If you have ever had to rush back to your house to
check if you have switched the water off, or turned
The term ‘smart home ’ is used to describe a house
that contains a communication network that
connects different appliances and allows them to be
remotely controlled, monitored and accessed.
Smart devices connect to the Internet and many have
smartphone apps allowing you to access and control
them remotely over wi-fi.
It’s becoming easier to connect an entire home too.
Have you finally decided you want to take the plunge
and build a smart home? Imagine walking into your
home and the lights come on, the temperature is set
to just how you like it, and music is playing from your
playlist.
.
But where do you start? How much money is this
going to cost you? And how complicated is it to do
this?
.
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Setting up a smart home can seem quite
intimidating. Among the myriad of product offerings
are light bulbs, switches, controllers, appliances,
alarms, locks, sensors, well, you get the idea. But
with a bit of organization and planning you can easily
begin to build a well-functioning smart home.
A good method for building a smart home is to start
with your foundation and then build up from there,
just as you would with building the home itself. In
this report, we are going to walk through the detailed
steps to make your smart home a reality.
The network
This is the backbone of your smart home. If your
network is not robust and secure, you may have
difficulty making sure all of your devices are
connected. Worse, you could potentially allow
hackers into your home by providing avenues of
entry. Make sure you lock your network down.
Switches and bulbs
You can add smart light bulbs and smart switches to
your home for a quick and easy solution to creating
a smart home. Smart bulbs are actually LED’s, so
they consume much less energy , sometimes as
much as 86 per cent less.
Environmentals
These are your thermostats and other sensors. You
can control the household temperature, get
information on the weather at your location and in
your neighborhood, and detect things like water leaks
and poor air quality.
Household security
Here you will dive into doorbells, security alarms,
surveillance cameras, and locks. We’re not talking
about tech that prevents burglaries – we’re referring
to hackers breaking in via your smart devices, using
them to spy on your home or, in some cases, steal
identity or money. It may sound far-fetched, but it’s a
real thing.
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Often these hacks relate to the security of the Wi-Fi
network the tech is connected to, so this is
something to consider – steps you can take include
making sure not to connect to public networks, and
considering VPN (virtual private network) software.
Appliances
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Even your kitchen and laundry room can be a part of
your smart home solution. Your refrigerator too.
These products are available at home improvement
stores, electronics stores, from installation
technicians or online. Before buying, check to see
what technology is associated with the product.
Products using the same technology should work
together despite different manufacturers, but
connecting for instance an X10 and a Z-Wave
product requires a bridging device, and often,
extreme patience and some technical skills on your
part.
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(Entertainment)
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Music and video, the sights and sounds of life.
Connecting your entertainment system into your
smart home can really enhance your immersion into
the overall experience.
Music is probably one of the main early functions you
will want to use voice commands for. Here is how to
set up various music streaming apps on your smart
speakers and how to add new speakers for a
.
(multiroom system.)
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On Alexa, you can set up music streaming apps like
Amazon Music Unlimited or Spotify.
For Amazon Music Unlimited, Amazon’s music
streaming service, simply say to your Echo speaker:
“Alexa, sign up for Amazon Music Unlimited”, and
walk through the options.
For Spotify or Apple Music, go to the Alexa app and
click Settings -> Music -> Link New Service -> and
choose your service and sign in to link your
accounts.
On Google Home, go to account preferences ->
linked media accounts -> then tap Spotify, before
logging into Spotify.
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Controllers
This is where we will tie everything together. Now
that you have all of these things to make your home
smart, how do you control them all without making
things overly complicated? Fear not! There are
solutions to tie all of these products together into
one completely connected smart home.
Virtual voice-controlled assistants like Apple’s Siri,
Google’s Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa make it easy
to control smart home products by speaking simple
commands like “Alexa, turn on the lights.” Each of
these tools has its strengths and weaknesses, so
choose the one that will be more likely to work for
your needs.
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