Adjust Your Smart Home Before Traveling

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I saw an interesting post on the lifehacker forum. It fits our life and smart home brings us the greatest convenience. Let's take a look at how the blogger describes it. The article comes from: https:/ /lifehacker.com/you-should-adjust-your-smart-home-before-you-travel-1848603050

The promise of a smart home is usually about what you can do there. You can set the lights to turn on when you walk in the door, or program the thermostat to start cooling when it knows you're getting off work. But you might not think about how to configure all your smart devices to work for you when you're away. Taking a week or two off doesn't mean you need to leave your smart home as-is. Here are some adjustments you should make before you leave.


Disable Smart Alarm
I feel guilty about this. Many of us use our smartphones for daily wake-up calls and to travel with us on our trips and vacations. However, smart speakers and smart alarm clocks, including those with special features like artificial light that can make your sleeping brain think it's a sunny day, are becoming more common.

It's easy to forget to disable these alarms when you're away from home, especially if you're new to the whole "dedicated alarm clock." I've been using my iPhone as an alarm clock for over a decade, and less than two months after getting my Hatch smart alarm clock, I forgot to turn it off before the holidays. Fortunately, it's wifi-enabled, which means I can disable it from the phone I remember (more on that later), but save yourself the hassle ahead of time and turn off the alarm from the app.

 


Keep the thermostat set at the proper temperature
If you're traveling during extreme temperatures, such as hot summers or cold winters, make sure your thermostat stays on (smart or not). Of course, if you're at home, there's no need to keep things at the temperature you want - that's a waste of money and resources. Instead, just worry about keeping your home from getting too cold or too hot.

You'll find all kinds of advice on target temperatures online, but the general advice is that you don't want your home to dip below 60 degrees or bake above 80 degrees for too long.

 



Set some smart lights to turn on at night
You probably don't want to have your lights on 24/7 while on vacation. However, turning on a light or two at night when you're away can be a useful safety measure - no one wants to be in a house where "someone" is still awake at 1am

Different smart lights use different smart home apps, but most let you create automations that turn lights on and off at specific intervals. For example, if you want to make sure no one notices the lack of lights during the holidays, you can set the lights to turn on and off in individual rooms between 11pm and 5am.

Smart lights aren't the only effective tool here, either. You can set a timer on your smart TV to make it look like you're watching some late night show.


Set up your smart lock and share keys with your babysitter
While you can usually lock things with your voice or an app, many smart locks can lock automatically when you close the door. Check to see if your smart lock has this feature and enable it before closing the house.

If you have trusted family members or friends who come to your home for watering, pet walks, or sleepovers, consider sharing your smart key with them to simplify unlocking your home.

 


Forgot what? just fix it on your phone
The biggest benefit of having a smart home while on vacation is that you don't have to worry about forgetting any of the above. In the past, you would ask yourself "Did I remember to turn off the lights?" or "Is the stove really off?" or "Did I close the garage door?" or "No, seriously, did the stove turn off? Didn't open it, but maybe it did open this time."

There aren't many smart stoves on the market yet, but you can fully control many other technologies from your phone no matter where you are. If you accidentally turn off your smart air conditioner, you can flip a switch remotely; if you're not sure if you're locked, just tap a button and your door will close. Any smart device connected to your phone via an app can be controlled wherever you are, so you don't need to worry about getting ready to go out.

Of course, these devices need to stay connected to the internet to work, which means you need:

keep wifi on
Depending on how long you're traveling, it can be tempting to turn off your router and modem, as these things drain seemingly unnecessary power while you're away. But when you have a smart home, electricity isn't necessary because wifi keeps those devices within reach no matter where you are.

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