Personalized solutions tailored to your specific needs and preferences, ensuring that your smart devices work seamlessly with your existing infrastructure.

1. Explore the construction of your house

The whole idea of a proper smart home installation is what is known as “mesh”. A self expanding and maintaining network.

Devices should be able to communicate with each other, regardless their brand, network protocol or distance where the latter is most important.

Let’s assume that your are going to use the current most used network protocols with your devices:

1. WiFi
2. Zigbee (*)
3. Bluetooth

• Wifi devices

There is an enormous amount of smart wifi devices on the market but there are two things to keep in mind with WiFi:

• power hungry
• smart WiFi devices do not create a mesh, you need to add access points to extend the network

So in order keep your smart WiFi devices connected, you need coverage in a radius of 5 meters indoors with concrete walls. I know, the manual states that my access point has a greater coverage but keep in mind that most smart Wifi devices a built-in, for example wall plug.

To discover the weak WiFi spots simply download a wifi analyzer and explore all spots in your house. List them and go the to next step.

• Zigbee devices

Zigbee was designed to have low power consumption, making it ideal for battery-operated devices. This efficiency prolongs the lifespan of devices, reducing maintenance and operational costs, which is particularly beneficial for smaller smart home devices.

Zigbee enables a mesh network design with self-healing features, improving its reliability. In case of a device malfunction, the network will redirect communication through alternate devices to ensure uninterrupted operation.

ZigBee and Wi-Fi channels both exist in the 2.4 GHz band, existing in the exact same frequency space.  Operating a ZigBee network and a Wi-Fi network on the same frequency will cause them to interfere with each other. Usually, the ZigBee network will take the hit but there are solutions for that.

The asterisk (*) for Zigbee is there to avoid complexity in this article. There is more “Zigbee-like” protocols that all have their own use-cases. Like Z-Wave which operates in a different bandwith than WiFi thus less interference and more interoperable between brands like Zigbee and there is of course Matter.

Matter in simple words, is the successor of Zigbee, while it is based on Zigbee but taking it to the next level where it comes to interoperability with other smart home devices.

SmartMaker follows Matter development on this website so stay tuned for other articles and for those who want to know more about the different wireless protocols used in smart devices, read this blog of DFRobot.com.

As a thumb of rule, zigbee devices that need power like light bulbs (again no wiring needed) are also routers. Next to not wired, there are zigbee devices that need an USB power supply to operate. Those are the “energy heavy” ones like mmwave presence sensors.

• Bluetooth devices

Smart home devices use Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), which consumes less energy than standard Bluetooth, because devices remain in a low-power state for most of the time.

The advantage of Bluetooth Low Energy for smart device operation is the ease of adoption and broad compatibility.

But Bluetooth Low Energy has disadvantages. Firstly, it offers significantly less bandwidth than Wi-Fi, which is why smart cameras and video doorbells tend to use Wi-Fi – video data transmits much better with the bigger bandwidth.

Bluetooth technology is also quite slow to respond to commands.

See summary below.

2. Shortlist your favourite smart home devices

Now the fun can start and let me help you based on experience:

1. Lights and light switches.
2. Energy monitoring, overall and per device or appliances.
3. Climate control, aircons, central heating, floor heating.
4. Security, door sensors, motion sensors, camera’s.
5. Blinds, shades.
6. Irrigation.
7. Boilers – water heating.
8. Solar, weather forecast.
9. Multimedia.
10. Cleaning robots.

At SmartMaker we strive to control all devices local with Home Assistant. In some cases it is inevitable to use cloud dependent devices. Any products mentioned in this article can be controlled locally or mentioned otherwise.

What to choose? Most important is network coverage. Choosing WiFi means you need a strong signal (less than -60dBm) and extend network with access points where Zigbee can be placed anywhere as long as the Zigbee network is still reachable. One advantage WiFi has over Zigbee is that the switch can be operated manually. With Zigbee you can mimic this by putting a Zigbee switch in the outlet that only sends a Zigbee signal and not connects or disconnects wires.

• Energy monitoring, overall and per device or appliances.

At the heart of your smart home their will always be some kind of energy monitoring because smart home automation can save you significantly on your energy bill, hence real time monitoring is essential.

Either 3-phase or single phase, most energy monitors need to be powered wired in order to give you correct readings. For example Shelly has excellent power meters that can easily be installed but also other like Sonoff.

Besides monitoring the overall energy consumption or production in your smart home, you can plug individual devices in a smart plug to monitor their energy consumption.

Combining both will give you not only insight in your energy consumption or production but also be able to switch devices on and off based on automations.

• Climate control, aircons, central heating, floor heating.

Almost all of the smart climate appliances like aircons are cloud based controlled which should be avoided but we need them and also we need to control them with automation and as long as they provide a stable connection and connectivity with Home Assistant, it is acceptable although there has already been two cases where the manufacturer (Mitsubishi and Haier) wanted to block connecting to Home Assistant. The latter meanwhile has come to sense when the world wide Home Assisant community bashed them for this unacceptable behaviour.

Let me repeat this one more time; every smart device that can only be controlled via the manufacturers server will never be yours!

Back to the subject. The good news is that you do not even need a smart aircon or floor heating, it is quite simple if they have an infrared remote control to copy these commands and use a so called infrared blaster to mimic these commands to the device.

