7 Tips to Home Automation Using IoT-Learn How To Automate Your House
Have you ever imagined what would your life be if all devices in your house could connect to internet? Well, in this column I will look at how this works with 7 tips to home automation using IOT and the equipment that help to automate your house.
I believe whole lot of you must have heard and come across the phrase “Home Automation”.
I also understand you folks must have somewhere seen or heard the phrase “Smart Home”.
And I am sure at least quite a few of you must have heard the term “IoT” or “Internet of Things”.
Many seasoned writers use this terms in technical parlance when they talk of devices that are compatible with internet connection. And the definition of home automation is incomplete without the use of IoT.
But before I go further and get into the details of these very useful tips, it’s imperative to understand the basics. Let’s dive into what I mean by each terms mentioned above.
Contents
7 Tips to Home Automation-What is Internet of Things (IoT)?
As I said in the introduction, internet of things (IoT) consists of a list of devices that can connect with internet, communicate, take your command and prompt you with instant message or information.
The list of the equipment includes computers, smartphones, water heaters, appliances, clocks, speakers, lights, doorbells, smart cameras, windows, window blinds to name a few.
Therefore, when you talk about the home automation or smart homes, IoT is the key component.
7 Tips to Home Automation-What is Home Automation/Smart Home?
The first thing that strikes in my mind is does home automation make your house smart. Yes, it does. By automating your home, you have got smart house for yourself.
Then how do you define home automation? The answer is simple. It’s automating the ability to control devices installed and set up in or around your house.
Take for example, setting up window blinds and open or close them with your voice command or a simple push of button.
Another simple example is setting up smart lights and turn them on and off at your will. Yet another example is asking Alexa enabled speakers to play a song you love to listen.
There are many more examples around you such as putting up advanced surveillance cameras around your house for your home security and so on.
But the extent of home automation depends on the investment of time and money. This means you need more time and money to set up advanced system in your house to automate it.
But, no worries guys. I have come up with 7 easy steps to home automation. This will help you turn your house into smart home without spending huge sum of money. You can do it in your BUDGET.
7 Tips to Home Automation Using IoT-Complete Rundown
You might take it by surprise when I talk of building smart home without spending whole lot of money. You might have thought of otherwise and understood it cost big. But you can start with little investment.
Yes, there is one way you can build a smart house. And that is you may need to buy of large number of components, such as sensors, smart bulbs, surveillance cameras, speakers and so on. You also need to build a hub to connect them all so that they can communicate with each other.
That’s not all, you will also want them all to communicate with you via your smartphone. Else it doesn’t serve the purpose of building smart home. Right?
Indeed, but this will also need you to spend a huge amount of money and investment of time. And everyone doesn’t afford to invest heavily as it sounds.
For all of you with simple needs and wants, these 7 easy home automation tips are relatively inexpensive and let you turn your house into a high-end smart home.
However, it is also important to ensure the smart home products in your house are compatible with each other. This will help start a strong foundation for future expansion in home automation.
Let’s have a look at common tips to build smart home for yourself.
7 Tips to Home Automation Using IoT-Set Up Smart Lighting
THE BEST WAYS YOU CAN PAIR YOUR SMART LIGHT BULBS:
- Pairing your smart bulbs with your door opening helps you detect and activate lights when you or your family is back home.
- You can pair your smart bulbs with your smart speaker. This will help change the lighting scenes and dim it when you are going to sleep.
- Pairing your smart bulb with video door bell is ideal to detect and notify you with the light when a visitor is there.
When I talk of a smart home the first thing that comes to my mind is to setup smart lighting in your home.
This is the entry point to start automating your home. And also the most affordable and easiest way to begin with.
There are a large number of smart bulbs available in the market place today. You can pick any one of these depending on your choice, need and budget. This will help illuminate your house smartly.
But out of these smart light bulbs, quite a few of them need central hub to communicate with each other. While there are others which do not need hub to interact with each other.
For example, if you choose Phillips Hue bulbs, you also got to have a Phillips Bridge. This works like a central hub for your smart light bulbs. Though a little expensive, these are reliable and compatible with different set of standard.
There is yet another set of smart lights that works perfectly without any central hub. For example, Phillips B22 LCD warm white smart bulbs work with Wi-Fi connectivity.
I also see some other smart light bulbs that depend on Zigbee wireless connectivity. These are very easy to control through a App on your smartphone.
That’s not all, they also allow you to program lighting scenes and colors.
2. 7 Tips to Home Automation Using IoT-Set Up Smart Thermostat
THE BEST WAYS YOU CAN PAIR YOUR SMART THERMOSTAT:
- Pairing your smart thermostat with smart plug lets you turn on/off your fan and other connected devices when there is a need.
