Smart Home Products are everywhere these days. From controlling your lights with your Alexa or google home, to answering your front door from your workplace to coming home to the lovely warm home in the evening, it’s easy to see why smart homes are becoming more popular.

For most homeowners setting up a smart home is a scary prospect, especially if you’re not sure where to start or what devices you need. How do you set one up? What smart home control do you need? How do you get them to work? What do I do?

When thinking of smart home control you might want to make it secure first, and you’ll want to start with a smart security system. A full smart home security system should allow a range of devices to work together,

Help Stop break-ins. When you include smart locks just in case you forget to lock the front door, incorporated with smart doorbell cameras or external cameras so you get live updates on what is going on around your property.

Make it loud. If someone attempts to break into your home, Smart Security sensors which incorporate a loud alarm will help to not only scare off unwanted guests but when paired with professional monitoring can alert authorities that a some attempted a break-in.

Contact authorities for you: You can choose to have your smart home security system professionally monitored 24/7 with garda and emergency response.

When it comes to making your home smart, We can make your home security work with your smart home automation, A smart home system doesn’t just allow you to turn on lights, we can get your smoke detectors to unlocks the doors automatically in the event of a fire, motion sensors to turn on lights when movement is detected, or when someone walks up to your front door, you can be alerted and even talk to them from anywhere in the world.

When adding Smart Home Security to your smart home, it should include the following;

Smart Detection: Motion detectors that send notifications on movement and in the event of a window being broken, glass break sensor to alert you in an instant or door/window sensors when a door is opened, this is a vital part of any security system.

Smart External Cameras: You have a choice of external cameras for the outside of your home, These include a video doorbell that captures anyone who comes to your front door. Look for cameras that have HD quality and automatic recording capabilities so you can review footage at a later time.

Indoor security cameras: Security cameras can help you keep an eye on family members, too. An indoor security camera can act as a nanny cam or provide a way to check in on kids or pets who are home alone.

Smart locks: Since most burglars actually enter homes through unlocked doors or windows, smart locks that lock automatically are a must when making a smart home. They also use codes instead of physical keys, eliminating the need for a hide-a-key that could get into the wrong hands.

Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors: Fire and carbon monoxide are deadly threats that every homeowner should protect their home and families from, so make sure to equip your smart home with technology that alerts you as quickly as possible.

Once you have your security system, the next step in making a smart home is adding home automation features. This is the fun part and what makes your home truly smart.

Home automation simplifies life by automating tasks around the house like locking doors or adjusting your thermostat. It even lets you complete various tasks around the house with your voice. And keep in mind that you can customize your smart home by choosing from a variety of devices and technology.

There are many different smart home products on the market. As you put your smart home together, you’ll want to choose devices that make the most sense for you and your family. Some smart home devices to consider include:

Smart speakers: A new addition to our smart home family, is the Sonos speakers. These work with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. They allow you to play different music through each speaker. It means that the whole family is happy. With our smart home, you can use our “scenes” feature and have your favourite radio station or playlist start play when you wake in the morning.

Smart thermostats: A smart thermostat learns your patterns and keeps your home at a comfortable temperature when you’re home. It automatically adjusts when windows and door are open to save energy. You can set heating schedules and control it remotely. It will even turn on and off based on your location, you can come home to a warm house.

Smart lighting: Activate your lights with your voice when using Alexa and google home. Set schedules for your lights to activate when you’re not at home. Create smart lighting groups and tun off areas of your home that are not in use, like “dining room” or “kitchen”.

Smart locks: Remotely lock and unlock your front door from anywhere in the world. Get instant reminders when you forget to lock up when you leave for work or in the evens before you go to bed.

Smart home app: From our smart home app you can control your entire home. Set temperature, activate lights, unlock doors, turn off appliances—and this is just remote control. With home automation, your smart home devices communicate with each other. When a door opens you can have a light turn on or the heating turn down. You can even have your lights turn on when you’re on the way home with geo-location services.

Smart home hub: This is what connects everything in your home. Your smart home hub has a back-up sim-card and battery. In the event of a power outage or loss of broadband, your smart home will continue to work.

The most important thing to consider with your smart devices is integration. Which brings us to the next step: DIY or have a complete system professionally installed?

DIY can be a lot of fun. But when you’re building a smart home, finding out that not all the devices work together or that you need to buy additional components can be a nightmare.

With a home automation system from GoKonnect, you won’t have that problem. With all our Smart Homes you get a professional installation. This saves you time and money and removes the headache of components not working. A GoKonnect Smart Home that is professionally installed means:

All devices work together: You don’t have to waste time trying to make things work. All GoKonnect devices work seamlessly out of the box.

Get the latest smart home devices: This includes Sonos speakers and some features that you can only get with us. (Check out our Outdoor Camera that also identifies people, animals and vehicles with Video Analytics).

The GoKonnect smart home app: GoKonnect’s smart home app allows you to control your entire smart home from a single location to that you don’t have to keep switching between different apps. You’ll also receive instant notifications, alerts and reminders during the day, of activity inside and outside your home. You’ll know straight away when someone is at your front door or if an alarm goes off.

24/7 monitoring or self-monitoring: We give you the option to go with professional monitoring with garda response, or on your own terms with self-monitoring, allowing you to call emergency services when you need them.