Whether you are starting out or already experienced, there are 5 smart home requirements you should always follow.
Smart homes are awesome, they are the gateway to living out your futuristic passion. But, if you are like me, you may or may not have a significant other who doesn’t have those same sci-fi passions. This is just one of the reasons you should always follow these suggested items.
Top 5 Smart Home Requirements
1 – Manual Control
No matter what, you should always create a way for full manual control over your devices. Things like lights, garage door opening, window shades, etc. Without an actual button to control these devices, you may find yourself in a little problem with your loved ones. Not only this, if your internet goes down, you have no way of easily controlling your home. So having a physical switch, or button is always a good idea as it will be an easy backup, you know, just in case.
2 – Voice Control
I mean this right here is where that sci-fi stuff comes in. Now that you have a physical button for the fam, you of course want to control this stuff from the power of your voice. Whether your flavor is Amazon, Google, or, Siri, each device should be set up with some voice commands to control the action. Pretty simple on each of these platforms.
Voice control gives you the freedom of not moving and being lazy, just like those people in the movie Wall-E. Remember them? Well, don’t get to be like them, that’s not very healthy.
3 – Automation
One of my favorites is automation and routines. Using motion sensors to turn on and off lights. Scheduled routines to open and close window shades during sunset and sunrise. Turn on and off outdoor lighting when the sun rises and sets. The possibilities are truly endless on what you can do. Setting up automation in your home really does help things stay on track.
Do you forget to turn on and off your outdoor lights? How about forgetting to check your doors to make sure they are locked? Worry no more with smart home automation where all of those actions are taken care of for you.
4 – Phone Control
This is pretty obvious, isn’t it? But it really is still important. You should always organize your smart home panels in whichever main app you use, Amazon, Google, or Home Kit. Having a well-organized panel really does help keep things running smooth, especially if you have to use the phone to troubleshoot etc.
5 – Go Local As Much As Possible
Look, I love Amazon’s Echo devices a lot. It’s a really great tool, just like Google and Home Kit. However, you should NEVER rely on the cloud that these devices need in order to function properly. This is one of the reasons I also use the Samsung Smartthings hub and Home Assistant.
When choosing your devices, try and get devices that can run locally on your network using the Zigbee standard. This way, even when your internet goes down, as long as you have power to your home network, all your devices will run without issue. Things like your routines, automation, etc. (Voice will most likely not work since voice still requires cloud access).
So going local with Zigbee devices is a smart choice in your home.
Want to start your own smart home? I wrote an article on how to start a smart home for beginners in 2024, so be sure to check it out!
