Smart tips for Smart Hubs
- A Smart Hub determines what your smart home will be capable of and what types of products you can integrate so take a close look at the features and pick the one that's best for you
- Each Smart Hub comes with an app that lets you access your home anywhere and the app’s look, feel and ease of use are pretty important. Check out the look and feel of each app and read reviews before deciding which might work best for you.
- Hubs have different form factors – some might be slim and designed to sit discreetly on a bookshelf, others are less physically appealing and might make a good neighbor to the router in your home office. Some hubs are even built inside routers so you get dual functionality.
- Some Smart Hubs are entirely cloud based – meaning they rely on a working internet connection to function & talk to other devices; others have local functions – choose these if you want to have a working smart home during an outage.
Smart tips for Smart Lighting
- Don’t want to mess with switches or wiring? Grab some smart bulbs – easy to install and gives you the magic of lighting control in a few easy steps.
- Create scenes with smart lighting that replay random lighting patterns to make your home appear occupied even when it’s not.
- Track energy usage of your smart lights through your app and use programming to turn your lights off when a room isn’t in use.
- Smart Lighting is a great way to get started with voice control of your home - “Alexa, dim the lights to 50%” or “Hey Google, turn on all of the lights.”
- Use color LED smart bulbs to add ambiance to rooms like your living room or the kid’s bedroom.
Smart tips for Smart Thermostats
- Most Z-Wave Smart Thermostats require power via battery or your HVAC system’s 24VAC “C” Wire.
- Set smart daily heating or cooling schedules that you can integrate with other smart home scenes and monitor via your smart hub’s app.
- Stay in control of the temperature in your home and stop your kids from cranking the air or heat after school with preset scenes that can be fixed at certain times.
- Some Thermostats can be connected to external temperature sensors that can be placed in other rooms to ensure a uniform temp throughout each zone.
- If you’re replacing an existing thermostat, check to see if the current setup is different than the new form factor you’re considering – you might have to patch the wall or do a quick coat of paint before you put the new device in.
Smart tips for Smart Sensors
- Find out how the flood sensor is measuring water – some are more sensitive than others and that might impact your purchase depending on where you plan on placing them in the home.
- Door and window sensors can be used on drawers and cabinets protect kids from harmful substances, medicine or other off-limits items.
- Door and window sensors come in numerous colors to match your walls and many can be painted over.
- Door or window sensors are a great way to add an additional layer of security to your home – place them in parts of the house that you want to keep an eye on.
Smart tips for Smart Energy Management
- Keep your energy bill under control with a smart thermostat. You can lower the heat when you leave and activate your “goodbye” scene and raise it when you activate your “welcome home” scene.
- Dimmable bulbs can give you a light dimming feature to save on electricity and create ambiance without installing a new switch or messing with wiring.
- Some smart plugs offer colorful rings on the exterior to determine the energy usage and to see if the electric draw is high without having to open your app.
- The inside of your home doesn’t have to be the only place you have smart energy management – try a durable outdoor smart switch to control outdoor lighting loads.
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