How to make a home smart, the guide

Having a smart home means applying technological innovation to the actions that take place in everyday life. Also called home automation, this practice represents in fact the combined use of devices, software and technologies designed to transform the home into a smart or even “intelligent” environment.

The smart home it is now a very widespread concept in making common. More and more people are opting for this innovative solution capable of optimizing and streamlining the most common domestic processes.

It’s not even that difficult transform your home into a technological den.

It is enough to know a few simple concepts and understand which innovative means are best suited to your needs.

But how to make a home “smart” and above all is it better to opt for a centralized, distributed or mixed home automation system?

We asked the question to those who have been involved in this sector for some time, the friends of https://casanelfuturo.it, a blog dedicated to accessories and “intelligent” furnishing of your home.

Create an automated network to regulate daily actions and to save

A home automation system it is important for those who intend to facilitate or speed up the daily actions that are carried out.

Thanks to a automated network, you can adjust the switching on and off of lights, heating and alarms, as well as activate the automatisms.

In order for it to be valid in its role, a smart system it must help save on monthly energy costs.

In this sense, in fact, smart home it means paying maximum attention to consumption, it means avoiding energy losses and therefore saving on electricity and gas bills.

The environment and the comfort

The smart home it is also and above all designed to avoid environmental impact. Having a lower consumption also means being more attentive to sustainability. And since today there is a lot of talk about environmental care, one home automation network it becomes an added value in this sense.

Just think of the smart bulbs which can be used at home and which are not only made to last longer, but also to respond to system commands and therefore switch off when no longer needed.

To all this is added the fact that such a system positively affects your actions, since it takes care of itself. switching the systems on and off.

For this reason it would be ideal to include a voice control in your system, to ensure that the actions of switching on, regulating, switching off are carried out, through a sort of dialogue with one’s home.

Centralized home automation system

Per make a home smart you have to think about what type of system you intend to rely on. The first we are going to analyze is that of centralized home automation.

Basically there is a single large system, based on a single circuit on which functions and associations between the various devices depend. You will have to deal with a single curtain that manages the switches, sockets, sensors and any other smart device of the same series, in fact a complete system integrated with our home.

Why choose this centralized system?

Perhaps because its greatest advantage is the fact that it adapts more easily to the design of the house, since all the elements of those who make up are made with a great aesthetic eye, in addition to the fact that they are all compatible, same color, same design.

You can choose different finishes and colors for the sockets and control units of the series yourself.

Others advantages of centralized home automation are certainly the solidity of the system able to guarantee usability and high performance. Then again there is the economic part to be kept in mind, since for the system and the control unit you don’t have to spend who knows what high budget.

Perhaps the only drawback is that having only one control unit means more easily going to total blocks in case of failures.

Distributed home automation system

Moving on to examine other types of systems, we find a new type of home automation, thought more recently, and which is based on a distributed plant.

In other words, each single device represents an autonomous element capable of functioning independently of the others.

From an economic point of view, it costs a lot compared to the centralized system, given that each device needs its own electronics independent from others. However, it must be said that its functioning has a completely different scope, just as its organizational structure is different. Just think that these systems can also be made independently, with the classic do-it-yourself, relying on the devices proposed by Apple, Google e Amazon.

In fact, the advantages are so many, starting from a good operational reliability to then move on to the fact that if a device crashes, the others will continue to do their duty.

Another strong point of a distributed system is the possibility of adding devices without limitations dictated by the motherboard.

Mixed home automation system

One last home automation system we want to talk to you about is the one created halfway between centralization and distribution.

In other words, you will have a system divided in half: a centralized part that controls some functions and a distributed one made up of independent elements that, if necessary, can communicate with the main system.

This system is one of the most complex and particular ones that you cannot make on a finished, beautiful and made house, as it requires a much more complex design and plant planning.

Certainly its operation is optimal, because it allows you to manage everything, in the way you like best, but on the other hand, know that for such a system you will need professional installers. So even the cost cannot be as low as you might want or expect.