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Home Automation in the Summer

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Home Controls
Published on
July 30, 2021 at 1:31:53 PM PDT July 30, 2021 at 1:31:53 PM PDTth, July 30, 2021 at 1:31:53 PM PDT


Use home automation to help make the summer season a whole lot easier. Besides bringing blue skies and sunny days, summer is also responsible for increasing the activity around your home because it’s the time of year when the kids are out of school, the days are hotter, pool parties are being planned, and families get to go on their summer vacation.


Sounds like a lot of fun right? Well, that may be true but it also means you might want to tighten up your home security since the kids will be home more often. You’ll also want to figure out how to ensure your home is safe when your entire family goes on a two-week summer vacation. Then there’s the temperature to think about. With each new day growing hotter your utility bill could shoot through the roof if the AC is left on all day so you’ll need to think about ways to make your home more energy-efficient.


But there’s no need to worry because home automation can help. By adding smart devices to your home you’ll have peace of mind knowing that both your kids and home will be safe when you’re not there, and your home will be better equipped to deal with the hot temperatures all while reducing energy consumption.


Below are home automation products that could make your summer season easier for your home and the entire family.


Energy Saving Smart Devices


• Smart Thermostat

You can vastly reduce your energy bill by adding a smart thermostat to your home. With the kids being home for the summer it’s likely they’ll be in and out of the house often and could accidentally leave the AC on when your house is empty. By integrating a smart thermostat with your home automation system, you can have the thermostat controlled in certain rooms with motion sensors. For example, if you add a motion sensor to your children’s bedroom, you can create a scene that turns the AC on in the room at a certain temperature when movement is detected. And when the room is empty and movement is no longer detected, the AC can be set to turn off.


• Lighting Control

There are numerous ways you can control lighting in your home and like we mentioned before, you can use smart devices with motion sensor technology. Occupancy sensors and timers are great for keeping your lights off in empty rooms. You can also use plug-in control modules and wire-in control modules to remote control fluorescent lamps, kitchen appliances, and other home devices. For example, you can receive a phone text at work from your kids’ babysitter notifying you that she took the kids to the park. And because most home controllers can be monitored with a mobile app, you should be able to see what lights or other devices were left on using your smartphone and be able to turn them off remotely.


Smart Irrigation Systems


If you want your lawn and outdoor plants to survive the hot summer temperatures, you’ll most likely need to water them in the morning or late afternoon, which aren’t ideal times for homeowners with busy work schedules. A smart irrigation system provides a convenient way to control your sprinkler system remotely and directly via Wi-Fi or through a smart controller. You’ll be able to set watering times based on seasons and schedule daily watering times in specific zones. There are even some smart irrigation systems that allow you to program the system to adjust watering based on the weather.


Home Security


• Smart Locks

Now that your kids are out of school and going to be home for the summer you might want to consider adding smart locks to your home as an extra layer of security. Not only can smart locks be integrated into your home automation system to work with other smart devices (create a scene to turn on the hallway lights when the smart lock is unlocked in the evening), but also used to provide individual access codes to family members or other visitors such as the babysitter. You won’t have to worry about your kids misplacing keys and most smart locks can be accessed and monitored via a mobile app, which will also send alerts to your smartphone of when access codes were used to unlock your doors. You’ll be able to know who entered your house and when.


• Lighting Control

A family summer vacation can be a lot of fun but can also be stressful if you plan on leaving your home without a house sitter. Besides adding a home security system, you can also use smart lighting to deter unwanted visitors from entering your property. Add outdoor security floodlights with motion sensors in the dark areas of your property. Create lighting scenes to mimic your nightly activity to give the appearance that someone is home. For example, you can create a scene that turns on all of your outdoor lights at sunset, including some of the lights in your house, and have all the lights turn off after sunrise.


• Wi-Fi Doorbells

Installing a Wi-Fi Video Doorbell on your property adds another layer of home security during the summer months. Most Wi-Fi-enabled video doorbells are designed to capture full-color HD quality video from a wide-angle view and come with built-in microphones so that you can have a two-way conversation with a visitor using your smartphone. This means you can literally answer your front door from a remote location, such as from your office at work, so your babysitter and kids don’t have to worry about answering the front door after a stranger knocks on it.


Music Distribution


Summer pool parties are the best for bringing family and friends together and you can’t have a decent party without having the right music to set the mood. This is why adding a music distribution system with high-quality speakers to your outdoor living space is crucial. The Nuvo Wireless Audio System can do the trick because it consists of wireless player amplifiers that connect to your home’s Internet via a wireless gateway or Ethernet. This allows the players to access music from numerous online sources such as Pandora, Sirius/XM, iHeartRadio and more. These players can also access music from connected devices or music libraries on your home network, and you’ll be able to use the Nuvo Player Portfolio Mobile App to control and gain access to all of your sources.



Smart Home Management


• FIBARO Z-Wave Home Center Lite

Take remote control of your lights, appliances, HVAC, and security systems from home or anywhere else via Wi-Fi and Z-Wave with the FIBARO Z-Wave Home Center Lite. The HC Lite is a home automation controller from FIBARO, placing all of the power of the FIBARO Home Center 2 into a smaller box for easy installation anywhere in your home. The HC Lite is able to control devices, adjust settings, monitor device status, and more through an intuitive and easy-to-use interface on any computer or mobile device.


• Zipato ZipaTile2 Z-Wave + Zigbee Home Automation Controller


As a complete home automation and security hub controller, the Zipato ZipaTile2 with Z-Wave technology offers the ultimate starting point for building out your smart home system because it supports Z-Wave, Zigbee, Bluetooth, and WiFi. It also offers a slew of features such as integrated sensors, a touchscreen keypad, security alarm, IP camera, speaker and microphone. And as a wall-mounted Android-powered home automation controller, it combines an 8-inch touchscreen tablet (800 x 1280) with built-in communication radios and sensors for motion, shock, sound, light, temperature, and humidity.


Want to add smart devices to your home to make the summer season easier? Home Controls can help. Just call our toll-free number at 858-693-8887 (7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Pacific, Monday – Friday) for free tech support and product advice.