When you think about home automation, surely it always seems like a long-shot plan that’s also not cheap. While that may be true to a certain extent, there are easy and affordable ways to automate your home.
All that requires is a couple of smart devices and a good internet plan. You can find good internet plans with Centurylink Internet, just saying. But here’s a little read on how you can automate your home with the two requirements.
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What to Expect With Smart Devices
So it’s already established that with the help of smart devices, you can automate certain aspects of your home right? Well, bet you didn’t know that with this kind of technology comes more advantages than remote and wireless control.
A couple of smart devices are great for acting as an added security means for your home – like smart door locks and smart cameras. Other than that, generally, these devices allow for remote and wireless control, along with voice-enabled control with some!
Here’s what you probably didn’t expect: energy efficiency. It’s not only because these devices can be controlled wirelessly – which means no room for carelessness. Some smart devices have features of their own that contribute to this factor. So here are some examples of smart devices and how they work to conserve energy.
Energy-Efficient Smart Devices
Smart Thermostats
The name kind of says it already, doesn’t it? A smart thermostat is nothing like the ordinary ones already installed in your homes. They’re much better and far more advanced with the technology that they feature. To the point that you can control them from your smartphones from practically wherever you are! Some are even voice-assistant compatible so that means voice-enabled control too.
So some smart thermostats come with built-in motion sensors. What these can do is that they switch the thermostat to an eco-friendly temperature or switch it off entirely when it doesn’t detect any presence for a certain time.
The fact that we can control smart thermostats from our smartphones like we already said means that we can control them from anywhere. That means you don’t have to leave on the thermostat for an hour while you go run errands.
Save on that energy and your utility bills! All you have to do is switch on the thermostat as you exit the store or are a few minutes away from home. It’s also a pretty useful feature to switch the thermostat off should you forget to on your way out in the mornings.
The smartphone control isn’t just for switching the device on and off remotely. What some smart thermostat apps allow is setting timers or a schedule for the device to follow through. You won’t even have to pick up your smartphone to adjust temperatures or switch it on or off.
Smart Lighting
Smart lights and smart bulbs are LED. It already makes them energy efficient because LED lights consume less energy as opposed to ordinary lighting. But that’s not it.
Though they may be slightly more expensive than ordinary lights, they are essentially an investment because they go a long way. Use your smartphone or voice assistant to switch lights on or off from wherever you happen to be at the time. You don’t necessarily have to be home, just so you know!
And just like smart thermostats, even some smart lights allow for timers and setting schedules for the lights to follow throughout the day. Set the porch lights to switch off at 7 a.m. and the light in the driveway to switch on at sundown.
Certain smart lights work with sensors too. They can switch off on their own when there’s no movement around; much like the smart lighting, you would find in commercial buildings.
What You Should Know
It may seem pretty easy to set up home automation and enjoy the benefits of energy saving. Sure it might just be, but there’s something that you should know when it comes to smart devices. They run on uninterrupted internet connectivity.
A smart device is useless without the internet. It’s the source that’s responsible for the device’s functioning – that too in real time.
So before trying to automate your home, find out if your internet plan can sustain these additions to it. Otherwise, you may have to subscribe to a new plan with greater speeds and bandwidth. Click here to browse through some internet plans.
