As a kid, I always ran to my mom when I faced technology issues. When the dial-up wouldn't start or my laptop froze, she was our trouble-shooter extraordinaire. One day when she and I had purchased a new disk drive for my laptop, a task that required dismantling and removing inner parts of the computer, we hit a frustrating road bump. She told me, "You know, I only became good at this through trial and error. That's the best way to learn about computers. Just try things until something works."
My mom taught me to make mistakes if I wanted to learn. And she taught me to be intrigued by problems, not frustrated. As an adult, I'm still interested in new, fun technologies. Thanks to Momma, I'm also willing to make mistakes, flounder a bit, and tweak things until I find a solution.
We've been in our little house for 10 months now. It feels like we've been here forever, mostly because it feels like our own home. When we first moved in, I wanted to customize and upgrade everything. While reality has slowed me down a bit, which is probably for my own good, I have been able to research and discover some really fun and practical home automation tools.
Keep in mind that these are what I'm choosing for my home based on a variety of factors. Home automation is deeply personal and is affected by your job schedule, family, home size, technical expertise, and habits. Consider this blog post one step of your own research. Don't take one person's word for it. See what others have found before making your house a smart home.
1. Ecobee3 (or 4!)
We own the ecobee3. I bought it way on sale, right before the Alexa-enabled ecobee4 hit the shelves. The price tag mattered after shelling out thousands for our down payment, so the older model was perfect. There was (and still is!) a
Focus on Energy rebate I wanted to take advantage of, and I suggest you do too.
I told myself this was a practical purchase because it would save us money. Really, I wanted an excuse to get into home automation.
- It can be app-controlled. This means I can adjust my thermostat from anywhere, as long as the thermostat and my phone are connected to the internet. I can also customize the settings from my phone and it will update the settings on the thermostat. Not necessary, but convenient.
- You can set the thermostat to adjust multiple times a day. This can be based on the days of the week, so our Monday-Friday settings are different than Saturday and Sunday.
- Ecobee connects to hubs, like Samsung's SmartThings hub. The hub is not required, but becomes a useful edition if you begin to buy more home automation goodies.
- There are sensors that can check room occupancy and temperature. This allows the thermostat to work it's "smartest." If your bedroom averages 60, but living room averages 65, when the thermostat is actually set to 63, the ecobee takes that into account when heating and cooling your home. Occupied rooms are used to determine the average temperature with a feature called "Follow Me." Follow Me can be disabled, but works very well in our home. Keep in mind that you don't have to have sensors in every room (we don't) to enjoy an ecobee, but they help.
- The ecobee can determine, and adjust itself, if you leave the home when you'd normally turn up the temperature and visa versa. If you're home when the thermostat is set to "Away," the ecobee can tell. Based on home occupancy, the thermostat will change the temperature for you. This feature has saved us money when we're gone for the day or are working late.
- Ecobee has a website where you can check your energy usage, and stats are graphed out for readability. It also lets you know how your home does compared to others in the area. You can search for energy-saving tips there as well.
I installed the ecobee3 myself. I did have to turn off the furnace and deal with quite a few wires. I was terrified of breaking something, but my fear was needless. The installation was seamless, despite the fact that I had zero experience with wiring at that point. The app actually walked me through the steps and reminded me to take pictures as I went along. That adds a real comfort when you're a nervous wreck.
2. Kwikset SmartCode 888
My car has a touchless key. That's when I learned it's the little things, like not scrounging around for keys at 7 AM, that makes me happy. I knew, as soon as we bought the house, that I wanted smart locks on it. This was complicated by the fact that our front door has the original mortise lock, which I cherish. I admire well-loved, mid-century and vintage pieces; there is no way I'm abandoning a functional piece that has been around more than twice as long as I've been alive.
Recently, I took the plunge and bought the SmartCode 888 for our back door. I doubt I'll give up my mortise lock, but I will probably replace the garage door lock and change my garage door opener to a smart opener.
If you look for smart locks, there are so many kinds. It's hard to sift through the options without losing your mind.
DH and I decided against the
August lock because it's big and bulky. Honestly, having installed our new lock, I don't see why you'd choose this option. August advertises how their lock installs over existing locks, but the Kwikset installation was pretty easy, so that is not a selling point in my book.
I like locks with
phone sensors, but I was terrified of going outside to putz in the garden, only to have my phone and keys accidentally locked inside via the auto-lock settings. And what if I forgot my keys, but my phone died? Or I lost it? Although anyone can lose keys with a normal lock, I can see myself being careless due to the smart lock.
I also don't like that many touch-to-open, phone-sensing locks, like the Kevo, often have a delay before opening. That's annoying.
With these out of the question, I wanted a lock with a keypad that looked nice. Then, upon reading reviews, I discovered that if your door was a little off, meaning that you had to push or pull a bit to align it with the lock, most smart locks simply didn't work. At that point I had done hours of research and could only think, Well, what the heck now?
I began searching for keypad smart locks that could detect a phone and could handle a misaligned door like ours. That's where I happened upon the
SmartCode 888. The 888 has a special tapered deadbolt, which works with misaligned doors. And it has good ratings! The 888 comes in a variety of finishes, looks nice, and has a keypad. I would even be able to re-key my lock to match my existing keys. It was perfect. And not available to the public.
