Gadget

Smart home arrives in SA

The smart home is a wonderful vision for controlling every aspect of one’s living environment via remote control, apps and sensors. But, because it is both complex and expensive, there has been little appetite for it in South Africa.

The two main routes for smart home installation are both fraught with peril – financial and technical.

The first is to call on a specialist installation company. Surprisingly, there are many in South Africa. Google “smart home” +”South Africa”, and thousands of results appear. The problem is that, because the industry is so new, few have built up solid track records and reputations. Costs vary wildly, few standards exist, and the cost of after-sales service will turn out to be more important than the upfront price.

The second route is to assemble the components of a smart home, and attempt self-installation. For the non-technical, this is often a non-starter. Not only does one need a fairly good knowledge of Wi-Fi configuration, but also a broad understanding of the Internet of Things (IoT) – the ability for devices to sense their environment, connect to each other, and share information.

The good news, though, is that it is getting easier and more cost effective all the time.

My first efforts in this direction started a few years ago with finding smart plugs on Amazon.com. These are power adaptors that turn regular sockets into “smart sockets” by adding Wi-Fi and an on-off switch, among other. A smart lightbulb was sourced from Gearbest in China. At the time, these were the cheapest and most basic elements for a starter smart home environment.

Via a smartphone app, the light could be switched on from the other side of the world. It sounds trivial and silly, but on such basic functions the future is slowly built.

Fast forward a year or two, and these components are available from hundreds of outlets, they have plummeted in cost, and the range of options is bewildering. That, of course, makes the quest even more bewildering. Who can be trusted for quality, fulfilment and after-sales support? Which products will be obsolete in the next year or two as technology advances even more rapidly?

These are some of the challenges that a leading South African technology distributor, Syntech, decided to address in adding smart home products to its portfolio. It selected LifeSmart, a global brand with proven expertise in both IoT and smart home products.

Equally significantly, LifeSmart combines IoT with artificial intelligence and machine learning, meaning that the devices “learn” the best ways of connecting, sharing and integrating new elements. Because they all fall under the same brand, they are designed to integrate with the LifeSmart app, which is available for Android and iOS phones, as well as Android TV.

Click here to read about how LifeSmart makes installing smart home devices easier.

A good way to explain how South Africans can set up the beginnings of a smart home is to provide an overview of the LifeSmart range of IoT devices:

The range is segmented into those who want to try out smarthome devices as standalone products and those who want to go all-in with building a smarthome. The fundamental difference is a device called a Smart Station, which coordinates the products via the Internet.

For the standalone range, two products do not require a smart station to function: the Blend Light Bulb and the Blend Light Strip. These are smart lights that connect over Wi-Fi to the LifeSmart app.

Both sets of lights can be set to shine in combinations of 16 million colours, which can be changed in the app. Scheduling is also possible through the app to turn the lights on or off automatically at a certain time of day.

The Blend Light Bulb is a standard bulb with either a bayonet or screw-in fitting, while the Blend Light Strip is a 2-meter LED strip which the user can cut shorter to meet specific needs.

The Smart Station connected devices include a vast range of gadgets for security, lighting and comfort.

The Smart Station connects wirelessly to the devices and a home Internet connection to ensure that one can control one’s home from anywhere in the world – or from inside the house.

A range of devices offer home-made security:

Two Cube Motion Sensor products, one detecting motion within 2 meters and the other detecting up to 200 meters away, notify the user with an app notification when movement is detected. The user can also set up automated tasks on detection of movement, like an alarm siren or turning on lights in the house.

A Cube Door/Window Sensor works when a door or window is opened and can be set up in the same way as the motion sensors.

For lighting, a Blend Light Blub built for the base station functions like the standalone version.

The Cube Environmental Sensor, Spot Universal Remote Controller and Cube Clicker button can keep one’s home comfortable with different levels of automation.

The Environmental Sensor detects humidity and temperature. Thresholds can be set in the app to trigger actions when humidity or temperature go above or below a certain value.

This is where the Universal Remote Controller comes in. It is also an IR-blaster, meaning that  it uses infrared signals, with unlimited capacity for remote codes, to control any device that has remote infrared functionality. For example, if the indoor temperature rises above a certain temperature, the environmental sensor can trigger the Universal Remote Controller to turn on the air conditioner.

The Spot is shaped like a doughnut, and can be both ornamental and a conversation piece when it’s not keeping the home smart. A colour ring can change hues to suit the mood of a room. While it uses IR to communicate with other devices, it can be set and controlled through its Wi-FI link to a smartphone.

Artificial intelligence makes it possible to set up “recipes” for automation with a click of the Cube Clicker. This smart button can be set to perform any number of functions. For example, a Clicker button on a bedside table can arm the motion sensors, turn off the lights, turn on the air conditioner and turn off the TV. Clicking it again can disarm the motion sensors, turn on the lights, turn off the air conditioner and turn on the TV again.

Any of these IoT devices can be integrated with Alexa and Google Assistant, so that the user can tell Google to switch on the TV. It can connect to a prepaid electricity meter, to tell how much power is being consumed per hour, and even how much one is paying per hour.

If that still sounds too complicated, Lifesmart offers step-by-step instructions and videos for setting up each of its devices, at https://www.ilifesmart.co.za/faqs. If one wants to go all the way, and bring in the specialists, smart light switches can also be fitted in place of the traditional units we all have in our homes.

In short, the smart home will, for now, be a mix-and-match technology that will revolve around one’s budget.

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