- You can monitor, keep track of and control temperature in different rooms of your home pairing your smart thermostat with temperature sensors.
- Pairing your smart thermostat with smoke and fire detectors helps disable equipment when there is an emergency and avoid accidental fire.
Setting up of smart thermostat in your house lets you have a comfortable house with cost and energy efficiency.
The smart thermostat is ideal to maintain temperature in your room. These devices are smart enough to detect when you are at home or away.
Based on your presence or absence, they are equipped to increase or decrease the temperature. Not only this, but they also go further and let your HVAC system operate only when there is need.
The best thing to do with the smart thermostat is to equip it with sensors in your room. This will let the device function on the basis your location in the house.
There are different brands that have thrown their smart thermostat in the market place. But Alexa enabled Ecobee smart thermostat is creating a buzz among users.
This really has the ability to take your voice command and operate at your will.
The device is equipped with remote room sensors. These sensors are greatly intelligent to detect hot and cold spots in your house and remove them.
That’s not the end, what impresses more about this device is you can use it as a hub for your smart home or its security system.
3. 7 Tips to Home Automation Using IoT-Bring and Install Smart Video Doorbell
THE BEST WAYS YOU CAN PAIR YOUR SMART VIDEO DOORBELL:
- It is the best idea to pair your smart video doorbell with your smart lock, if you have. By doing this you let your family and friends enter the home.
- Pairing your smart video doorbell with your smart light helps improve safety and security of home and family by alerting you by turning the lights on and off.
- If you have a smart display, it is always a good idea to pair your smart video doorbell with it. This helps you get live feed of activity at the entrance of your house.
Security of your house and therefore, the family is the top priority. And if you are among one of those who care to know the visitors at the doorstep, it’s a good idea to fix a smart video doorbell at your door.
The video doorbells indeed act as a security camera at the entrance of your house. They allow you to see your visitors and talk to them before they enter your home.
While I can go round and round and talk about any number of video doorbell available in the market, one of the top performers that strikes my mind is the Qubo Smart Video Doorbell.
The device comes with instant visitor video call on phone and allows you to stay connected seamlessly anywhere, anytime. This battery powered video doorbell is enabled with Alexa and Google assistant.
You can also talk to your visitors with 2-way talk feature or respond with pre-recorded messages.
These AI powered devices are smart enough to detect and notify whenever a person is detected. This will also let you avoid any intrusion by ringing siren when an intruder may try to barge into your home.
Therefore, to turn your house into smart home, it’s a very good idea you bring home and install a smart video doorbell. This will also help your house keep secure.
4. 7 Tips to Home Automation Using IoT-Get and Set Up Smart Speakers
THE BEST WAYS YOU CAN PAIR YOUR SMART SPEAKERS:
- Pairing with smart bulb lets you turn on and off the smart lights at your will and when you no longer need lights to remain switch on.
- Pairing smart speakers with your smart lock is very useful when you want to check whether your door secure or not.
- You can pair your smart speakers with smart thermostat. This will help control the temperature and prepare home office for work.
- Pairing your smart speaker with your smart music system is very interesting. It helps you play music for you on your voice command.
One of the best ways to home automation is to get smart speakers for yourself and set them up in your house. These smart speakers are AI powered and work with voice command.
You probably love to take your smartphone off your pocket and dim the lights when you are watching movie. This is very convenient. Isn’t it?
What if you want to pass on the voice command and say “dim the lights”? This is exactly what a smart speaker does for you. But for this to happen, it must be linked with your smart lights.
Though there is a variety of smart speakers, Amazon Echo series and Google Home series occupy the top spot in the list. In other words, they are the market leaders in this product vertical.
All said and done, Amazon still holds the number one position in the place of smart speakers. And Echo Dot 4th generation smart speakers are my all-time favorite.
These speakers are most affordable and cost effective. Setting up of the smart speakers lets you set timers, play music, control other smart devices in your home and so on.
What really impresses me about Echo Dot series is they are compatible with and support a large number of products.
5. 7 Tips to Home Automation Using IoT-Buy and Install Smart Home Security Cameras
THE BEST WAYS YOU CAN PAIR YOUR SMART HOME SECURITY CAMERA:
- You can pair your smart home security camera with sensors. They automatically activate the camera when door or windows open.
- Pair your smart home security camera with your smart speaker to play the sound when the camera detects motion.
- Pairing your security camera with your smart light switch automatically activates the camera when lights on outer part of your house are turned on at night.
Buying and installing smart home security camera is an ultimate tip to turn your house into a smart home. This is one of the very important ways in the list of the 7 tips to home automation.
The smart home security camera is a very important component of your smart home. This lets you keep an eye on your home.
