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| Smart Home Strategies: Walk Before You Run Published June 2021 Smart buildings are a key focus for both commercial and residential markets. As enterprise facilities are opening back up and people are coming out of a year’s lockdown, much attention has shifted to implementing smart building applications. Many of the newly installed “smart” devices focus on sensor-based touchless and timed operations for applications such as lighting and HVAC. All of this adds up to reduced utility costs and contributes to environmental sustainability. During the past year, homeowners shifted their focus to improving home technologies, resulting in implementing more smart home applications for the same benefits. Homes were redefined this past year as they became the main “base station” for everything – school, work, meals, vacation, family play time and sleep. In short, everyone’s home became their whole world. The majority of consumer spending went towards home upgrades and finishing projects that had been delayed. However, the residential market is different than the commercial audience in that enterprise building owners are on a fast pace to implement as many smart building applications now, while at the same time prepare for the future. Homeowners have a different strategic approach to a whole house/smart home implementation. They start out “walking” as they want to make sure they’ve done the research and then put together a roadmap. Pick Just One Keeping up with all of the smart home technologies, devices and product manufacturers can be overwhelming. “The best method is to start with one specific goal,” states Rick Forbush, Business Development Manager for Leviton. “There’s good and bad news. The good news is that there is so much information on the Internet and people have had more time to do the research, but the bad news is trying to determine where to start,” he adds. A smart home should be scalable. “It’s important to demonstrate to a consumer just one ‘smart’ function that they want to incorporate, such as timing the lights,” notes Jillian Haage, Distribution Sales Representative, Leviton. “By pinpointing one specific product characteristic they are trying to accomplish, such as a time clock, versus having to engage with an entire geek squad, gives them a taste into the smart home world and confidence to look further.” Today, being able to remotely time lights is the first smart application that attracts most homeowners. It’s easy to start with Leviton’s Decora Smart® switch with Wi-Fi enabled control can turn the lights on and off automatically at multiple timed settings. “The smart switch or dimmer takes the place of the old clunky plug-in mechanical timer, but much more efficiently, and opens a whole new world of functionality to the consumer,” notes Rick. To remotely manage and program the Decora Smart products, customers will need to download the free “My Leviton” app onto their smart device (phone or tablet). Setting up this app can be customized to each home, depending on the applications and devices to be controlled. From this app, all smart devices can be easily programmed and managed by all registered household users. One is the loneliest number “The market is flooded with options,” notes Jillian. “Starting small could be installing that one Decora Smart switch to set the porch light and then from there look at ways to eventually outfit the entire home. And the beauty is that with Decora Smart, the system can grow, based on each homeowner’s needs,” she adds. Whether the first device is one single plug-in to control a lamp or connecting dozens of dimmers, switches, outlets, wall controllers and more, Leviton has the corner on home automation. Usage of lights, electronic equipment and even appliances can be monitored. With decades of innovation, Leviton is known for their advanced technology and is constantly adding to their portfolio. The newest addition to the Decora Smart line is the Decora Smart Wire-Free Anywhere Companions. These switches can be placed anywhere within a 50 ft. range of a hard-wired Decora Smart Wi-Fi (2nd Gen) switch to control the same lights. Up to three Anywhere Companions for each Decora Smart switch can be installed by either sticking it directly to the wall, screwing it into the wall or to an existing wall box. “Many people think that smart devices are a luxury, but to some they are adding quality and independence to their lives,” notes Jillian. “One of my customers has a disabled relative with limited physical movement, including not being able to reach the light switch. With the Decora Smart switch, she can now operate the lights and fans using her smartphone, and this has dramatically changed her life,” Jillian recounts. Enabling the 4th Utility The network has been named the 4th utility along with water, electricity and HVAC as the original three. It’s important that each home has a reliable backbone that can expand their Wi-Fi capabilities and is able to accept more technologies and devices. The Decora Smart products use very little bandwidth, but adding multiple devices requiring network support through Wi-Fi could overtask the network. “Keeping up with technology is hard to do and sometimes hard to understand. Technology drives the hardware but how the devices are connected is a huge challenge to users and installers,” notes Rick. “Therefore, enabling a smart home may be a multi-step process involving different tradespeople and from different generations,” notes Rick. Electrical installers can be overwhelmed with their new trade of having to learn how to program devices. Electrical distributors are recognizing the need to be educators, which has resulted in either the distributor or the manufacturer serving as key valuable resources to the consumer. One of the biggest benefits of having a smart home (or smart building) is monitoring electrical usage to reduce utility bills. Through the Leviton Load Center, which is accessed through the My Leviton app, consumers can view real-time energy consumption and detect if critical loads need to be addressed. Decora Smart integrates in the same My Leviton app with the Load Center as timed and dimmed lights can be power savers. Smart Circuit Breakers installed in the electrical box is another main component of the Load Center’s capabilities. The Load Center allows insight into all the power being used by all appliances attached to these circuit breakers. Homeowners who install Smart Circuit Breakers can see which devices and appliances are using excessive power and this insight can help change habits to save costs. Smart home strategy starts with one smart switch. From there the possibilities are endless. Consumers are becoming smarter and in doing so, making their smart homes work for them. Leviton provides solutions to all the emerging technologies that drive new devices created by homeowner demands. In addition, all Leviton products can be integrated with other manufacturers’ smart products making Leviton the most scalable “Whole House” provider. Previous Article | Next Article |
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