The word "smart" seems to be popping up to describe all kinds of appliances and applications in our daily lives. In fact, today we even have smart homes, thanks to the advent of networked home automation hubs and devices. If you've already fallen in love with the idea of being able to program all kinds of household functions and operate them via remote control, you may be thinking about investing in your own smart home automation system installation. Here are four essentials that you'll want to include in your setup.
Smart Controllers
Smart homes rely on communication bridges or hubs that distribute the appropriate commands to their various connected devices. The hub in your smart home automation system acts as the master nerve center. If you're putting together your own collection of smart devices, you'll want to buy a separate smart home that can serve as a universal controller for all of these devices; otherwise, the smart hubs that come packaged with some of these devices may not be able to communicate with other makes or brands of devices. You can then program your hub to operate such diverse devices as lights, door locks, doorbells, sprinkler systems, window coverings and garage door openers.
Smart Power Plugs
Do you wish that you could leave electrical appliances plugged in all the time without wasting energy due to the "phantom" power that trickles into these devices? With smart power plugs, you can do just that. These plugs work just regular electrical ports and power strips, except that they can be automatically switched on or off according to a pre-programmed event or time. They also allow you to monitor exactly how much energy you're drawing from each outlet. You can even command it via voice command technology or through your smartphone.
Smart Lighting
Stumbling around the house groping for a light switch can prove not only annoying but also potentially hazardous. Even if you can see where you're going, you may not feel like constantly turning your ambient lighting up or down to suit your dinner party or different times of the day. If you have a tendency to leave lights on without realizing it, you can add high utility bills to your list of aggravations. Smart lighting can do away with those problems. Your smart home system can automate lights in various parts of the house to switch themselves on or off, or grow brighter or dimmer, according to whatever schedule you choose. This trick is especially useful if you're going out of town; the lights in your home will continue to go on and off just as if you were home.
Smart Home Theater Components
There's nothing like a deluxe home theater system for enjoying a cinema-like experience in your own living room or entertainment room. Unfortunately, by the time you're done manually switching on all the components, adjusting the sound levels, and trying to control the ambient lighting, you may feel too tired to bother with the movie. You'll want to ensure that your home theater system is tied into your smart home automation system. You can integrate all the controls for those separate components into one master control panel, programming various combinations of effects such as raising the lights automatically whenever you pause the film, or lowering the lights whenever you press "Play."
You can see just how smart it is to adopt smart home technology for your own purposes. If you don't want to struggle with the DIY approach, contact services such as Control Digital.
