A beginner’s guide to a smart home
Are you considering having your own smart home?
This quick-guide provides you with an overview of what you need to create a smart home. You'll also get inspiration on useful features to include in your new smart home.
What is a smart home?
A smart home is a network of internet-connected devices used to automate specific tasks and enable remote monitoring of appliances in a residence.
What do I need to create my own smart home?
You need some smart home devices in order for you to have the functionality that you would like in your smart home. There are a lot of smart home devices available on the market, so step one is to decide on the functionalities you need.
Step two is to do some research on which devices will provide you with these functionalities.
Check out the different types of smart home devices below.
In addition to the smart home devices, you often need a hub to create a smart home system. The smart home hub connects the devices in your network, sends commands to the connected devices, and collects data from them. Examples of such smart home hubs are those offered by Homey and SmartThings.
As part of your smart home, you also need an app on your smartphone allowing you to control the devices and providing you access to the monitoring data.
7 types of smart home devices
- Smart smoke detectors
Get an instant warning on your phone if a fire starts in your home. In addition to warning you with a loud sound while you’re at home, smart smoke detectors also warn you with a notification on your smartphone while you’re away from your home. This means that you can take action even though you’re not at home.
Sounds like something you would like for your smart home? Meet the frient Intelligent Smoke Alarm.
- Smart water detectors
If a fire is not your only concern, another option is to include water detectors in your smart home system. Similar to smart smoke detectors, water detectors send you a notification on your smartphone if a leak or flooding is detected. You can react quickly whether you’re at home or away, meaning that you’ll minimize the water damages and reduce repair costs.
Get to know the frient Water Leak Detector.
- Motions sensors
Motion sensors offer several functionalities that can benefit you in your everyday life. Firstly, you can use them to monitor activity in your home while you’re not there as part of a smart home security system. You can also connect them with other smart home devices. This way, you can make lights and music turn on when you enter a room and make them turn off when you leave.
Check out the very friently Motion Sensor.
- Door and window sensors
Another way of detecting movement is by monitoring the opening and closing of doors and windows. Similar to motion sensors, such smart home devices are ideal for a home security system. You will feel much more relaxed being away from your home when you’re reassured continuously that it is safe and sound.
You can also use these sensors to quickly check if all windows and doors of your home are closed before you leave it.
Interested? Meet the frient Entry Sensor.
- Smart electricity monitors
Equip your electricity meter with a smart energy monitor, and you get easy access to your consumption data. With these data, you won’t get any unexpected costly electricity bills. Instead, you might actually get motivated to lower your consumption and save money based on the overview you get from this type of smart home device.
Explore the features of the frient Electricity Meter Interface.
- Smart plugs
Track the usage of electrical appliances with smart plugs. For instance, you can connect smart plugs to your TV, kettle, or electric radiator, and you can start keeping track of how much electricity these appliances use. All you need to do is to insert the smart plug connected with the electrical appliance into a power socket, and it’ll start monitoring the consumption. In addition to the monitoring feature, smart plugs also enable you to turn the connected appliances on and off remotely.
Need some of these for your home? Check out the frient Smart Plug Mini 2.
- Indoor air sensors
Want to make sure that the indoor environment of your home is healthy? You can use smart home devices to monitor the air quality. For example, you can monitor the level of humidity and concentration of VOCs, which are organic chemicals coming from various sources, including paint, building materials, furnishing, and tobacco smoking. The organic chemicals are present in indoor air and can cause adverse health effects.
With indoor air sensors as part of your smart home, you’ll get the information you need to make sure that the indoor air of your home is not causing negative health effects.
Frient offers you two options in the category of indoor air sensors: The Smart Humidity Sensor and the Air Quality Sensor. Which one do you prefer?
