Creating A Smart Home System For Your Family
If you love technology, you’ll love what can be done with the new “smart devices” for homes. There are so many innovations for smart home systems and security that you probably didn’t even know existed. Such systems will give you better peace of mind and easier living.
You may think that smart home systems and home security is expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. You no longer have to rich and famous to have a home security system. Of course you need to make an initial investment in the products you want to create your own perfect smart home system, but you will quickly find this is a wise investment that quickly pays off.
Here are just a few smart home system options that we think will make your eyes pop!
Smart Thermostats
Smart thermostats are promising to change the way we think about energy usage. And, for the most part, they’re living up to that promise. Smart thermostats are more than just temperature control though.
Today’s smart thermostats actually learn your schedule and know exactly when you leave your home. The temperature can then be adjusted automatically. It also allows you to tweak your settings easily from a mobile app.
It uses a combination of activity and humidity sensors, monitors current weather conditions, and has sensitive temperature sensors to adjust the thermostat accordingly. As it learns your activity over time, less input is required from you.
This translates into optimal temperature control and optimized energy usage. There are many smart thermostats on the market today so be sure to research before buying. There are services like Nexia Home Intelligence that are compatible with Trane and American Standard smart thermostats.
Locking Tech
Locking technology hasn’t changed much since it was first designed and implemented on a commercial scale. That’s why new innovations in locking technology are so exciting. The new smart lock discards the traditional key in favor of a chip which can open the door using your mobile device. Some smart locks also incorporate biometric scanning technology so that doors can be opened with fingerprints.
You can also check users who have activated the lock, who has been in your home, when, and monitor and control access to your house. These locks typically give you the ability to hand out one-time access codes, grant access for temporary visitors, and offers superior security through encryption, similar to what’s used in the banking industry to secure customer accounts.
It’s better than handing out keys, or risk losing them. Finally, you can also check to make sure that everything is as it should be after you’ve left the home. You can also let guests in remotely with a touch of a button without having to be there. And, because everything is password protected, even if you lose your mobile device, you’re not granting access to your home to strangers.
They’re becoming so popular because they can be retrofit into traditional deadbolt openings. This means that you still have the option of using a traditional key without having to dismantle the entire door to get your new lock to work.
This Schlage Touchscreen & Deadbolt is a great, high-tech choice that works seamlessly with the Nexia app so you can not only grant access to temporary visitors, you can see directly from the mobile app who has used which passwords to get into your house and the date and time that they entered.
Forget to lock your front door before going to bed? No problem! Lock the door directly from the app on your phone. It’s that easy.
Intercom Systems
Intercom systems used to be mainstays of the American home. But, they fell out of favor when portable radios came onto the scene. That’s because intercoms were really enhanced central radio systems. It’s only recently that new types of intercom systems have made their way back into our homes.
These new systems integrate traditional intercom functionality with advanced security systems, including audio and video security.
Security Cameras
Home security cameras are probably the most popular option, especially if you have a house cleaner, a nanny or anyone that comes into your home when you aren’t there.
You can get security cameras that are specifically designed for indoors and outdoors settings. Most cameras are night vision capable with infrared LED lights so you can see what’s going on, even in the dark. Indoor security cameras that are high quality will let you see what’s happening in your home in 720p resolution and high definition live streaming of the action.
We have an outdoor security camera aimed at our front steps so we can see people approaching the front door. This has not only helped us by telling us when visitors arrive but we can also see if someone is leaving our house with an arm full of stuff they didn’t come in with! I can also see when mail and packages are delivered when I’m not home. The outdoor security camera is probably my favorite smart home product.
Touch Screen Refrigerators
Touch screen refrigerators do more than just keep your food cold. They also keep tabs on which foods are about the expire, so you can finish them off before things turn sour.
They also keep you up to date on the status of the food in there. When you’re about to run out of milk, for example, you get a warning so you can restock. Kinda creepy but very useful with today’s busy lifestyles.
In terms of technology, it uses radio frequency identification (RFID). An RFID tag can be automatically read by your fridge, your stock list will be updated based on data that’s compiled from a remote database of products. And, if you buy something that doesn’t have a tag (like organic produce from the farmer’s market), then you just enter it in manually.
Think of these new fridges as assistants in your quest for the perfect diet, reducing your need to stress about food and shopping.
Smart Lighting
Normally, one wouldn’t go looking for a specific product manufacturer’s product, but Philips pretty much owns this game. It’s called “smart lighting” for a reason. The light brightens gradually in the morning to simulate natural sunlight. Philips Hue Smart Lighting is a great option for any household as it can also recreate the light from any photo on your smartphone using a dropper tool to choose the color palette. You can also configure the light to turn on and off at set times.
LinearLinc LB60Z-1 Z-Wave LED Light Bulbs
Other Smart Home Products
From garage door openers and automatic blinds and shades to lawn irrigation and security cameras, you will find a wide range of products to create your perfect smart home system. Systems like Nexia Home Intelligence cost just $9.99/month to connect all your smart home products together. It does this effortlessly with the Nexia Home Intelligence Bridge. It’s like a router for all your smart home products.
We found this system to be fairly easy to set up in our home. I struggled to get the app on my iPhone 6 to work properly at first but after uninstalling and reinstalling the app, I began getting notifications right on my phone. I love having my phone pop up and tell me “Living room door has been opened”! My kids can’t get away with anything now…
The Nexia Home Intelligence smart home system has proven it’s reliability time and time again for us. If you are interested in creating a smart home system for your family, give Nexia a try!