Cheap ways to make your health home smart

As soon as a smart home is discussed, it is soon expected that a large bag of money is needed to come up with nice solutions. Of course there are also expensive solutions on the market, but making your house smart doesn’t necessarily have to be. There are also cheaper solutions. In this article,  a number of inexpensive and cheap ways to make your home smart.

Smart plug

If you would like to operate electrical devices with an app on your smartphone or tablet, a smart plug can offer a solution. Such a plug can simply be plugged into an outlet. The plug of the device that you would like to control remotely must then be plugged into the smart plug. From that moment, you can, for example, switch a lamp on and off remotely. You can also choose to use time schedules.

An example of a smart plug is the HS100 from TP-Link, which at the time of writing is available for an amount of less than 30 euros. That device includes the app Kasa, which is available for iOS and Android. A smart plug is therefore the ideal way to make a device that is not smart in itself, yet smart. The only drawback is that you need a new smart plug for every device.

Smart lighting

Of course, smart lighting is also essential in a smart house. How convenient it is to be able to set precisely from your comfortable chair when and which lights should be on. Even when you are far from home, that’s no problem with smart lighting. You can even set how bright the lamp should be.In addition, Philips Hue is immensely popular, but such lighting also has to pay a lot.

Belkin offers a cheaper solution. For example, the company has a WeMo LED starter package in its range, where you get two lamps for 80 euros and a Wemo link box. You can then set everything via the corresponding WeMo app: from switching the lights on and off to dimming them. You can of course also make schedules. Once you have a Link, you can link up to fifty lamps to operate remotely. Other parties are also busy developing smart lighting that can be offered at a cheaper price.

Smart gardening

A smart house can of course also use a smart garden. In fact, some smart garden items are even great to use indoors. Consider, for example, a sensor that monitors when your plant needs care.The smart Parrot Flower Power is a device that can ideally help with the care of plants. Once you have put the device in the ground, it measures soil moisture, sunlight, temperature and fertilizer levels. Via your smartphone or tablet you can then be kept informed about the ups and downs of your plants. For less than fifty euros you have made your house smart when it comes to keeping up with the plants. In this way it becomes very easy to get green fingers!

Smart sensor

A sensor that allows you to keep an eye on things from a distance is also a way to make your house a step smarter. You can of course go in any direction with regard to sensors. For example, there are sensors that can monitor the air quality in the home or monitor the weather. However, the cheapest sensor in the Eve range is a sensor that allows you to monitor whether your door is closed. So for a price of less than forty euros you are the new owner of Eve Door & Window.

A disadvantage of such a sensor is that it only works with Apple devices. You can also see when and for how long your door or window has been open via the accompanying app, of course, it depends on where you installed the sensor. You can also ask at any time whether your window or door is closed. Very handy, therefore, if you ever wonder if you have forgotten to close something.What is less about such a sensor is that you need an extra sensor for every door and window.

Smart camera

In a smart house, of course, a smart camera cannot be missing. And although you can of course make a smart camera as expensive as you want, there are also very cheap variants on the market.One of these is the NC200 Wifi Cloud Camera from TP-Link. With such a camera, it is possible to keep a close eye on what is happening. That simply works via a corresponding app, which is available for both iOS and Android. You can also receive notifications as soon as something does not seem to be on the spot where your camera is aimed at. The TP-Link camera costs thirty euros.

DIY

Creating cheap solutions yourself is of course also an option. For example, you could get started with a Raspberry Pi, which can be purchased for around four tens. Armed with a Raspberry Pi in one hand and YouTube on the other hand, you have come a long way. Another option would be Littlebits, although you will soon pay more for it. For an amount of eighty euros you can get started with a starter kit.

Read more?Do you want to read more about the possibilities of the smart health home? Then take a look at our extensive archive with smart health home tips and advice .