With the advent of the Internet of Things, your home can now be equipped with a home automation system. These things can control lighting, heating systems, entertainment systems, home security systems and other appliances from the palm of your hand.
With recent nefarious activities on our estate, having automated or internet enabled lights can show that you are home (even if you are not). Previously you would have had to buy a 7 day timer and this would have set the lights to go on and off at the same time each day. This was not practical and did not add the element of randomness to lights being on or off. Burglars are opportunists and will come looking at all sorts of times (not just those set by your 7 day timers).
Along comes wireless lights and hubs to control your lights at home with remote capabilities to turn your lights on (or off) as needed. Various products are available on the internet such as Phillips Hue, LIFX, Hive, TP-Link, Belkin WeMo and others.
Other smart home systems examples are:
- Hive Heating can now be set remotely to turn on before you get home
- Ring.com security cameras can allow you to see who is at your door whilst you are at work (or on the other side of the world)
- Smart plugs can also operate lamps, radios etc to make it look as though someone is at home
The ultimate choice depends on what you may already have in your home, such as Hive Heating then it would seem sensible to go for Hive Lighting. Phillips Hue are the leaders in smart lighting.
If you happen to buy smart devices from different manufacturers, then such mobile connected apps such as IFTTT (If This Then That) or Stringify can connect these devices together. For instance, you could have motion detection from your camera turn on a series of smart enabled lights within your house (can simulate that you are in your house).
