Are you thinking a lot about making your home more technological, but don’t know where to start? Do you think that a smart home is necessarily a complex system of wires, sensors and expensive gadgets? No, the first step can be simple and user-friendly at the same time. It is enough to buy several smart sockets.
What is a smart plug?
Smart sockets can be programmed to work at a specific time and controlled using a computer, smartphone or remote control. They allow you to check their status and disconnect from the network. The way depends on the type of connection (via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee). In appearance, the controlled sockets can be either overhead and resemble adapters, or wall-mounted (installed during the renovation and used in the “smart home” system). This article will focus on adapters as more popular, inexpensive and easy to use.
What exactly a smart socket can do depends on the specific model, but mostly it performs the following functions:
- turn on/off household appliances at a user-specified time;
- send a notification about this to a smartphone/control center;
- monitor energy consumption by electrical appliances;
- send statistics to the user;
- turn off the appliance in case of a power surge.
How to turn ordinary household appliances into smart devices? The short answer is to plug them into the power grid via a smart plug. Let’s take a closer look at what opportunities this can give.
Wash and dry things when it’s convenient
Let’s say in the evening you turned on the washing machine – and forgot about it. And only in the morning you take out the wet clothes that you actually planned to wear. Sounds familiar? And this can be avoided: connect the washing machine via a smart plug by setting up sending a notification to your smartphone when the machine finishes its work. Likewise, you can connect a tumble dryer.
Use lamps to scare off thieves
Do you plan a vacation or a weekend getaway and are worry if your house will remain safe and sound? Plug a light or floor lamp into a smart socket and set the lights to turn on automatically in the evening and turn off at night to create the illusion of people being at home.
Program your home to feel comfortable
It is convenient to connect boilers and heaters to smart plugs. By controlling the plug from the application on your smartphone, you can heat the water for the bathroom in the boiler and the room with a heater to comfortable temperatures by the time you come home. This habit has several advantages: a comfortable microclimate at home, peace of mind about whether you forgot to turn off these devices, as well as saving on energy bills, because the devices are used only when needed.
Become greener
Considering the global trend towards conscious consumption, a smart plug is must-have in every home. After all, it turns off electrical appliances when they are not in use. By doing this, you are not only reducing your utility bills, but you are also making a modest contribution to saving the planet by using less limited resources.