Building a smarter home is all the rage right now. A lot of smart devices are readily available on the market. All of them are here to help you live a smarter life by adding more convenience to your daily.
Turning your home into a smart home is also easier nowadays. Still, there are things you must know before spending your hard-earned money on them.
Pick plug-and-play products if you are a renter
During the initial smart home boom, many products require you to make permanent changes in your home. That is no longer the case nowadays.
Home automation does not require extensive work now, such as making changes to the wiring at your place. In fact, many smart devices now offer plug-and-play, which makes it easy for you to turn your home into a smart one.
But what if you are a homeowner and willing to make permanent changes?
That means more freedom in installing home automation for your place. You can just pick your desired smart home hub and connect all the devices from different brands under your hub.
Set a budget
Seeing the smart home devices in action is so satisfying. For instance, witnessing your smart lighting turn on by itself when the motion sensor detects you are coming into your bedroom.
However, one thing you should keep in mind before purchasing smart devices is how much you are willing to spend in total.
That means you have to decide the budget you are willing to spend to create your desired home automation. More budget could mean more features or getting products from well-known brands.
Understand the communication protocol they use
Smart home devices use a communication protocol. The protocol allows smart devices to talk with each other. And the common protocols in the market nowadays are:
- Wi-Fi
- Zigbee
- Bluetooth
Therefore, let’s say you own a smart home hub and want to unify and automate your lighting and curtains under one app, they all need to “speak” under the same protocol.
Once you find out what protocols they use, it is also wise if you put the time to understand the benefits that every protocol offered. For instance, many smart devices offer Wi-Fi protocol because it is excellent for DIY setup and the go-to protocol for a plug-and-play product. However, they can slow down your internet if you own many smart devices that only support Wi-Fi protocol.
Start the transformation from the most desired benefit
If you never perform any home automation installation, you may be wondering where to start. The best way to start the home automation for your place is to find out the most desired benefit that you are looking for.
There are some reasons people want to set up a smart home, and they are:
- Improving home security
- Automating curtains and blinds at their home
- Creating a good atmosphere with smart lighting
To illustrate, if you desire to fortify the home for your family, then you should start your home automation journey by looking for smart devices that enhance your home security. Therefore, begin transforming your home into a smart one by installing a smart door lock first, followed by a gate lock and even motion sensors.
Look up the warranty terms, reviews, and the support
Good home automation products should last for years. Still, you have to look up the warranty terms and find out what they are willing to do if your devices break down.
Then, spare some time to check the online reviews. Online reviews usually will give you a chance to find whether a business is willing to go the extra mile to provide great after-sales support.
All in all, performing DIY home automation installation is a fun thing to do. Have fun transforming your home into a smart one!
