Building a smart home system from scratch has been on my bucket list since I first learned about home automation’s capabilities. I finally had the time and budget to start working on my project about six months ago. My latest achievement has been adding voice control. Guess what? I love it!
I did not truly appreciate the thrill and convenience of home automation before voice control. Sure, I could set up automations and scenes with my smartphone. When I wanted to control a device in my system, I could pull out the phone and bring up the app. It all worked just fine. It still does. But there is something especially exhilarating about not having to grab my phone. Now I just speak.
The Basics of My System
I could have gone with an out-of-the-box solution from a big-name brand like Vivint Smart Home. Believe me, I was tempted to do so. A branded solution would have allowed me to get started with a basic package and then add pieces as I felt comfortable. But I wanted the opportunity to build something from the ground up. So that’s what I did.
The foundation of my system is Home Assistant, a free and open source platform I installed on an old laptop that was sitting around the house gathering dust. I can access the platform with my daily laptop to add devices, create scenes, program automations, and so forth. Home Assistant also offers a smartphone app for mobile access.
In terms of devices, I have installed a variety of:
- Wall Plugs – Wall plugs are great for controlling corded devices that only need to be switched on or off.
- Wall Switches – I have a number of wall switches tied to some of the key lights throughout my home.
- Exterior Plugs – Some exterior plugs have been deployed to control exterior lighting and lawn tools.
- Cameras – Two cameras (one wireless and the other a USB webcam) offer security surveillance of my home.
- Smart Speakers – Two smart speakers allow for voice control as well as doing some of the other neat things smart speakers are capable of.
Needless to say, I am not done building. Also on my list of add-ons are a smart thermostat, smart locks for both first-floor doors, smart blinds for the windows, and geofencing.
Choosing My Smart Speakers
I have been looking at adding smart speakers for some time now. I’ve been cautious because I specifically chose Home Assistant as my platform so that I could keep everything local. I don’t want to send information out to the cloud. I needed smart speakers that were compatible with such an arrangement.
I discovered that Echo Dot devices from Amazon were compatible with Home Assistant and capable of being confined to a local system. At roughly $20 apiece (with shipping), I could easily afford two of them. I now have one at either end of my one-story home. They work so well that I can speak from anywhere in the house and one of the two speakers will pick it up.
As a side note, both Amazon and Google smart speakers are compatible with Vivint home automation equipment. I mention this to say that you don’t necessarily have to be stuck with branded Google or Amazon devices. Lots of equipment and home automation platforms support Google and Amazon devices without locking you into Google or Amazon ecosystems.
Day-to-day Operation
Day-to-day operation of my home automation system has not changed. For example, I still run a program first thing in the morning to turn lights on in the main portion of the home. That way, I don’t exit the master bedroom to a dark hallway. I also have a program for turning on the patio and kitchen lights about fifteen minutes prior to us arriving home on one particular night of the week.
All our Christmas lights were automated over this past holiday season. And when we are out in the evening on a night for which the system isn’t programmed, I can still pull out my phone to turn on the lights when we are a couple of blocks away. We never have to return to a dark house.
How Voice Control Has Changed Things
So, how has voice control changed things? By making home automation more convenient. Let’s say we sit down to watch a movie after dinner. I suddenly remember leaving the kitchen lights on. No need to get up. I just issue a command and off they go.
The day before our planned yard work, I only need to speak a command to fire up the external plugs out in the shed. My mower, edge trimmer, and blower immediately start charging. I tell my smart speaker to set a reminder for four hours. When it sounds, I issue another command to turn the exterior plugs off.
I can even create and modify programs with my voice. I am still working on setting up the scripts for that, but it’s a pretty straightforward process. A script will allow me to call up a device and change programming with verbal commands.
Other Smart Speaker Stuff, Too
While my two Echo devices maintain a local-only network connection most of the time, I can switch them to my main network whenever I want to. That allows me to do other smart speaker stuff, like asking for the football scores and getting the news headlines. When I’m done with the external stuff, I switch them back to the local network and that’s that.
Being able to switch networks gives me the best of both worlds. I can keep all my home automation devices local and isolated from the outside world. But when I want outside access, I can temporarily switch the smart speakers to my primary network without compromising my home automation system. The local network remains isolated. It is all great and I absolutely love it. Now it’s on to working out geofencing.