You should set up your smart health home before you travel

The main promise of the smart health home usually has to do with what you can do while you’re there.

You can set the lights to turn on when you walk through the door; or program the thermostat to start cooling when it knows you’re leaving work. But perhaps not enough thought is given to how all of your health home automation devices can be configured to work while we’re away. Taking a vacation for a week or two doesn’t mean you have to leave your smart health home as it is.

Here are some steps you can take to set it up before you leave.

Disable smart alarm clocks

Many of us use our smartphones as daily alarm clocks. They travel with us on our vacations. However, smart speakers and smart alarm clocks, including those with special features like artificial light, are becoming more common.

It’s easy to forget to deactivate these alarms when you leave your house; especially if you are new to smart health connected alarm clock. I have used a smartphone as an alarm for over ten years. And less than two months after buying a smart alarm clock, I forgot to turn it off before going on vacation. Luckily it’s wifi enabled, which meant I was able to turn it off from my phone once I remembered. But to avoid this, turn off the alarm in advance from the app.

Set thermostats to appropriate temperatures

If you are traveling during periods of extreme temperatures, such as hot summers or cold winters, be sure to keep your thermostat on; smart or not. Of course, it is not necessary to keep your heating at the same temperature as if you were at health home; it is a waste of money and resources. Instead, make sure your health home is not too cold or too hot.

You will find many target temperature recommendations online.

Set lights in your smart health home to turn on at night

You probably don’t want to leave your lights on 24 hours a day while you’re on vacation. However, it can be a useful security measure to keep a light or two on at night when you’re away. Nobody wants to go to a house where “someone” is still awake at 1 am.

Different smart lights use different smart health home apps. But most let you create automations that turn lights on and off at specific intervals. For example, you can set your lights to turn on and off in different rooms between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Smart lights aren’t the only effective tool. You can program timers on your smart TVs to make it look like you’re watching TV at late hours.

Set your smart locks and share keys with people who watch the house

Many smart locks can automatically lock when you close the door. Check if your smart lock has this feature; and activate it before closing your house.

If family members or trusted friends stop by to water the plants, walk the pets, or check on it, consider sharing your smart keys with them to make unlocking your health home easier.

Forgot something? All you need is your phone!

The advantage of having a smart health home while on vacation is that you don’t have to worry about forgetting any of the above. You used to wonder, “Did I remember to turn off the lights?” or “Is the cooker really off?” », « Did I close the garage door? or “No, seriously, is the stove off?” I’ve never left it on before, but maybe this time it really is. »

There aren’t many smart cookers on the market yet, but plenty of other technology is fully controllable from your phone; where you are. If you forgot to turn off your smart air conditioner, you can operate the switch remotely; if you’re not sure if you’ve locked it, a simple press of a button is enough to lock your doors. Any smart device that connects to your phone using an app can be controlled from anywhere; so you don’t have to worry about preparing your health home before you leave.

Of course, these devices need to stay smart health connected to the internet to work, which means you’ll need to:

Leave your smart health home wifi on

Depending on how long your trip is, it may be tempting to turn off your router and modem; as these devices will consume seemingly unnecessary electricity while you are away. However, this electricity is not useless when you have a smart health home; since wifi allows these devices to stay close at hand, wherever you are.

If you turn off your wifi while you’re away, like I used to do, you’ll be disconnected from your smart health home and all of its devices. It’s not that bad if you’re 100% sure you’ve done everything right with them beforehand. But if you forgot something, you won’t have a way to communicate with those devices while you’re away. The smart alarm will keep going off, the security lights will never come on, and the locks will never lock.