Home Automation Made Simple

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A common myth that often comes up when we talk about home automation is the misconception that it will be too complicated to use. In fact, it is quite simple! This blog post explains the ways you can simplify your home automation and make it work for your needs.

You can set up your home automation devices to be as interactive as you want.  For example, you can control everything from your smartphone, or let the devices operate autonomously, with your alarm system controlling them. So let me explain both methods using the automated door lock as an example.

Complete Manual Control

You can lock and unlock a door at will with a smartphone or computer. Perhaps a relative from out of town shows up at your home while you’re at work. You can unlock the door for them from your smartphone without having to leave your workplace.

Autonomous Control

Your door lock is controlled by your alarm system, and is triggered by an event. Perhaps the door locks each time the alarm system is armed for going away. You can also set it so when coming home, after you enter your code into the keypad located on the door lock, it not only unlocks the door, but also disarms the alarm system automatically. This is the “if this then that” principle, where you can set certain events to occur based on actions you take.

Another easy way devices can be controlled is through schedules. This is where you create a series of events that take place over the course of the day based on the times of the day and days of the week you’ve predefined. Once the schedule is activated it continues to run until it is deactivated. Keep reading to learn more about schedules.

Control by Event

Imagine you’ve left the basement door unlocked. Alarm systems can detect whether you leave the door open or closed, but they can’t detect if you leave the door unlocked.  However, they can automatically trigger the door lock to secure the basement door whenever you leave the house, so you don’t have to worry about leaving doors unlocked. You can also have the system shut off the main water supply whenever it detects water leakage.

Control by Schedule

This is one of my favorite methods to simplify your home automation. In this example, you set a predefined schedule for your home to follow, making it easy to manage. There are two examples of schedules:

Work Schedule

This might be a schedule that runs Monday to Friday when you’re spending eight hours a day at work.

When arming the alarm system the following events may occur:

  • Alarm system arms for going away
  • Thermostat turns back to 18°
  • Side door and basement door of the house deadbolt
  • All basement lights turn off
  • Window shades open and close at different times during the day to allow the maximum amount of sunlight into the home thereby reducing heating costs

Vacation Schedule

This might be a schedule that you would put in place for those times that you are away for the weekend or maybe gone away on a full two-week vacation.

A vacation schedule may run something like this:

  • Patio lights come on at dusk
  • Outdoor lights turn on at dusk and then turned themselves off around midnight
  • Lights in rooms around the house turn on and turn off after dark to give the appearance that somebody is at home

As more automated devices show up on the market you are only limited by your imagination on how to get these devices to work together. If you would like more information on how you can automate your home please call our office at (902) 453-3388 and ask for me, Paul Ingram.

Flood Sensors for Your Home

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Is there anything much worse than having to deal with water damage in a home? Water damage is often overlooked when choosing home alarm devices despite being costly and disruptive.

According to the Insurance Research Council, water damage, and its associated problems, accounted for more homeowner’s insurance claims than the amount of break and enters back in 2003 and I would venture to say it is probably the same now.

Protecting your home from water damage easily with wireless flood sensors on your alarm system. You can place these devices in areas prone to flooding or at high risk of damage from water leakage. Laundry rooms, hot water tanks or boilers, basements, and sump pump areas are examples.

Nowadays it has become popular to install the laundry room on the top level of a home for the convenience of being near the bedrooms, but this also means that a major water leak could cause water to go down through every level of the home resulting in a lot of damage. This is a perfect application for the installation of a flood sensor. You usually mount the flood sensor on the baseboard of the wall near the washer. If there’s a leak, the sensor triggers an alarm after about three minutes of water contact by a probe.

Because of the convenience of these devices being wireless, you can put flood sensors in every area of your home that is at risk of water leakage. A fantastic way to ensure peace of mind and prevent damage from an unnoticed water leak!

Low Temperature Sensors

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I remember a number of years ago a friend of mine was heading away over the Christmas holidays and thinking I might get something extra in my stocking, I had volunteered to water his plants while he was away. Aaron agreed that I would visit his house every other day until he got back. He made arrangements for snow removal in the event of snow, gave me a key and a code for the alarm system, and we had done the walk around the house, so I knew where all the plants were located. He had an average-size house and only a few plants so this should be easy right? Well for the most part it was OK; I visited the house every two days, watered the plants, took a general look around, and left.

