The Pros & Cons of Home Automation
Home automation is continuously making a big impact on our homes because of the level of control, convenience, and safety that they provide. If you think about it, controlling your sprinklers, electrical appliances, lights, heating, and security system does create a nice feeling of power.
Will it deliver the goods? That’s the question we’re going to answer for you today.
The Pros
1. Reduced Energy Costs
You can preprogram all the appliances and devices connected to the system to behave in certain ways on schedule without you having to initiate an action every time. Aside from your input, however, the system will detect any behavioral changes in your habits and respond to them accordingly; changing the time and frequency of lighting, heating, and home appliances. Once the system is fully accustomed to your routine, expect your energy bills to drop by 10 to 15 percent.
2. Convenience
What’s even better, however, is that these smart systems are built to adapt to new habits formed by the user. If you happen to start waking up at 7:30 am every day instead of your usual 8:00 am, the system will eventually pick up on your behavior and have your coffee ready by 7:30 rather than 8:00. The same thing applies to your lighting, automated blinds, entertainment systems, and thermostat while on your way home from work, or you can override the system and make a special command of your own.
3. Protection
By remotely manipulating the lighting, locks, and blinds of your home, you get a major leg-up on burglars because it is a well-known fact that trespassers tend to avoid homes that look occupied or busy. Use this to your advantage when you’re away on vacation or currently can’t attend to your home.
Using its archived history of home activity, home automation has made it possible for security systems to use its hardware to send alerts to a homeowner when a break-in or suspicious activity has been detected. Some security systems are more compatible with certain home automation hardware than others, so make sure you inquire your potential provider about which ones they recommend.
4. Affordable
The average monthly cost of the top ten home security systems with home automation features is $40, which is astounding when you consider that you get remote access, remote control, around-the-clock professional monitoring, and burglary deterring devices in place around your home.
The Cons
1. Installation
What will play a big part in how successful you will be installing the system itself is whether it is a wireless set-up or not. We recommend getting a wireless system to make it easy to install and make it immune to burglars cutting its lines. A home automation system can be complicated to install due to the many preferences you need to put in for it to be operational. If you wish to have a professional install it for you, that will come at a cost unless you catch a free offer from one of the top security systems.
2. May Not Be for Old Timers
Not all seniors are "old timers", obviously, but a lot are old mentally. A senior who isn’t familiar with the technology at hand might find the system overwhelming unless a younger member of the family teaches them how to use it. Moreover, having to control the system with the phone app will sometimes make less sense than flipping a nearby switch. Home automation shines most of all in how, when, and where you want your home energy to be distributed.
3. Compatibility Issues
The main concern with a home automation system is whether it is compatible with other systems through a single platform or not. You should ask yourself this question especially when you want to install a security system as they won’t always share the same platform.
