Specific problem / opportunity

Efficiency

Convenience

Renovation/Building

Fun / Hobby / Education

Section 2: Areas of Interest

There are lots of ways you can employ smart technology in your home. Depending on our lifestyle and interests, some will also certainly be of more interest to you than others. For example, I don't have toddlers in the house or a swimming pool and so don't really have a use for sensors telling me when my toddler is tossing and turning or getting out of bed in the middle of the night or have a need to have a robot keeping my pool clean. I do however have a long driveway and hate vacuuming so like receiving notifications when mail has been delivered and like having the vacuuming done each day when the house is empty.

This section outlines some of the common areas in which smart technology is commonly used to gain an understanding of what areas of interest you have for smart technology and which are less interesting to help build a preliminary plan that modelled on your preferences.

As with all the sections in this quiz, this doesn't claim to be a complete list of what's possible. You're encouraged to call out any areas you're interested in that we haven't covered.

A note about Smart Phone Apps

While we at AdaptingSmart love our Smart Phones and use them all the time, we don't feel that they're generally our preferred way of interacting with our homes where we already have much better things in place like light switches, door handles, TV remote controls and all the other things that just feel natural. For example, while there are times when it's convenient to be able to turn light on and off using a phone, mostly it makes more sense to use a light switch. In this situation (and many others), being forced to use a phone app would be frustrating, unnatural and likely take more effort.

Generally, our approach to Smart Technology is that using phone apps is generally an either secondary or tertiary and in general people will want to continue to be able to do most things without being forced to use their phones. If you enjoy using phone apps, that can be accommodated, but it's not a core assumption.

As you work through this section, think in terms of adding functionality, not removing functionality you already enjoy and rely upon.

Lighting

Including any combination of:

• Indoor
• Outdoor
• White
• Coloured
• Dimmable
• Everyday
• accent ligthing
• special effects
• Holidays
• Kid bedrooms
• Artifical sunrise

Climate Control

• Heat Pumps
• Heaters
• Electric fire places
• Dehumidifiers
• Air Conditioning
• Temperature and Humidty monitoring

Curtains, Blinds

Most types of curtains and blinds can be catered for "out of the box". If you've got something a little special then there are various custom options available.

Garage Doors, Gates (or anything with a motor)

Security

• Traditional Security System Integration/Extension
• Indoor or Outdoor Cameras
• Window and door sensors
• Motion sensors
• Door locks
• Take a look at presence dection further below as well

Household Appliances

There's a seemingly endless list of "smart" appliances. How useful these are and how much they can be integrated into an easy to use and maintain smart home is very dependent on your requirements and the appliance in question. Often it's cheaper and easier to make existing "dumb" appliances smart. For example:

• Use power monitoring and vibration sensors to receive notification when the washing is complete
• use a temperature monitor to track how cold the beer fridge is
• use a window sensor to get a notification if the door to the fridge in the garage has been left open

Fountains, Ponds and Irrigation

• top up fountains automatically as water levels drop
• keep an eye of soil moisture levels and the weather and water the garden as required
• Turn lights and pumps on an off based on light level and time of year

Tanks and other storage systems

Be informed when tanks, chlorine systems or water softeners drop below a certain level so you know when you're running low rather than just when you run out

Entertainment

Entertainment is an entire area unto itself and in many cases will deserve it's own plan. For the purpose of this questionaire it's useful to note that it's very easy for entertainment to take on a life of it's own and it's worth some effort to ensure that any consideration of either the smart home or entertainment systems should be done in consideration with each other. Typical comonents include:

• Are you an audiophile? If so, the detail from this quiz will likely be useful in your audio planning but this quiz will not be sufficient to scratch the surface of your audio needs
• If you're not an audiophile, area to consider include
• What parts of the house/property do you consume music?
• Do you have different needs in those different "zones"?
• Where does your music come from? Do you mainly listen to music from a streaming service or do you have a personal library?
• Do you want to be able to access the same content from outside the house? (Car, Boat, Holiday Home, etc)
• Are you okay to listen to music on smart speakers with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa or similiar

• Some of the same points apply as for Music
• Are you an audiophile?
• Where do you watch movies (living room, bedroom, media room, outside areas?)
• Where does your content come from? (Streaming service, personal library, etc)
• What equipment do you already have?
• Do you have any specific plans for future upgrades?
• Do you want to be able to access the same content from outside the house? (Car, Boat, Holiday Home, etc)

Solar Power

• Measure and Graph power generation throughout the year
• Track battery levels overall or by appliance/use
• Report realtime power remaining at current/normal usage

Presence Monitoring

Many of the most interesting and useful home automations can be created based on where members of the household are. Examples include:

• Turning heating/cooling as you approach home
• Turning lights and other devices off when nobody is home
• Automatically deploying security features when family members are away from home
• Turning lights and devices off when a room or area of the property is not in use (or turning them on when it is).

Problem Detection

Many unexpected and unplanned home ownership costs are the result of not detecting and addressing problems early enough. Use of various sensors can detect problems and bring them to your attention before you might otherwise find them. Example include:

• Using water detectors to detect overflows and leaks
• Using water flow meters to detect potential leaks
• Power monitoring to detect unexpected changes in electricity usage
• Internet bandwidth mointoring
• Vibration detection