you wish. She gets to the door, and it automatically opens, the light goes on and to a color and brightness that’s just perfect, and your favorite song begins to play!
3. Convenience – With a smart home, you no longer have to worry about when the dishwasher, washing machine, or any other smart kitchen appliances will complete their operations, for you’ll quickly get a notification and turn them off from where you are. You also don’t have to make multiple trips to switch the lights on and off or open and close the doors.
4. Savings – With an automated smart home thermostat, lighting controls, and air conditioner, you get to save a lot on the electric bills. This is because they set the perfect temperature and brightness that will save on energy.
5. Family – For parents, you’ll be at ease since you can easily monitor your kids and infants wherever they are in the house. That will avoid a lot of accidents and makes the raising of kids a more straightforward task.

Cons

Despite all the good news, there is some downside to smart homes;

1. Reliance on WiFi – Every device should be connected to a single WiFi connection to function on commands. If you happen to have an internet problem, it can be a hustle to control the entire system.
2. Time and effort – A good DIY smart home might take a lot of time to pull through. You’ll need to get a bunch of new devices and also set up each to function correctly. But once everything is connected, you can easily change the command schedules to fit your liking.
3. Technology creep – Technology is ever-evolving, and you might find that the smart home devices that you are currently using might not be in a position to support any new updated features. That might make you miss out on particular features.

Google open the front door

The Smart Home Devices

You have the right to customize your smart home, and it’s always your choice to get the devices you will use. There are primary products, but some homeowners prefer getting almost everything for excellent services. Some of the devices include;

• Lights and their switches
• Smart thermostats
• Media streaming devices
• Video doorbells
• Garage door openers
• Coffee makers
• Electrical plugs and outlets
• Sound system
• Door locks
• Security cameras
• Smart carbon dioxide and smoke detectors
• Dryers and washers.

For these devices to work, you have to connect them to the same WiFi connection as your smart house controller or smart speaker so that you can send commands to them. Ensure that each device is of the same smart hub as the smartphone for it to be compatible. As much as you have your smart home ideas, it is essential to ensure that you comply with these rules to avoid disappointments.

Also Read: Tips for Planning a Successful Home Remodeling

How Do You Make Your Home Smart?

Now that your interest has grown, it’s time that we learn about the process of making your home smart. Below are the necessary steps to follow to ensure that you get smart home automation in your house;

1. Come up with a timeline and a budget to use
2. Be clear with what you want your smart home to do
3. Choose the perfect smart home devices that will support your ideas
4. Do the smart home setup and ensure all connections are in perfect sync
5. Get your smart homes up and running and enjoy the new changes.

Conclusion

It’s important to consider moving to the new era of how homes are. Smart homes bring a lot of comfort and security to your home, and the idea is packed with a lot of benefits that will save on your energy, time, and money. As much as there is the good side, it is crucial to consider some cons along the way to prepare yourself in advance to avoid any disappointment in the future.

Do you like the smart home idea? Do you want to begin a smart home setup? What smart home devices do you plan to get? Leave a comment.