I waited months, figuring it was in beta, when I happened upon a Ebay listing. The lock was only $85 and unused. I had 30 days to return the item, so I figured, hey, it's new, and if it is defective, I can return it. I used PayPal, which allowed for extra protection if I needed to return the lock.
The Kwikset 888 is a great convenience. I did have one issue with the lock aligning, but the fix was simple once I got in touch with customer support. I immediately bought a
SmartThings hub because it allowed my phone and DH's phone to connect to the lock. With the hub, I can set the lock to automatically open or close based on our locations, time of day, or any other setting I choose.
Without the hub, the 888 only locks and unlocks manually or using the keypad. It does not connect to a phone.
3. SmartThings Hub
To be honest, the second I installed this hub I thought I would be returning it. It was $90 and seemed to do what the individual apps for my smart products were already doing. I left it for about a week and went back to play with the features more. I am telling you,
I've found my soulmate.
These hubs get a lot of flak for being unreliable, but, at least in our small house, it's been stable. I imagine some issues have been resolved as Samsung updates the hubs. Although many smart apps already do what my hub does, the hub is an improvement because it synchronizes smart items and allows me to add multiple users, which is important. Currently, we only have the Kwikset lock, ecobee theromstat, and
smart vacuum. With the hub, my ecobee doesn't turn the heat on until it senses someone is in the living room. Without the hub, the "morning" setting kicks in regardless of a presence in that room. So the hub is making the ecobee more efficient.
When we both leave the house, the hub goes into "Goodbye!" mode. That setting locks the door (if we forgot to), lowers the heat, and starts the vacuum. Before, the door had to be manually locked, the vacuum went off at a scheduled time, even if we were home, and the ecobee sensors took longer to realize the house was unoccupied. Essentially, the hub has streamlined all of these tasks. This is not necessarily a game changer, but it is more efficient. I imagine that when we get more home automation items, the hub will become more of a necessity.
Do keep in mind that the SmartThings hub is not wireless. It must be plugged into your router. Or, if you're willing to buy a wifi extender, you could plug it into one of those. I didn't think about wired versus wireless issues until after I purchased the hub. This is not a big deal for us, but could be if you need the hub to be centralized in a large home.
4. Ecobee Switch+
I would like voice control, but haven't decided between
Alexa,
Google Home, or some other option. Despite being uncertain, I knew that waiting to buy a separate device, which only takes up more space, later on, was silly. I enjoy home automation, but don't need things taking up extra outlets or counter space in my little home.
I pre-ordered my
Switch+ after looking into smart lighting, another home feature I've been pining after since we bought the house.
I bought the Switch+ for $99 after deciding that I might as well get voice control (via Amazon Alexa) and a smart light switch all in one.
The one bummer about smart switches is that most require a neutral wire. It's, based on my non-electrician knowledge, a random white wire that is often only present in newer homes, or in home with newer wiring. "Newer" can mean a lot of things, unfortunately, so you need to check for these wires. My house only has neutral wires in the living room due to a remodel, but nowhere else. Because of the neutral wire issue, our Switch+ must be housed in the living room. Whether I like it or not, neutral wires are typically needed because they provide smart switches with a separate electrical current, allowing them to receive commands even when the lights are off.
Voice control is fun. You can tell Alexa to turn things on and off, search tidbits of information, tell you about the morning commute, or ask her to play a song. Really, Alexa can be whatever you need it to be.
The Switch+ will work with our SmartThings hub, allowing us to add to the home's smart ecosystem. Once an update comes out in a few months, it will even act as a temperature sensor. With the Switch+ coming, I'm excited to play with the lighting settings and voice commands in our living room.
5. Lutron Caseta Light Switches
I originally had Hue, or other smart bulbs, on my docket, but I deiced they were too expensive and less permanent than a smart switch. Plus, the smart bulbs come in limited bulb types and often can't function with a dimmer switch. No thanks.
Unfortunately, finding the right smart switch is not a simple task. As mentioned before, neutral wires are problematic for homeowners interested in smart technologies. Luckily, companies like Lutron are beginning to help us solve this problem. Along with my Switch+, I ordered a
Caseta dimmer switch with hub ($79.99) and a simpler
Caseta on/off switch ($54.99) for a ceiling fan.
The dimmer does not require a neutral wire.
If smart lighting options are frying your brain,
look into the Caseta first. They're expensive at $50-60 a pop, but don't require smart bulbs, which are at least $10 each. The Caseta dimmer switch doesn't even need the dreaded neutral wire, allowing old-home owners to rejoice. It also comes with a little remote. I saw other options for non-neutral wire switches, but a lot of them were problematic. Some only worked if you left the actual light switch on, meaning you couldn't use the physical switch without disabling the smart features. Others just weren't reliable. Some were ugly or complicated.
The Caseta has
good reviews and functionality. Even the way these switches dim impressed users more than switches where you had to press and hold your finger in certain places to get the dimmer to work.
Buying another hub was a concern, but I decided that the investment was worth the reliability, SmartThings integration, and ability to use the same switches throughout my home. After all, I'm sure I'll want to expand the lighting system. When I do so, I don't want a million different switch types because of the neutral wire issue. I did look into it and you can install these dimmers instead of regular on/off switches.
If you're looking to start the home automation process, start with some of the simple, more practical items. Start using the fun stuff once you've dipped your toes in the water with something that will save you money through efficiency. That way, even if you don't love having smart technology, you're getting something out of your investment.
