TFC #31: Finding Practical Uses for Smart Home Devices

Smart home devices can be a controversial topic. Some people love them, some people hate them.

In this article, I want to explore how you might be able to find a use for smart home devices outside of the typical home environment.

This may not directly relate to cabinetmaking, but it might inspire some of you to find a creative solution to a problem you are facing in your shop.

What is smart home technology?

Home automation, often referred to as smart home technology, is the integration of various electronic and internet-connected devices to enhance convenience, efficiency, security, and overall control.

It enables homeowners to remotely manage and automate tasks and functions such as lighting, climate control, security, entertainment, and appliances through centralized control systems, smartphone apps, voice commands, or predetermined schedules.

I utilize Apple’s Homekit smart home devices in my own house. The main things I have is smart lights, smart thermostats, and a smart door lock.

Here are the main reasons I like smart home stuff:

• it's very cool to turn the lights on from your phone 😁

• it saves on energy costs (the thermostat recognizes when my wife and I both leave and sets the thermostat to away)

• I can unlock my door for someone if I am on vacation or away from home

However, this article is not about using smart home devices in your house.

I’m talking about finding creative ways to use smart home devices for business.

Example of a creative use

I enjoy golf.

You may have already been aware of that if you read my article a few months ago on the relationship between price and quality.

Last year, my cousin and I decided to get a Trackman golf simulator and rent it out to local golfers so they could play golf during the winter and learn more about their swing habits.

We wanted to make it as easy as possible for our members to come in and start playing. However, we didn’t want to leave everything powered on all the time, especially the projector.

At first, I got a few quotes on commercial-grade automation equipment, which was way more than we wanted to invest.

Then, I started looking into using Amazon Alexa to control all of the devices in our simulator room.

The more I dug into it, the more excited I got.

There are so many smart home devices available. With enough research, you can find a way to automate anything, even non-smart devices.

Here is a rough outline of how we are using Amazon Alexa to 100% automate our golf simulator to power on when someone comes in, and power off after everyone has left.

The Trigger

This is the most important part of the automation. You have to decide what is going to trigger your automation to run.

I tried a couple options before I settled on what we are using now.

First, I tried to use our smart lock as the trigger to run the Power On routine. This worked great for awhile, but then I realized that if someone unlocked the door while someone was already inside playing, it would toggle the power on a couple of the devices. So this option was a no go.

Then, I found out that Amazon Echo Dots have a room occupancy trigger. The Echo Dot recognizes if people are in the room, and it sends a trigger after the room has been empty for 30 minutes.

This worked perfectly for my situation.

When someone unlocked the door and entered the room, the Echo Dot was able to recognize that the room was no longer empty and send the correct trigger.

The Actions

Once we had the correct trigger in place, it was time to start automating the room.

Here is a rough description of how we automated each device in our room.

• Lights

  We swapped the old light switches for smart dimmer switches and was able to control all of our can lights through our automation. So now, when someone enters the room, we can set the lights to the right level, and turn them off after they leave.

  Total cost for two smart light switches: $36

• Projector

  This was more difficult than the lights. There are some projectors that come with Amazon Alexa included, which would have been very convenient, but they are also more expensive.

  After digging a bit, we discovered our projector had a setting that could be enabled that could power on and off when it sensed that it had power. Perfect. All we needed to do was buy a smart power plug for the projector power and we could turn it on when someone came in the room.

  Total cost for one smart power plug: $7

• Computer

  Surprisingly, this was not an obvious task. I could have let the computer run all the time, but while I was crossing things off, I decided to automate the computer too.

  After a bit of research, I found a tool that allowed me to enable my computer to be turned on and off using Alexa.. I had to play with this for awhile to iron out a few issues but it is working seamlessly now.

  Total cost: Free

• Trackman simulator

  After getting the projector working, I looked to see if the Trackman had the same power-recognizing setting, and it did. So all I had to do here was add another smart power plug and I had full power control of the Trackman device.

  Total cost for one smart power plug: $7

• Side TV

  We have a 40” tv on the side wall to show swing and ball statistics as you are playing your round of golf. This TV was the most difficult to automate. It did not have Alexa on it and it did not have the power recognizing setting that I used on the projector and the Trackman.

  I really wanted to make it work also, so I dug in once again. I finally found some little “button pushers” for lack of a better word. These very cool devices are a great final resort in automating non-smart devices. Basically, I stuck this little device on the bottom of the TV right where the power button is, and when the automation runs, a little finger comes up and pushes the power button.

  Total cost for one button pusher: $20

The Routines

For Amazon Alexa, routines are used to decide what happens when the trigger is fired.

This is where the real automation starts happening.

Think of routines as “if this happens, then do this”

Amazon Alexa’s automation has made our Trackman simulator practically effortless to manage.

Ideas

The idea of a room full of automation may not be of any interest to you, but here are a few random ideas of ways you could use these little smart devices to make your life easier.

• Put a smart coffee maker in your breakroom and have it start a pot of coffee when it sees people.

• Add smart blinds to windows in your office that open and close with the up-to-date daylight hours.

• Replace light switches with smart switches for remote control of your lights and ability to turn them on and off when activity is detected.

• Add a smart lock so you can remotely lock or unlock your door.

• Make a smart vacuum such as a Roomba begin vacuuming the floor after everyone has left the office.

Conclusion

Sometimes, you don't need expensive gadgets to solve tricky problems. Just think of it like this: Imagine you have a big puzzle to solve, and all you have are regular, everyday pieces.

Well, if you use your imagination and creativity, you might find a way to put those pieces together in a super cool and unexpected way. It's like magic! So, remember, when you face tough challenges, don't forget to let your creative ideas flow. You might just discover an amazing solution you never even thought of before!

Thanks for reading,
Myron