So what is smart home automation?

smart home automation can broadly be described as a set of devices on your home network which allow you to interact with and control your environment. Known as IOT or internet of things devices, these are small often embedded devices which allow you do things such as controlling lights switches, or light bulbs themselves, controlling the temperature in your home, locking doors, controlling tvs to name but a few.

If your new to smart home technology, this is a great time to get started, with so many new products on the market its easier than ever to get your feet wet. Products such as smart switches allow you to simply plug a device such as a lamp into them, and control them from anywhere in the world from your smart phone simply by downloading an app, or if you also add a voice assistant such as one of the google assistants or amazon echo devices, you can simply tell the assistant to shut off that light.

And this is in fact where I would recommend starting your smart home journey. However before going out shopping, there are a few things you need to know. There currently are several smart home technologies competing for your dollars. The two main types are wifi and zigbee. These currently dominate the market but what is the difference. wifi devices connect directly to your home wifi network just like your smart phone, tablet or laptop does. Zigbee devices require something known as a zigbee hub to act as a go between from your smart device and your home network. Both of these technologies have their pros and cons, and many smart home enthusiasts will very vehimently argue for one or the other. So which is the right choice for you?

Well that is a very big question, if your completely new to smart home tech, I’d suggest getting a few wifi plugs and perhaps a wifi light bulb. This will introduce you to the smart home world, and honestly it’s where most people start. While this by itself is limiting in functionality, it is a great place to start, and you’ll be able to integrate those devices in your future upgrades.

The next step would be voice assistants, Both google and amazons offerings are excellent devices, and both have strong integrations into smart home technology. Personally I’d recommend starting with an amazon device echo device, as I find their integrations and functionality to be a bit stronger than the google assistant. However either of these devices will allow you vastly increase your smart home functionality. Adding features such as setting different lighting scenes depending on the time of day, or anything else you can dream up. You also can do something known as geofencing where by the associated app on your smart phone knows your location and can turn lights on or off depending on whether your home or not, all with nointeraction from you at all.

All of this may be leading you the question so whats the deal with this zigbee thing I mentioned earlier, well like I said both technologies have their pros and cons. zigbee has two main advantages, as all of the zigbee devices such as zigbee plugs and zigbee bulbs connect directly to the zigbee hub, and hence can be less of burden on your home wifi router, though I find in practice if you have a modern wifi router this isn’t really a major issue. The other thing zibee offers however is far more substantial, because of the way the technology works it is able have a drastically lower power consumption, and hence allowing for a plethoria of completely wireless sensors which are able to be powered off a small battery, allowing you to place them anywhere your heart desires. For example if you want to put a motion sensor over the entrance into a room to have the lights go on automatically, you can simply stick a zigbee sensor up and setup a routine to do that, there is no wifi equivilent.

So why then am I suggesting starting off with wifi? one word reliability, From my experience zigbee is awesome, when it works. To me zigbee is an addition to a smart home, not it’s foundation.