Smart Plugs & Outlets

“Siri, how much water did I drink today?”

“Alexa, what’s on TV tonight?”

“Google, turn off the lights!”

You know the drill. We’re all starting to talk to ourselves under the guise of speaking to our smart speakers and voice assistants. There’s nothing at all wrong with this, but it’s a future no one could have conceived even a decade ago. Smart speakers were cool for creating grocery lists, but that’s just a fraction of what they’re capable of now.

Your computer friends can control your lights and outlets from anywhere now. How cool is that?

The Power of Smart Switches and Plugs

Smart switches and plugs are among the most underrated components of a smart home. In fact, they’re a cheap way to get into the smart home world if your home wasn’t built with this type of equipment in mind.

They’re simple to install and essentially disappear after a few days. After all, they’re just boring plugs and switches, right?

Well… that’s one way to look at it. But, then again, how long do you go in a day without interacting with an outlet or a switch? Are you using either right now?

Behold the Handy, Hidden Household Helpers

If you really think about it, you use outlets and switches all the time for a wide range of reasons. Smart switches and smart plugs are no different, they’re a frequent touch item in your home. But they’re so much more than power regulators. Smart switches and plugs can do things for your household like:

Making mornings tolerable. Most people have heard of the coffee pot that’s powered using a smart outlet. You fill it up at night, then your programmed smart outlet switches on in the morning and starts the coffee cycle. It’s a popular trope, but it’s also a real thing… so you have that to look forward to.

Proving peace of mind. Whether you’re across town or across the state, it’s not a great idea to advertise that you’re not home at night. Your smart switches and plugs can be programmed to flip on and off at different times to make it appear that you’re just hanging around the house.
Conserving resources. Believe it or not, a lot of homeowners find that they save a lot of energy with smart plugs. The better units have use reporting built in, all you have to do is check your app to see which ones are using up the most juice. Create a schedule for those plugs, then check your usage again in a few months. Adjust the whole thing as necessary.

Creating a safer indoor environment. Are you the kind of person who doesn’t like to walk into a dark house, even when it’s yours? Then smart switches and outlets should definitely be on your shopping list. You can turn all the lights in the house on when you pull into your subdivision or driveway, making it clear that you’re home, in case any ghouls (or burglars) happen to be lurking.

Assisting people with handicaps. You may not need the help now, but even a debilitating sports injury can be enough to make you want to scream when you forget to turn a light on or off and are already across the room. For people who are permanently disabled, that’s an every day event. Today with the help of Siri, Alexa and Google Home Assistant, all anyone needs to do is shout, “Siri, turn off the kitchen lights!” and it’s a done deal.

Those little almost-invisible switches and outlets are pretty busy, looks like. They’re also an inexpensive way to jumpstart your smart home transformation. For example, if you wanted a way to turn your bedroom’s ceiling fan light off at night, you would save a bundle to install a smart switch versus using smart light bulbs and the switch won’t burn out any time soon, so bonus!

Ready to Make a Move Toward a Smarter Home?

Even if you have an older home, you can start transforming it into a smart home with switches and outlets. Every home and family will have different needs that a smart home can service, but due to the dizzying array of equipment out there, it can help to speak to a home pro about your plans. Not sure where to find one? Start in your own backyard with HomeKeepr. Your real estate agent can recommend a smart home consultant or installer to help you pick the right bits and pieces to build the perfect, smartest home on the block.

Smart plugs and outlets

If you’ve been paying any attention at all to the world of smart homes and home automation, then the fact that smart switches and smart lights exist could not have escaped your notice. But if you’re like a lot of homeowners, you may still be scratching your head trying to figure out how these devices fit into your voice assistant-powered world.

Consider this your introduction to smart plugs, switches and lights.

What Are These Devices For?

Smart plugs, switches and lights are all small players in the greater plan of home automation. For people who come home after dark or even those that leave home overnight for business on the regular, smart automated lighting can deter burglars and make it look like someone is rattling around your place.

Then there’s the other neat trick smart plugs, switches and lights can do: they help people with disabilities live more independently. Although this was not necessarily part of the original intent, as it turns out, smart homes in general are — top to bottom — able to be specifically adapted for each person and their particular disability..

Despite their gadgety nature, smart plugs, switches and lights can literally change the lives of people from every walk of life and every ability level.

Breaking it Down: Plugs, Switches and Lights

Having voice-responsive or WiFi connected plugs, switches and lights may seem like you’ve basically got a set of things that all perform the same function. If you walk around in your house, smart or dumb, and note what sort of items you have plugged in versus what’s on a switch, you can start to see the subtle differences. But, let’s talk pros and cons:

Plugs. Smart plugs are the most flexible of this smart triad. You can plug in a lamp, or a crockpot or even a radio — you can plug anything into a smart plug and when the plug is switched on, the device (if left with the switch on) will power up.

Smart plugs are easy for anyone to install since they generally just plug right into your regular outlets. You don’t need to wire anything or make a mess. Definitely an A+ for ease of use. Many also monitor your energy use, another handy feature. However, many are so big that they take two outlets and turn them into a single smart plug — if you have a lot of things to plug in or a limited number of outlets, this is something to seriously consider before jumping in.

Switches. A smart switch can give you control over a lot of dumb bulbs and command them with one touch (or click). For people with disabilities, this can make it easier to deal with switches that might be across the room or too high for them to be easily reached from a seated position. Smart switches can also be programmed into complex routines for voice assistants like Alexa. You might have a routine that tells Alexa to turn the switch in the kitchen on, kick on the coffee pot and play some mood music in the morning, for example.

As great as smart switches can be for people with disabilities and gadget lovers alike, they can be a challenge to install since they will actually replace existing light switches. If your home wiring lacks a neutral wire, you’ll have to either have an electrician out to run the right lines or hunt down special switches that can run without one. These switches can have major limitations, since they often need specific bulbs in order to work.

Lights. Smart lights, the last on the list but hardly the least, give more people more options, especially when it comes to older homes. There’s no rewiring required, all you have to do is pop the bulb into a socket and poof! Instant smart lighting. Some even have bluetooth speakers built in to create a little extra ambience. What’s not to love?

Well, as it turns out, smart bulbs are only as smart as the people living in the house. If you, say, switch the fixture full of smarts off, suddenly your smart bulb is a regular bulb. You no longer have any control over it, the bulb has been rendered very dumb. And even when switches are left in the “on” position, there can be significant lag between command and execution since most are controlled through another device, like Amazon’s Echo or Google’s Home Assistant.

The Bottom Line for Basic Smart Home Equipment

Although smart plugs, switches and lights still have significant limitations, they’re still worlds ahead of their old-fashioned counterparts when it comes to ease of access and remote control. There will certainly be updated versions that deal with many of the current problems, but until those are released commercially, a homeowner who wants to try out these bits of smart tech should absolutely do so.

How else will you turn on the mixer at precisely 6 AM, kicking off a Rube Goldberg machine that makes breakfast while you shower?

When You Need Help Making Your House Smarter…

Drop in on your HomeKeepr family! The smart home experts in your area have already signed up and are just waiting for your call. Since your Real Estate Pro has recommended the best of them to you, all you have to do is click or call to get your home automation project started.