In the early days of home automation, getting your home set up typically required buying a central hub that your devices could connect to and coordinating everything from there. In some cases, you might have even needed multiple hubs, since not all devices worked on the same network. While automation hubs and alternate networks still exist, these days most automation is done using your home’s Wi-Fi network and digital assistants such as Alexa or Google Assistant.
With smart home automation having come so far in recent years, there may be more options available to automate your home than you realized. While the specific automation that you use depends on how your home is set up and your own personal preferences, it’s worth it to explore a few different options to see if there’s something new that might fit into your home setup.
Automation Options
There are a number of ways that you can automate your home. You’ve likely at least heard of some of the more popular options, such as smart lights and smart thermostats. Smart video doorbells and automated garage doors are also increasingly popular and may be automation options that you’ve considered for your own home. These all share the advantage of you being able to control them remotely from smart home apps and can typically be integrated with digital assistants for hands-free use.
These aren’t the only options available to you, of course. Smart door locks allow you to automate access to your home, window sensors can give you alerts if you leave your windows open, and flood sensors can help protect your home from flooding and broken pipes. You can even integrate smart smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors into your home to give you immediate alerts in case there’s danger even when you’re away from home. If that’s not enough options, smart plugs are available which allow you to control existing devices by turning the power on and off remotely at the outlet where the device plugs in.
Smart Automation Routines
One of the big advantages of modern home automation is that none of these devices really exist in a bubble anymore. You can set up home automation routines that utilize multiple devices together, and can even use the state of certain devices to control others. Smart motion sensors can automatically turn on lights when they detect movement. Bedtime routines can adjust speaker volume and lighting in bedrooms to create a perfect sleep environment. You can even set routines that kick off before you get up, so that your coffee is brewed and specific lights are on so you can start your day on a positive note.
Depending on how you have them set up, these automation routines can kick off on a schedule, from a voice command, or in response to other actions. This can be really useful if you have certain things that you want to happen at specific times, but other things are only done as needed; you can program multiple routines in different ways to have your home running exactly like you want it to at all times. If you install additional automated devices later, you can even add them to existing routines with minimal effort from your digital assistant’s app.
Automating Your Home
Depending on the scope of what you want and your experience with electronics, a lot of home automation can be done as DIY projects. If you lack time or tech experience, though, you might want to get some help setting your automation up. Visit Forza’s Preferred Vendors page to discover recommended electricians we know and trust.