The same for smart thermostates. Do not get me wrong, there are amazing smart thermostates on the market but with a smart switch and a temperature sensor it is simple to build a virtual thermostate in Home Assistant. It will declutter the wall as well and it is all local control!

• Security, door sensors, motion sensors, camera’s.

Where in the past you needed a specialist to install a security system you can basically do this yourself by connecting door/ window sensors, motion sensors and (smart) camera’s.

Once you have those devices up and running, Home Assistant provides an out of the box solution to add them into one security alarm system.

Simple said, if one of these devices is triggered, pre-configured notifications will be sent and if needed sirens activated. All instantly and notifications will be visible on your phone with image or video.

Door, window and motion sensors are almost commodities in the smart home industry and the better ones come from around €15 up to €60 depending on their capabilities.

Camera’s however are more complicated. Since the majority of the smart camera’s are cloud based and often with a monthly fee to get something out of it, you have to search for the good ones like Reolink, Sonoff, Tapo who seamlessly integrate with Home Assistant for local control.

For the big brands only Dahua and Hikvision can be configured to operate locally but here you need to configure your router to make it work.

The pinnacle of smart cameras is AI control. Smart alghoritms that calculate based on images what kind of object is seen by the camera so that you can filter out (or filter in) dogs, cars and moving branches.

Most door, window and motions sensors are Zigbee (battery operated), camera’s usually WifI but preferably Ethernet wired.

Note that there are not a lot of outdoor (>IP6X) motion sensors. Hue has one around €50 and there is Yolink with an outstanding LoraWan device.

• Blinds, shades.

While busy with all the obvious smart devices like smart switches and lights for your smart home installation, blinds and shades can be overseen but there a numbers of benefits that should be considered:

• Blind automation provides convenience & wellbeing
• Smart blinds control temperature & energy saving
• Automated blinds adds to comfort & styling
• Smart blinds enable mockupancy & improve Security
• Smart blinds increase safety

Motorised blinds and curtains can be raised and lowered remotely or automated which at may seem like fixing a first-world problem, the benefits are not only a great addition to any modern home, but also saves on the energy bill and provides more security.

Also here, you must search for the ones that can work local (without internet, not cloud based).

For RF (local) controlled have a look here and for Zigbee, Zemismart, SmartWings and IKEA have good products while Switchbot has excellent bluetooth products. With Matter implemented, many more will follow.

Lutron and Somfy are popular option but uses a (seemingly) proprietary communications interface.

• Irrigation

With an automated irrigation system, you will never have to drag a hose through the garden, or wonder if you have watered much or little, or worry about watering the lawn when you are out. 

And if you have already a traditional irrigation system, research about smart irrigation systems and controllers versus traditional irrigation controllers show that it conserves water across a variety of scenarios anywhere from 30 to 50 percent because a non smart system  always runs the same amount at the same time.

Even better to add soil moisture sensors to determine the moisture level in the soil and transmit this reading to your smart home installation.

Well, if you think that would break the bank with regards to the costs, a Zigbee controller that you can mount to your garden tap is somewhere around €30-60 and Zigbee moisture sensors are around €25.

You need a story to impressive, link it to the weather station data for optimal results. You don’t want to irrigate while it is raining.

• Boilers – water heating

 A bit similar like climate control, aircons, central heating, floor heating, boilers and water heating systems are your targets to save energy.

Yes, a smart boiler is easy but you want local control and that is a challenge with the current manufacturers who like to keep your device only linked to  their server and controlled by their app but there is a very simple solution.

Just add a smart switch or plug to the boiler and a temperature sensor on the outlet and you are done for under €50. The automation will do the rest and you can spend your money on other things.

• Solar, weather forecast

Energy consumption and production is and will be the main focus for a smart home installation in the coming decades. Why, because the possibilities are endless. Let’s start with the basics why integrating Solar Panels with Smart Home Technology is beneficial:

• Energy Efficiency and Savings: Smart home systems can optimize the use of solar energy, ensuring that the power generated by your solar panels is used efficiently.
• Real-Time Monitoring: Homeowners can monitor energy production and consumption in real-time, making informed decisions about energy use.
• Automation: Smart home systems can automate energy usage based on patterns, weather conditions, and energy production forecasts.

Obvious, but what do you need to do?

1. Remember the paragraph above about energy monitoring, overall and per device or appliances to have overall energy monitoring and per device.
2. Subscribe (paid or not) to a weather service to have up to date weather data and install your own weather station for finetuning this way you have the most actual information about sun peak power. This is where your panel will produce the most.
3. Depending your energy contract, you might want to have market prices fed into your system to figure out when times are right to start or stop appliances.
4. Automate switching on and off of your appliances based on above data.
5. Last but not least, look at your dashboard and reporting to optimize and see how much you have earned.

Don’t panic, this is almost out of the box in Home Assistant 🔥

• Multimedia

• Cleaning robots

Conclusion

SmartMaker is your trusted partner in bringing the convenience and efficiency of smart technology to your home. With their expertise, personalized solutions, and commitment to your satisfaction, you can enjoy the benefits of a smart home without the hassle of installation and setup. Say goodbye to the complexity of DIY installations and hello to the simplicity and peace of mind that SmartMaker provides. Transform your house into a smart home today with SmartMaker’s expert services.