Home automation may have begun with TV lifts, electric actuators, and security cameras which used linear motion systems, but it has grown beyond that as technology has advanced greatly. The current range of home automation includes many different types of app and program to allow homeowners to take control of their systems from various points around the home, or outside it.
These apps reduce the need to interact directly with your devices or your home, and allow for greater control overall. While many of these programmes come pre-made, there is now the option to create your own apps, which work according to your own specifications. Making your own app has its advantages – it can correlate directly with the home automation you have, rather than being pre-made for use with other automation, and it can be on the device of your own choosing, rather than being specific to one area.
Use a homemade app to automate your lights – rather than needing to turn them on and off physically, an app gives you the option to turn them on and off remotely. Having an app also means that you can create lighting patterns for your lights, and have the lights come on and off at random times during the evening when you aren’t at home, to create the illusion that you are.
Having lights automated means that there is less need to interact with a physical switch – homeowners have more control because they can turn the lights off if they forget when leaving the house.
Turn your Heating On and Off
Heating automation has been around for a while, but having it attached to an app will give you even greater control than you had before. Having an app connected to your heating will allow you to control it to a far greater extent than before. If you are away for longer than you thought, or will be home sooner than you anticipated, then you can use the app to switch the heating on before its time, or keep it off for longer.
Having an app will also allow you to change the patterns of your heating, as well as create new ones on the go. If you decide to go away for a few days without going home first, then you can use the app to change the heating onto a holiday setting remotely, with no fuss. The same applies to other patterns, which can be used just as easily.
Automate your Security
Security can benefit from automation in a huge number of ways. Linear actuators have given the cameras, in particular, greater range of motion, and therefore more scope to do the job they are designed for.
Having an app means that the security system can be turned on and off remotely, which can be helpful on the occasions when you forget to put it on before leaving the house, or when someone else needs access to the house and you do not want to give out the password or passcode to your security system.
What an automated security system is also good for it keeping you informed of what is happening. An app can be directly linked to the cameras, allowing for them to send a real-time feed to the smart device in question. Homeowners can have this happen automatically in response to certain events (such as the doorbell ringing), or if they want to check up on security.