This becomes even more significant because when you are not around, it captures the activities and instantly sends notifications on your smartphone.
At the first place, the primary function of the security camera is to capture and record what is happening in and around your house.
But as the technology is progressing at a great pace, the cameras themselves come with 2-way communication feature. This means you can sit anywhere and see and talk live with your family or pets back home.
There are a plenty of smart home security camera in market. And each one boasts of being excellent in their own right.
But frankly speaking TP-Link Tapo series and MI 360° are the most south after smart home security camera in India till today.
You may also like to read the 10 best smart home security cameras in India.
6. 7 Tips to Home Automation Using IoT-Buy and Fix Smart Plug
THE BEST WAYS YOU CAN PAIR YOUR SMART PLUG:
- Pairing your smart plug with your smart speaker helps you to control your light through voice command.
- You can pair your smart plug with smart thermostat. This will help to control heating and cooling.
- You can pair your smart plug with smart light switches. This helps to control light fixtures and the lamp at the time you want.
How about turning any home appliance or electrical devices into smart device? Well, this sounds great. This is absolutely possible and very easy too. All you need is to buy a smart plug and set it up in the house.
This is a very good step towards home automation. What next? The plug lets you set timers and schedule lights using an App.
Talking about smart plug, Wipro 10A is quite good. It helps monitor energy and is suitable for small appliances in your home, such as electric kettle, mobile and laptop chargers.
The best part is they are Alexa and Google assistant enabled. And you can also use voice command to let them perform the task for you.
These AI powered smart plugs come handy to control electrical devices from anywhere with the help of the App on your smartphone.
You can also monitor energy consumption of your device, while you can schedule the device to turn on and off depending on the time you set. This works throughout the day.
Therefore, buying and fixing smart plug is one of the best ways to turn your house into the smart home. This is also a major component in your home automation.
7. 7 Tips to Home Automation Using IoT-Install Smart Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
THE BEST WAYS YOU CAN PAIR YOUR SMART SMOKE DETECTORS:
- You can pair your smart smoke and co detectors with smart lights.
- With smart speakers.
- Smart home security camera
- Smart thermostat.
I guess conventional smoke and carbon monoxide detectors existed even before I was born. But fortunately with the technological advancement and its fast faced progress, these devices are now put on the backburner. Rather they have now become obsolete and dumb equipment.
Agree, they might have louder alarm sound. But when you are away from home, this really doesn’t matter. I am saying this simply because there is no one at home to hear the alarms sound.
Therefore, these are dumb devices.
Smart smoke and co detecting devices might not have alarms sound as louder as the ones the conventional system has.
But these are very smart and instantly alert you on your mobile when they detect a danger in your house.
This is why they outperform conventional devices. And these are important components towards your home automation.
Auslese, IFI Tech smart smoke and co detectors are good examples. Both these devices are compatible with Alexa, Google Home and IFTTT.
You can integrate these devices with your smartphone. This helps you to stay connected and get instant alert.
Final Thoughts–7 Tips to Home Automation Using IoT
I have put together 7 easy steps to start your home automation. I have also talked about few basic components that you need to turn your house into a smart home.
Although you may go up to any limit and spend any amount to make your house smart, the devices I have discussed above are very budget friendly. And you don’t have to shell out money heavily.
But if you are comfortable spending and your budget allows you, you can also set up a smart central hub. This interconnects all components in your house and let them communicate each other.
Make sure you choose and buy devices that work with common hubs you set up.
I hope this serves you a valuable information. I will come up with more about home automation in the next article.
FAQs on 7 Tips to Home Automation Using IoT
Q. How do I get started with home automation?
A. Broadly you can get started with smart device, smart home platform, connecting devices, creating routines and automation.
Q. What factors should I consider to choose smart home devices?
A. The major factors to consider before selecting smart device are:
- Cost of the smart device you are proposing to buy.
- Select device that doesn’t require complex technical skills and can be easily set up and installed.
- Choose a smart device that matches your life style. Don’t only follow others blindly.
- Make sure you do basic research, read buyer’s guides and reviews and customer feedback while deciding.
Q. What is smart hub in home automation?
A. It is a device centrally placed in your house. This controls other connecting devices through wireless communication protocols.
Q. Do I always need a smart hub for home automation?
A. No, you don’t always need a smart hub for your home automation. But it helps to drastically reduce the number of Wi-Fi devices on your home network.
Q. What are routines?
A. In computer and technical parlance, these are procedures and methods followed that help group multiple functions together under a single command.
Q. How do routines help in home automation?
A. They help control multiple settings on a single device and multiple settings on a group of devices.
Q. How does automation work?
A. Automation works through cause/effect structure. This means it allows interconnected devices to react automatically to changing conditions in your home.
