Creating a smart home

Step 1: Motivations – What do you want to control and why do you want to control it?

The main motivations people typically have for using home automation solutions are peace of mind, convenience, comfort, entertainment and energy efficiency.

We’ve outlined some of the specific considerations and typical applications: (scroll to the right)

Peace of Mind – You want to have greater insight into the whereabouts, condition and security of the things that matter most to you, be it family members, property or assets. The assurance that these things are safe and protected is easily achieved by a variety of smart home tools, so here are a few clever applications:

• Minimise fire risks by automatically turning off hair straighteners or electric blankets with simple timer switches.
• Receive notifications and control a security scene to flash all of the lights in your home or trigger a siren when movement or sound is detected with a variety of sensors.
• See who’s at the door and choose whether they should be let in with door sensors, cameras and smart locks.
• Receive notifications when the kids arrive home from school and unlock the door, or when a door has opened and there shouldn’t be anyone there to open it.
• Get an alert when there’s a water overflow when you’ve turned the washing machine on and popped out for something

Convenience – Incorporating smarts into your home can reduce the need for manual or repetitive tasks. Effectively, you can teach your home how you like to operate and then let the technology take on some of the legwork for you.

• Open the blinds, have the hallway lights come on and start the coffee machine to begin your morning routine on the right foot. You can even schedule processes for certain days of the week, protecting your Sunday morning sleep-in.
• Switch on the holiday home fridge and hot water cylinder a few hours before you arrive or turn off the tv from work because your children should be doing their homework.
• Use your smart home app to get the robot vacuum to clean the living area when you’re on your way home with unexpected guests.

Comfort & Entertainment – Control everything from temperature, airflow, lighting, music and more to make your home the perfect environment no matter the circumstances.

• Set lighting scenes for various activities – movie watching, family games night, homework, dinner parties. Or utilise smart sunset dimming which will gradually adjust your lighting based on how light it is outside.
• Use sensors or your smart-home app to ready your environment before you get home by operating your air-conditioning, fans, blinds, louvres or ventilation.
• Schedule the dishwasher, washing machine or dryer to operate on your schedule so that everything is prepared for your manual tasks.

Energy Efficiency – Ensure your home preserves power and takes advantage of off-peak power rates. Use intelligent monitoring to analyse your power usage, see where savings can be made and receive real-time notifications on your power consumption targets. 

• Light sensors can recognise when a room has been unused for a set amount of time and turn the lights off.
• Schedule garden sprinklers to turn on and switch off after use. You could even take it one step further and have them operate based on the sun cycle so that watering is done at the perfect time to conserve energy, water and maximise effectiveness for your garden.
• Intelligent power monitoring can not only notify you of your power consumption but can also make recommendations to assist you, for instance the fridge temp is set too high or a gaming machine has been left on overnight.
• If you have solar panels on your roof, you can also analyse power generation and storage. Pick the correct times to charge electric vehicles and schedule charging with a time delay switch.

Step 3: Get Hands-On – Try before you buy and pick up new ideas.

Now you have a smart home solution in mind, what is your next step? We'd strongly suggest a hands-on experience. Many smart home specialists and manufacturers in New Zealand often have showrooms that demonstrate a range of smart home devices in different applications.

You will be able to see how everything is operated whether it’s scheduling and user-programming, voice activation or using a smartphone for control.

What’s more, you may well see some ideas that you’ll be able to easily implement using everyday electrical products. With so many people adopting home automation technologies to make their lives easier – new approaches and ways to use devices are emerging daily.

The home solutions consultants in the PDL showrooms are extremely knowledgeable and can discuss your unique requirements, home and lifestyle to ensure you’re getting the most out of your decision to introduce smarts into your home. Digital appointments and demonstrations are also available.