5 Mistakes To Avoid When Setting Up Your Smart Home

Setting up your smart home automation system can be exciting and make everyday life more convenient.

But while it’s a relatively simple process and can be very easy, many people fall into the trap of not thinking it all through.

To make switching easier, here’s our list of common mistakes people make when setting up their smart home.

1. Not Buying All of the Necessary Components To Make Your Device Work

Possibly the most common mistake made by people is purchasing devices and expecting them to work straight out of the box.

Whilst many products are plug-and-play, there are plenty of devices that may require additional components that are not included in your purchase.

These additional items may include adapters, hubs, controllers, or even power supplies.

Experienced and professional retailers will often display this information and provide a handy cross-link to the items you require. However, some less helpful ones may not.

Our advice, when setting up your smart home, is to always read the product description in full and ask the seller if anything else is needed for the device.

This will save you that horrid moment of excitedly opening your device, only to find you can’t get it to work.

2. Not Considering Your Wifi Performance

In order for most smart devices to work a decent wifi connection is required. If your wifi connection is weaker than most or often crashes, then your smart devices may well stop working.

This is especially the case for voice assistants.

These devices use your wifi connection to communicate with other smart devices, therefore when the connection is lost, they will no longer communicate.

This is a common oversight in areas where wifi connection often poor.

Before buying devices and setting up your smart home, it’s important that you research how your device works so that you do not invest in something that may not be of value to you.

Some Zigbee products will continue to work even if your wifi connection is lost. Therefore it’s well worth considering these over the standard wifi devices.

You can find devices that do not require a wifi connection in order to work.

A good example of this is the Zignito range, these products use Zigbee protocol, and will work even if a wifi connection is lost.

3. Buying Devices That Are Not Compatible

A common mistake made by those looking to extend their existing smart home ecosystem is purchasing additional devices that are not compatible with your existing systems.

Or simply buying several devices in the hope that they work together.

Smart devices use different protocols that allow them to communicate to other devices, therefore it’s worth checking that the products that you purchase all use the same protocol.

With so many smart home brands out there, it’s not uncommon for people to buy from more than one brand.

While this is ok, it is always worth checking which protocol the devices use to ensure they work with other brands.

Again, our recommendation, when setting up your smart home, is always to check with the retailer.

Retailers will often sell a range of devices and may well have the same device with the protocol you’re looking for.

4. Choosing Cost Over Quality

It’s understandable if you need to stick to a budget while getting your home equipped with the latest technology.

However, some people get so concerned with the prices of individual items that they end up sacrificing quality in favor of initial savings.

What to Do Instead: Rather than making the common error of focusing solely on price, read reviews on the smart home products of interest.

Pay attention to what people say about the overall longevity of those items and whether particular parts failed.

5. Not Considering The Installation Process

So you’ve considered how your devices work and you’ve weighed up the cost, but have you thought about how your device needs to be installed?

It’s important that feel confident about any wiring that may be required when setting up your smart home or know a professional who can assist you.

Perhaps your devices need to be drilled into walls, hooked up to the main power supply, or may even need to be embedded into the wall.

Make sure you understand how your device is installed and are prepared to either pay a professional or carry out some DIY.

There are many devices that you can simply mount or plugin, so you may not need to worry, but always be sure to check.

Also, if you’re purchasing something that needs to be a specific size, we would also recommend checking measurements.

When Setting Up Your Smart Home Research Is Key

With any investment, research is key. Setting up your smart home is very simple and the possibilities are endless with more and more amazing products entering the market.

By researching devices and learning how to make them work best, you can not only save yourself time in the long run, but you can save yourself money too.