Introduction

Home automation was once thought as a fantasy. Popular cartoons like ‘Jetsons’ effectively showed us in the 90s that what a home of future might look like. While we are still far away from talking robot maids and instant food machines, the age of smart homes has well and truly arrived.

Stats show that nearly 30% of Americans have at least one home automation product in their homes. This is only projected to grow to more than 50% by 2020, as home automation system becomes more mainstream and affordable to the average consumer.

Most first time buyers in Dallas ask many questions about home automation, such as what is this exactly? And what devices consist of a typical home automation?

Smart Home – What is that?

While there is no fixed definition of a smart home, it loosely means that the smart devices that makes lives easier for the occupants. The devices have become upgraded with technological innovations in such a way that they don’t need much human intervention in their daily function. They work in a way such that one device depends on another and vice versa for smooth functioning.

Home Automation Devices

There are many devices that consist of a smart home, and some of the very basic ones that first time buyers must get are as follows:

  • Home Security Systems: Home security is one of the first and foremost home automation module one has to set up. Modern home security systems consist of wireless enabled CCTV cameras and motion detectors. These automatically detect any intruders and notify the user by mobile notifications along with sounds. Modern facilities allow home users who are far away from home to access their security devices via internet.
  • Smart Lightning: Smart lights such as color changing LEDs and motion detector lights consist an important part of a smart home. Most of these lights have inbuilt wireless modules in them that enables them to connect with the user via a mobile app. In short, users can be alerted of running lights and can control those wirelessly.
  • Smoke and Fire Detectors: Smoke detectors and fire detectors have been around since a long time, but only recently they have been modernized with newer technologies such as sound alarms and remote notifications.

Deciding Which Tech to Buy

Before deciding which devices to buy, there are many things to consider such as budget and installation capabilities. Many devices are more complex than others, hence less tech-savvy users can get away with ignoring the more complex systems such as pin-code enabled door locks and remote cameras. The more the home automation systems to install, the more the cost is required, hence budget also plays a big role in deciding what to buy and what not to buy.