Smart Speakers
With the recent introduction of Smart Speakers these have brought home automation to the consumer, and the possibility of controlling devices, be it plug sockets, light switches, heating thermostats via the voice commands.
There are three major players who have brought the smart speaker to the masses, Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Home, and more recently Apple’s HomeKit.
Each of these Smart Speakers have their strengths and weaknesses. Amazon’s Alexa was first to market, and links in nicely to the Amazon Online Retail Store, and Amazon music etc. Google’s Home came next, and has the powerful search capabilities of being able to search the internet. Apple came along later, and have strict policies on integrating with various smart home technologies, which have pushed and improved the Smart Home device technologies already our there. e.g. They insist that when controlling a lighting switch that the smart home lighting switch reports back that it is either on or off, whereas Alexa & Google Home don’t.
Smart Home Lighting
There are a number of companies that have made their consumer lighting products Smart compatible with the various Smart Speakers. Most of these require a Hub supplied by the Smart Home Lighting manufacturer which is powered, and often needs to be plugged into the home broadband router. These Hubs communicate with the lighting switches via radio waves, allowing the consumer to switch on a light, groups of lights, dim lights through either voice command or via a mobile phone apps installed on a Smart Phone.
The more expensive lighting solutions offer even more features reporting back to the Smart speaker of Mobile phone via its hub whether the light is on or off, and also the energy usage of the light or groups of lights, thereby allowing the consumer to keep track of energy usage.
Smart Home Power Sockets
Naturally, since lighting can be controlled by Smart Speakers or Mobile Phone apps, a number of companies offer devices, and smart power sockets. The simplest of these are the devices that plug into conventional power sockets and have the light or plug of the device to be controlled plugged in. Some of these do not require a separate hub and can simply be connected to the home Wifi in order to be controlled from a Smart Speaker or via a Smart Phone Mobile App.
Other manufactures offer power socket replacement, which do often require a hub. These replacement sockets look almost the same as conventional power sockets, however the switch on them can be operated from a Smart Speaker or Mobile App.
Smart Home Heating
The ability to control your home heating and make sure you are not heating your home while you are out first came to the mass consumer via the Centrica (British Gas) invented Hive solution. Hive was then provided as an option to any home not necessarily British Gas customers. It competitor Nest came along later, offering a way of monitoring your heating habits to automatically warm your home more efficiently. Google then bought Nest and then moved it into the Alphabet Inc. company.
Again these products can be incorporated into being controlled via a Smartphone App, or via a Smart Speaker. However, if they are just left to work things out they can save unnecessary energy usage in a property.
We use a wide range of brands, all of which all have their individual strengths, we can help you choose a solution that works for your home.
