In this article, I will share tips for starting a Smart Home and how you can start building your own Smart Home system.
One way to build Smart Home is to hire a company that will turn your home into a smart home.
The other option, and probably the option for many, is to build it yourself.
You don’t need to be very tech-savvy to turn your house or apartment into Smart Home.
If you only want to try the experience of a Smart Home, there is an easy and inexpensive way to try it out. You can always buy just one smart plug or one light bulb and see for yourself. Some of the less expensive options are VOCOlinc bulbs and plugs. Or the Kasa smart bulb from TP-Link. My Smart Home started only with just one smart light bulb from Xiaomi and then expanded from there.
You should consider some general tips if you want to turn your place into a smart home. I will share all the information I consider important.
Check your home
One of the first things you should check is your home. What parts of the home do you want to upgrade with smart devices? Is it only some of the rooms or all of them? You don’t have to equip all of your home with smart gadgets. While it is nice to have your entire home covered in smart tech, it is not necessary. For example, not everyone likes the idea of a smart garage door or a smart door lock. This part is essential and will be different from home to home. You should make sure you get good Wi-Fi coverage throughout your entire home. Your new Smart gadgets will rely on your Wi-Fi network, and if you have weak coverage in some of the rooms, you will have a terrible experience.
It is much easier to set up a new network than migrate all of your Smart Home gadgets to a new network.
Google Home, Amazon Alexa, or HomeKit?
After you have made sure you have good network coverage throughout your home the next thing you should consider is which platform do you want to use. Google Home, Amazon Alexa, or Apple HomeKit? While yes you can control your smart gadgets from only your phone, to get the most out of your smart home gadgets you should really consider a voice assistant and you should decide before you buy your first products. The reason why is it important is because not all smart home devices are compatible with each platform. Especially if you are an iOS user and you want to use HomeKit. Regardless if you are an Android or an iOS user you can always choose Amazon Alexa as it is compatible with both platforms.
Research
Once you have decided which platform you will be using you can start your research. Check online and see what options are available and which options fit your needs. You should start checking for devices that are compatible with a voice assistant you choose earlier. If you choose Google Assistant make you the products are compatible with Google Assistant and so on. If you are an iOS user and you want to use Apple’s HomeKit make sure you are checking HomeKit enabled devices. Not all the products support HomeKit out of the box. There are many brands out there that exclusively supports only HomeKit. Some of the most popular brands are Phillips Hue, Eve Home (HomeKit only), VOCOlinc, Nest, LIFX, iRobot, Sonos just to name a few.
Once you have an idea of which devices from which brands you want to buy you can check some online reviews to see if the products you are considering are any good. Based on your setup you want to stick to only a few brands at most. You don’t want to end up with 5 different light bulbs from 5 different companies and install 5 different apps just to set them up.
Automation
Once you upgraded your home with smart tech, you can start to advance and make the smart devices work for you. Create Automations that run at specific times of the day. Have your lights come on at sunset or in the morning. Set a mood lighting when you are watching movies or gaming. Based on the smart products you have you can create scenes and routines to make your experience even more seamless. Set your lights to turn off and your thermostat to turn down the temperature when you leave your house. You can have your garage door activate your security cameras as you leave for work. Based on your smart devices you have the possibilities can be endless.
As I mentioned in the Introduction to a Smart Home post I love the idea of a smart home, and I believe everyone should enjoy the benefits the Smart home has to offer.
Smart Home makes life so much easier by taking away the small routines and tasks from you and in return giving you more time, energy savings, and money.
