Creating a smart home system with your own hands will automate many functions and save a lot of money on the work of specialists. To establish a functional and practical design, you will have to make a lot of effort. The right choice of equipment and a competent approach will allow you to cope with this difficult but interesting task.
Smart Home System Definition
In modern housing there are many household appliances and devices for various purposes, size and power. To turn them on, off and configure, you need to spend a lot of time, and sometimes effort.
When creating a smart apartment, you can control all devices from one remote control, being indoors or remotely. All equipment is conditionally divided into subcategories having common properties, purpose and control method. The manual is carried out using computer equipment and software, the installation of which can also be performed independently.
Varieties and characteristics
To create a smart home with your own hands, you can choose a scheme for which there is enough money or skill.
Varieties of connecting household appliances and appliances:
- Separately. It implies combining device groups into blocks according to their specificity. For example, general control can be carried out by heating, lighting, air conditioning, ventilation, humidification and drainage, security, video and audio systems. All blocks have their own remotes, their number is not limited.
- All in one. Here, all the structures and devices available in the house are displayed on a common control panel, which is a kind of server for one building. In most cases, this is a powerful system unit with a display. To manage devices more conveniently, several portable devices are synchronized with the server. It can be tablets, laptops or smartphones of appropriate power.
Communication devices, controls to the central processor is carried out by wires or wireless networks. The most popular synchronization method is the Internet, which provides remote control of the system from anywhere in the world.
Advantages and disadvantages of a multifunctional system
Automation of technological processes in a single property allows you to make people's lives much more convenient and comfortable.
The main advantages of this technology:
- Saving time and effort, which usually go to go around the house, searching for controls, making frequent adjustments and adjustments.
- Guaranteed to create the optimal level of comfort. Electronics supports the specified microclimate parameters in the room - temperature, humidity, air purity. All this positively affects people's health and their quality of life.
- High level of security. Owners of real estate are not threatened with injury due to walking along dark corridors and garden paths, as the light turns on independently. Automation shuts off devices in the event of a danger of overload at a critical level.
- Saving resources. Exactly as much water and electricity is consumed as is needed to meet the needs of property owners.
There is only one drawback - the amount of initial investments.In addition, self-installation will require mental effort and a waste of time.
Smart Home Elements
The Smart Home system consists of several blocks in which products working according to the same principle are combined.
- Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC). A unit of these structures is responsible for maintaining the optimal ratio of temperature, humidity, composition and filtration of polluted air for people. The system works separately from the rest of the nodes, it is possible to duplicate devices when one of them fails.
- Lighting. For home improvement, automatic lamps, sockets, switches and dimmers are used. Using remote access, devices are activated, configured, and turned off. Lighting may include seismic, volumetric, infrared and ultrasonic sensors.
- Audio visual. The comfort of living in a building is inextricably associated with watching news, movies, TV shows and listening to music. The central server has controls for audio and video devices, color music, internal and external alarms.
The heart of the system is a power source that can maintain its performance for 6-12 hours. Depending on the number and capacity of consumers, you can install powerful high-capacity batteries or an automatic generator. An alternative is a wind farm.
Preparatory work and step by step instructions
The preparatory phase is the most difficult. It consists in drawing up a competent project, where all the nuances should be taken into account. After that, you need to purchase equipment, materials and tools.
Step-by-step installation instructions for a home automation system:
- Markup.
- Installation of control devices - engines, drives, lifts.
- Installation of system elements - control panel, sensors, lamps, sockets, floor heating, household appliances and appliances.
- Connection of installed equipment into a single network.
In conclusion, stage-by-stage synchronization of nodes, tuning, calibration and testing of the system in all modes are carried out.
Features of installation in a private house and in an apartment
To develop and deliver autonomous control of the functions of household appliances in an apartment is much simpler, faster and cheaper than in a private house.
In the apartment, the scope of use of electronics is limited to lighting, water supply, audio-visual devices and electric heating. In this case, one should remember about the inadmissibility of installing a water floor, as well as about the power of the network, which should have the proper margin.
With private real estate is much more complicated. The owner must take care of the alarm, street lighting, heating gutters, sewers and plumbing. Do not forget about the electric drive to the gate and the gate.
Controls
The choice of how to control the autonomous system of a smart home depends on the preferences of the owners of the building.
There are such options for device management:
- Voice It is carried out by means of giving voice commands. Their list and the number of owners is entered into the computer memory at the programming stage after the installation of elements.
- Tame. Management is done by pressing mechanical buttons on the remote control or by manipulation on the touch screen.
Both methods have their pros, cons and approximately the same installation estimates.
The budget option for manufacturing a smart home is the purchase and assembly of such elements into a single network:
- controllers
- main processor;
- Sensors
- electric motors;
- boards;
- buttons
- control panels.
Depending on the number of devices and options, arranging a smart home with your own hands will cost the master 8000-25000 rubles.
For those who are not good at electronics, there are ready-made solutions: Xiaomi Smart Home Suite, Arduino, Aqara Smart Light Control, Google Home and Amazon Echo.
