Whether you’re buying a new home or looking at some upgrades for your current living space, the chances are that a few smart home upgrades have crossed your mind as part of the process. It’s easier than ever to build the futuristic smart home of your dreams, and thanks to so many disruptive products in the marketplace, it’s surprisingly affordable, too.
As you venture out into the smart home waters, you might have some reservations about adding cutting-edge products to your home, especially when it comes to new technologies with which you may not have experience. Learn how to troubleshoot them at the outset, and you’ll have confidence in what all this new tech can do for you.
Here are the top five problems you might run into when you’re outfitting your smart home, along with the easiest solutions.
- Problem: Your Smart Home Devices Don’t Play Together
With so many smart home gadgets to choose from, the first issue you’ll likely run into is purchasing the thermostats, security cameras, and sensors that you like the most, only to find out that they don’t automatically work together. Although almost every smart home device connects to a companion smartphone app, the best experience is being able to open a single app or use a single service that enables you to manage and control all of your smart gadgets at once.
Solution Invest in a smart home hub. Your local cable or Internet service provider may be able to help you set up a full home automation system that works as one that you can control via one hub and one mobile app. You can also look into web services like Stringify or IFTTT. Many of today’s smart home products integrate with the most popular smart home hubs, allowing you to use and schedule your favorite devices to turn on and off from a single app, instead of bouncing back and forth between a folder full of apps for each device. If all else fails, free web services like Stringify can link up with most smart home gadgets, allowing you to cook up some great integrations with products that don’t automatically play nice together. This means you can program lights and the TV to turn on when the AC is on, etc. The combinations are endless, depending on the devices you have.
- Problem: Your Smart Home Device Can’t Connect to the Network
Network connectivity is one of the most common issues that smart device owners will encounter. From smart cameras dropping the feed, to your living room smart lights failing to turn off, connectivity issues can be annoying and even seriously disruptive. The good news is that this issue is extremely easy to fix.
Solution: Upgrade to a better wireless router, and make sure your Zigbee and/or Z-Wave devices aren’t too far apart. Your wireless router is the backbone of your smart home, and if you haven’t upgraded in a while, your trusty old router will probably have a hard time keeping up with so many devices on the network. Upgrade to a top-of-the-line router from the hardware store or get it from your local Internet service provider. If you live in a large home or apartment, you may want to consider setting up “mesh networking” to ensure consistent Internet connectivity throughout your home. If you choose devices like door locks or light bulbs that rely on protocols like Zigbee or Z-Wave, make sure those devices aren’t spread out too far from each other. Those devices actually piggyback off of each other’s signals, meaning that products like smart light bulbs may have connectivity issues if they’re connected at the opposite ends of your home.
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