When it comes to technology that allows you to manage your home more effectively, make no mistake...the future is here.
The fastest-growing trend in home electronics is the collection of web-enabled devices that allow you to control your home's heating and cooling, lighting, security systems and door locks in a more sustainable and effective way. These devices can be managed through any web-enabled device, customized to your liking and set up to run on their own, learning from your habits to create optimum conditions. These products are meant to make life easier, cut down on energy consumption and costs and increase your quality of life.
Now granted, most of these products and technologies have been around for more than a decade, mostly contained in homes in Malibu or the Hamptons. A smart home system would usually require about a week's time to install and about a year's salary (for most of us) to get up and running. Conversely, today you can get an effective smart home system for under a thousand dollars! Ready to streamline installation?
What's a Smart Home System?
Moving forward, you're going to hear the terms “home automation,” “connected home” and "smart home systems" more and more each day. In its most basic definition, a smart home system allows you to manage your home from your hand. It means managing any home electronic device from any of your web-enabled mobile devices.
What Can I Control With My Web-Enabled Devices?
You can control and manage your security system, thermostats, door locks, any lighting source, security cameras and garage doors. You can also tie in and control pool filters, water valves and anything plugged into an outlet. Here are a few examples of some smart home devices and how they work:
- Smart lighting: Lights can be programmed to turn on and off automatically. You can also adjust the brightness based on your preferences.
- Thermostats: You can control the heating and cooling through an app. Smart thermostats learn your preferences and keep your space at a comfortable temperature for you.
- Locks: With smart locks, you can lock and unlock your doors remotely, giving you full control over access to your home.
- Security systems: Smart home systems can feature cameras, motion sensors, and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, which improve your home security.
What Do You Mean By "Control" and "Manage"?
What "control" really means is being able to enter one app and arm or disarm your security system, raise your thermostats, turn on or off an exterior or interior light, unlock your front door for a friend or review footage of one of your cameras right from your phone.
The management side of the app allows you to receive email notifications every time any of these devices are interacted with. You can get an email notification anytime your housekeeper comes into your home or even a video alert when your kids get off the bus. If you tell your teenage son not to lower the thermostat below 70 degrees, now you'll actually know if he does! Better yet, you can hop right on your phone to change it back.
What Else Can You Do With Smart Home Systems?
You can create schedules and sequences, so interacting with one device can start a chain of events. For instance, let's say you are coming home from work. When you are in your driveway, you can disarm your security system right from your phone. Once the security system is disarmed, the system can tell the lights to turn on and set the thermostats to a more comfortable temperature. Conversely, if you are leaving the home, you can have all the lights turned off and the thermostats turned to a more economical temperature.
Benefits of Smart Home Systems
Smart home systems allow you to control functions in your home from one central point so you can manage your house with a simple touch of a button. Many advantages come with this level of control, including:
- Energy efficiency: Smart home systems can feature self-learning skills that observe your preferred temperatures and then adjust the temperatures in your home to save energy. With remote control over all your devices, you can turn off lights and other appliances to lower your energy use.
- Safety and security: Smart home systems offer real-time surveillance of your home, enabling you to detect invasion attempts or any other suspicious occurrences remotely. The system can also have features that allow automatic appliance shut-off, letting you monitor and prevent dangers such as fire or gas leaks.
- Customization: Smart home systems are customizable to your preferences. You can set your system to perform a range of functions to fit your lifestyle, from adjusting the brightness of your lights to opening and closing your curtains at a certain time.
What's the Future of This Technology?
As an authorized Honeywell dealer, Knight Security Systems has a fast track to some of the newest and greatest trends that will eventually end up in your home. The future holds some cool stuff! Within 10 years, all your electronic devices will be connected, able to speak to each other and able to learn your habits on their own.
Your refrigerator will know your eating habits and your TV will know what you like to watch when getting home from work. The technology will be easy to interact with, giving you more control over how your home works and how you can better optimize all your devices.
Contact Knight Security for a Safer and Smarter Home
When upgrading to a smart home system, it is best to consider what suits your family and residence. At Knight Security, we provide expert residential security solutions and can help you implement a smart home system tailored to your needs.
If you have any questions on smart home systems or would like to add some of these devices to your home in New York or Connecticut, please feel free to give Knight Security Systems a call at (914)232-0003 or fill out our contact form in minutes.
