Do you want to turn your old house into a smart home but don’t know much about the smart home setup trend? Don’t be afraid! This blog post will show a few ways to set up your smart home smoothly. A smart home setup is no longer just something out of a sci-fi movie. It’s simple, useful, and smarter than you might think.
But if you aren’t good with technology or don’t know as much as others, setting up a smart home might seem too much. It’s hard to know where to start, but we’ve put together a guide for beginners to help you set up your smart home in this post. First, let’s talk about what a smart home is.
What’s a smart home?
Modern technology has completely changed how we use electricity, making our lives easier. When you turn your regular home into a smart home, you can control everything with the touch of a finger. All devices that use electricity in a smart home will be connected to your Wi-Fi network.
So, you will be able to get comfort and ease at the touch of a finger. When you’re done setting up your smart home, you’ll be able to manage everything in real-time using an app on your phone, tablet, or smart speaker that responds to your voice.
How do you start setting up a smart home?
The simple answer is that a smart home setup depends on your budget, time, and interests. The honest answer is that you can only buy one smart home device and one app from one brand. After a while, you can add anything you want. But if you want to do something bigger, you may need to buy one of the following ecosystems.
- Amazon Alexa
- Google Assistant
- Apple HomeKit
Setting up a smart home on a low budget will work a few methods.
How to set up a smart home
Invest in the highest quality internet connectivity.
For a smart home setup, you need to be able to connect to the internet quickly and reliably. Your smart home depends a lot on being connected to the internet. Investing in the finest internet connection is necessary if you want everything to go smoothly.
We say that if you have a small family and use your smart home about averagely, you would need 100Mbps internet. On the other hand, if you have a medium-sized to the large family and use your smart home about averagely, go for an internet connection of 300 to 500Mbps. If you or your family use your smart home a lot, you should spend money on 940Mbps to 1,000Mbps internet.
Choose the ecosystem carefully.
Before you buy any smart home gadgets, you should figure out which ecosystem will work best for you. There are mostly three ecosystems:
- Google Nest
- Amazon Alexa
- Apple HomeKit
If most of your family uses iPhones, iPads, or Macs, Apple HomeKit is the obvious choice. If, on the other hand, most of your family uses Android phones, you should go with Google Nest. There will be support for more than one standard for devices made by third parties. But it’s smart to put your money in one main ecosystem.
Google Nest is a smart speaker that responds quickly and easily to voice commands. So, Android users should choose Google Nest. Alexa from Amazon works with several third-party devices. You need to download the Alexa app to use Alexa from your phone.
Apple HomeKit is the best choice for people who own an iPhone. Apple has strict third-party certification, ensuring that all supported devices work well. Home-Kit-compatible devices like Google Assistant and Alexa are not very common, but all the brand names are covered.
Choose the right center.
You can’t control all of your smart-home devices with your phone. It would help if you had the correct hub for that. A smart home hub is where all your home automation can connect to one place. The right hub for you will depend on the products you use and the features you want. Based on what we said, you must initially choose your hub and the products that work with it.
But if you have devices already, you can choose the hub that works best with them. Once you’ve chosen the hub, you’ll need to add it to your network. To do this, you’ll need to follow the directions that come with the products. If your smart hub is a smart speaker, you should try out a few instructions before installing it on other devices.
Spend money on smart plugs
We don’t think smart plugs should be the first thing you add to your ecosystem. However, you are confused here. Plugs work well with lamps, stoves, heaters, irons, and about anything else you want to control automatically. Even better, these plugs are easy to set up. The app that comes with the plug will help you connect to the internet. If you have a smart speaker, you can even attach the plug to the speaker to control it with your voice.
Buy smart lights
Setting up smart lights is the next essential point to do. Most of the time, setting it up is easy. All you have to do is communicate it to Wi-Fi and synchronize it with the hub. Not sure if you want to connect a light to the Wi-Fi? It’s simple.
Most of the time, you can find your light under the list of ways to connect to the internet. You have to choose it, open the app for that brand of light, and connect it. After you set it up, you can have a lot of fun. You can turn lights on or off from another room or state.
Be safe
One of the best things about automation is setting up your security system. It needs a strong Wi-Fi connection, just like other smart home devices. You can choose a motion detector, security camera, door lock, or open/close sensor. So, you can add to your smart home suite based on what you want. If you don’t want to buy everything separately, you can get a starter kit from several security brands.
Use smart thermostats
Do you desire to keep your home warm or cool to meet your family’s needs? If so, you should buy a smart thermostat. These heating systems are easy to set up and use and can save money. With a smart thermostat, you’ll know how much electricity your family shares and how much it costs. So, keeping an eye on how much your home produces is easy.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, it’s not as easy as you think to understand connectivity protocols, voice-enabled, and how to choose the best products for setting up a smart home. But keeping in mind what we’ve discussed so far and set up the right combination of gadgets can make setting up a smart home easy and convenient.