This routine went on for about a week until Christmas Eve, and as Murphy’s Law would have it, if something is going to happen it’s always going to be at the most inconvenient time. I arrived at the house planning on a 15-minute stop, but when I opened the door it hit me: COLD. The house was really cold and the tile floor under my feet was making my feet numb. I went to the thermostat and the needle was buried below the lowest setting on the dial. To make matters worse, we were experiencing a cold snap, and that night was forecast to be -16, so I knew that if I didn’t discover what was going on the next thing, I would be dealing with is frozen pipes.

What Else Could Go Wrong

My friend forgot to call for automatic delivery from his oil company, and the tank ran out. But thanks to an oil delivery company with the Christmas spirit, they saved the day. The story often ends sadly with a flooded house and an insurance claim during Christmas. By the way, that was a true story. Luckily, my friend didn’t get a call during his vacation about his flooded house. If I hadn’t been scheduled to water his plants that day, I’m sure things would have turned out differently. However, the story might have changed with a low temperature sensor on his alarm system.

Low temperature sensors detect when the ambient temperature drops below a set threshold, which you can adjust to your desired temperature.

Fixed Sensors

Fixed low temperature sensors have a set threshold temperature that you can’t change. You can usually install it at the lowest cost, and you can choose between hardwired or wireless options. E.g. Honeywell’s fixed low temperature sensor activates when the room temperature remains below 7C or 45F for over ten minutes. If it does, the sensor will activate. Upon activation, the alarm system sends the low temperature alarm to the Central Monitoring Station just like any other alarm. The sensor is adjustable by your installer to monitor for other conditions as well, like a hot temperature condition, which is when the temperature rises above 35C or 95F for more than ten minutes, or, with the use of an optional water probe, to protect against flooding.

Variable Sensors

A variable temperature sensor allows the end user to adjust the temperature threshold in which the sensor will trigger. Low temperature sensors in this category are pricier but offer additional features like storing alarm events or showcasing data on an LED screen.  Similar to the fixed sensor described above, it’s common for a variable temperature sensor to have settings for both high and low temperature conditions but may have more intelligent firmware built in to discriminate between real or a false low temperature condition depending on the manufacturer.

If you would like more information on protecting your property with a Low Temperature device contact Wilsons Security at 1(866)- 453-3388

Bad Wi-Fi? How do I fix it?

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Let’s talk about bad Wi-Fi signal.

Have you ever had to hold your smartphone high above your head in order to get a strong Wi-Fi signal, in your own home? Does it take forever to load a webpage on your laptop? Does Netflix freeze on you mid-movie, or appear grainy on your TV?

I hear these complaints, and more, from people all the time. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be that way!

But first – why are so many people having issues with their WiFi?

To get a better understanding of this, we have to think about where WiFi has been heading over the years. Not long ago, the only thing we needed WiFi for was to surf the Internet and send emails, so routers were fairly basic. Now we’re demanding more and more of our Internet service (streaming TV shows, playing high-definition online games, connecting tons of new WiFi-enabled devices all over the house), but many peoples’ home WiFi haven’t been able to keep up.

I strongly believe that any device that can be hardwired to the Internet, should be hardwired, and that Wi-Fi should be left for mobile devices. I also think that we need to change the way we think about Wi-Fi in the home. With so many new Wi-Fi-enabled devices, we are now expecting Wi-Fi service all over the home, rather than just one or two rooms. Plus, with piping inside walls, such as with heat pumps, and other factors, the Wi-Fi signal in most homes is not consistent. Often, a single router can no longer provide enough strength and speed for all the activities we like to use Internet for.

The best way to deal with these problems is with Wireless Access Points (WAP). These devices are hardwired back to your router or Ethernet switch and receive Internet just as strongly as any other hardwired device in your home. You can have them strategically placed in multiple locations in your home, where you tend to require WiFi. This is so that your laptops, smartphones, and other mobile devices only have to reach the nearest WAP to get WiFi, instead of reaching the router all the way in the basement.

  • It’s often optimal to have one WAP on each level of the home
  • Normally, you would want to install WAPs while your house is being built, but many houses already have telephone outlets that are wired with standard Cat5e cable, which can be used for this purpose
  • Your WAPs are encrypted and share the same password, so that it only appears once on your mobile device

A quick note on other solutions – Many people set up “repeaters” throughout their homes to try to tackle the problem of bad WiFi. Compared with Wireless Access Points, they tend to be slower because the repeater has to “repeat” everything, both ways. For example, your laptop sends signals to the repeater, and the repeater repeats that to your router, and back again.

Another solution people choose is to get multiple routers, but this can cause IP address problems if they’re not properly configured. If you’re looking to improve your WiFi experience at home, Wireless Access Points are the way to go.

If you have any questions about WiFi, feel free to send me a message!