Have you ever wanted to create a smart home, but were put off by the high price tag and lack of understanding of where to start? If so, then this news will help you to sort everything out.
We'll talk about how to turn an ordinary home into a smart one with TP-Link's Tapo range of budget equipment, which includes smart cameras, lamps, LED strips and sockets that can be controlled from a single app.
What is a smart home and what are its advantages?
A smart home is a set of IoT devices connected to the Internet, interacting with each other. A smart home allows you to automate a number of regularly performed actions. For example, you can set the coffee maker to turn on automatically in the morning and the air conditioner to turn on automatically at night, the light automatically turns on and off at a certain time, and also notify your phone when motion is detected by the camera.
A short list of smart home advantages:
Two stages of creating a smart home
Stable Wi-Fi throughout the house
First of all, you need to make sure that there is Wi-Fi in the whole house. If the Wi-Fi network in one of the rooms is not stable enough or there is no Wi-Fi network at all, amplifiers, Powerline adapters or a Mesh system will help you to expand the network. TP-Link offers a wide range of devices that can be used to expand an existing network.
Connecting smart devices
Smart home devices include CCTV cameras, lamps, LED strips and sockets. Smart cameras are the easiest and cheapest way to control everything that happens at home from anywhere. Smart lamps and LED strips allow you to create appropriate lighting for any situation. Smart sockets will allow you to turn almost any electronic device into a smart one.
Let's consider each category of devices separately.
Smart cameras
Tapo cameras can be divided into fixed (Tapo C110), rotary (Tapo C210) and outdoor (Tapo C320WS) cameras.
To install the camera, simply connect it to a power outlet and your home Wi-Fi network. After that, you can monitor the house by phone from anywhere. If there is a smart speaker, the camera can also be controlled via voice commands.
Features of some Tapo cameras:
Smart lighting
Smart lighting devices will allow you to create a unique atmosphere by changing the color of the lighting, as well as adjusting the brightness and color temperature.
Tapo lighting devices can be divided into lamps (Tapo L530E) and LED strips (Tapo L920-5).
Features of some Tapo lamps:
Instant change of scenery
Features of some Tapo LED strips:
Smart sockets
Thanks to smart sockets (Tapo P110) you will have full control over the connected electronics. Even when you are not at home, you can make sure that all electronics are turned off, as well as control devices remotely, which will make your home truly smart.
Features of some Tapo sockets:
The number of devices that can be connected to a socket is almost unlimited. Here are some of them:
Control your smart home through the app
The main advantage of using smart devices forming a single ecosystem is the possibility to control a smart home from a single application. The Tapo app will allow you to control all Tapo smart devices in your house. With the help of the app, you can create automated actions or scenarios. For example, activating the Night scenario will turn off all the smart lighting in the house and turn on the CCTV cameras.
Tapo app features: