How To Automate Your Home: The 3 Killer Automations
Before I answer the question on how to automate your home, the first thing you need to ask yourself is, what do you want to automate? There’s plenty of options out there; it’s just finding the right one for you. Which is why I’m here to help:
When it comes down to automating your home, it comes down to a few main categories:
- Lighting
- Home Security
- Utilities
By the end of this article, you’ll have a solid idea of how easy it is to automate your home, and how the devices can work together.
But before we get into that, I want to answer this quick question:
Table of Contents
Why Should You Automate Your Home?
The beauty of automating your home might not be apparent to many people, but for others, it opens up a whole new mystical world. It brings with it a childhood nostalgia of the great Sci-Fi films and a layer of convinces and comfort to your home.
From the outside, automating your house might seem complicated and a waste of time. But imagine a life where every action could be controlled at the touch of a button or uttering a few words to a voice assistant. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
If it doesn’t here’s three reasons why you should automate your home:
#1 – It’s Convenient
It saves you time, and this is one of the most attractive parts of a home automation system. Home automation allows you to set schedules throughout the day for your smart devices, it can all be custom built to ensure it has the best impact on your life. You can set tasks like lights turning on and off while you’re away, to the thermostat controlling your heating.
#2 – Provides Excellent Security
For many people it was the security aspect that got them into home automation. And it’s no surprise the best self monitored home security system made it simple/cheap enough for anyone to involved in. Your home security system can be viewed from anywhere in the world, and in some cases, you can get professional monitoring.
#3 – Exceptional Savings
What a lot of people don’t release is, a smart home can save you a lot of money. Which might come strange when you think about the cost of the devices. Smart devices like smart thermostats can manage the temperature of your home in the most energy-efficient manner.
There the three main reasons why you should automate your home. Smart homes bring a level of joy which is unseen since your childhood mixed with security and money-saving abilities we desire as an adult.
If this isn’t reason enough to install a home automation system, I don’t know what is!
How To Automate Your Home
Hopefully, by now you have a good idea of why you should automate your house, and what you’d like to automate.
Now it’s time to learn how home automation can work together and what steps you should take moving forward:
Lighting And Appliances
For me, this is the best place to get started, it’s easy to install and gives you a great idea on how it all works.
Installing your smart lighting is a simple case of screwing the bulbs into the fitting.
Once it has the power you can connect the smart lights to WiFi, or a home hub if you have opted for that setup.
The beauty of having smart lights in the house is the ability to control the brightness and create schedules using your phone as a remote control. And as you’re home automation system starts to grow you can use third-party Apps like IFTTT to control lighting functions.
IFTT allows lights to automatically turn on when motion is sensed or when the garage door is opened.
It’s not just lighting systems that can be automated in this way, by adding smart plug sockets you can automate appliance to power on during certain times of the day. It works in a similar way to the lights, you can either hardwire the smart sockets or plugin an extender.
Once connected to your WiFi system or a home hub you can control the devices from anywhere world with a smartphone and create schedules. This section is the easiest place to get started, but also the most noticeable once it’s running.
Out of all your smart lighting options that really stands out, if you want to find out which one is best, check my LIFX vs Hue article.
Advantages
- Schedule your lights to suit your needs
- Create lighting scenes for certain moods
- Set schedules for everyday household devices
- Turn lights on and off from anywhere in the world
- Control appliances from your mobile phone
- Control lighting with motion sensors
- Geofencing: lights turn on and off based on location
- IFTTT functions like lights turning on when the garage door opens
Security Automation
I mentioned earlier this is one of the main reasons people get into smart home technology and comes with a number of benefits.
To start with, it can bring a level of security to your family, surveillance cameras will ward off any suspecting criminals and capture thieves.
Installing the security systems are super easy, and that’s another reason why it’s so sought after.
Many of the devices don’t need to be hardwired to a power source. This means you can place them anywhere, and in some cases, you don’t even need to screw anything in.
It’s not just security cameras that can be automated, smart locks give you great protection of your home with the simplicity of keyless entry. The best smart lock for Airbnb can work with your security system to let you know who’s at the front door without leaving your seat.
There’s a number of products that can include in your security system:
- Alarms
- Security cameras
- Motion sensors
- Smart Locks
- Contact sensors
- Sound sensor
- Fire Alarms
- Leak Sensors
Each one of these devices can be installed very easily and in a lot of cases no wiring is required. It’s a simple case of knowing what areas you want to protect and how you want it protected. And the best bit is all of the devices can work together in harmony, including your lighting system.
Advantages
- The security cameras capture or deter criminals
- Smoke detector keeps family safe
- Control the system remotely
- Smart locks improve security and make your life easier
- Create IFTTT recipes with your lighting system
- Night vision modes bring extra security
- The whole system is easy to install and works together
Utility Savings
Home automation devices have been saving people money for years now, and in the end, this makes the products pay for themselves over time.
And this is all down to things like smart thermostats, flow meters, and smart energy meters that measure your usage.
Smart thermostats like the ones you may have seen in the Nest vs Honeywell article have the ability to learn your daily habits.
For the first week or two, you control the heating and cooling yourself, and as time goes by the smart thermostat will start taking control. By structuring your or heating and cooling schedules efficiently it can greatly lower your energy bill.
And if it doesn’t suit you you can always make changes using the app.
Flowmeters and smart energy meters don’t really control your utilities, but it does help you work out where to cut back. They provide you with a detailed report daily, weekly or monthly on how much water or electricity was used.
Advantages
- They can save you a considerable amount of cash
- Connects to Alexa device to control your temparature
- Gives you detailed analysis reports
- You can control the system from anywhere in the world
- The whole system is easy to install and works together
Final Thoughts
That’s just three areas home automation can help make your life better, but there’s so much more that can be achieved. For example, why not automate your garden with the best smart irrigation controller, or you could smart entertainment products from speakers to TVs.
The best bit is:
They all work as one if you get your home automation system right and that all comes down to the planning system. If you’re unsure where to start in your plan then my article “What is home automation” will help you along the way.
I really hoped you enjoyed this installment, but if you think I’ve missed anything out, please feel free to comment down below.
Frequently Asked Questions
The cost of home automation can vary depending on what you’re looking for and how much your willing to pay. A complete home automation system can cost $2000 for basic equipment. For higher range home automation devices you could be looking at $10,000 for a fully functioning smart home.