Motion Sensors: Essential to the Smart Home
Keep your family safe, save energy, and experience modern convenience. All with one type of sensor.
In this post, we will discuss why it makes sense for most homes to have motion sensors and the benefits these devices can provide. Talk to us if you are looking for recommendations for what motion sensors to purchase! We have tested many brands and models and found that they all offer different experiences, which we can explain in detail. Product reviews and features are slated for a future post!
First up and foremost is security. Read on to learn more.
What's on Everyone's Mind: Security
Convenience and Energy Savings: Automated Lighting
Trigger Customized Automations
Security: Keep your Family Safe
You are lying in bed for the night, reading your favorite book, and suddenly you hear a noise outside your window. How can you be sure someone isn't lurking outside? You check your cameras and see someone walking along the perimeter of your house. Still, they don't seem to mind that cameras are mounted everywhere. A million thoughts tear through your mind, "What if I had been asleep?", "What if I was away on business and my family was home alone?"
You can't help but think if you had motion sensors set to trigger spotlights, that would have scared them off.
Tegrify offers superior security experiences. These range from flashing lights in red and blue and pairing custom alarms and sirens to blasting a pre-recorded message or custom sound when the alarm is triggered.
This is why most people find motion sensors suitable for their homes, but what are the other benefits?
Automated Lights for Convenience and Energy Savings
Lighting Automation
Why are we still using light switches in 2022? Switches seem like such a manual task when living in a modern home.
Dishwashers alert us on our TVs and phones when they finish a cycle.
Vacuums take the brunt of daily cleaning on an automated schedule.
Coffee makers have a hot cup waiting for us when we wake up.
Yet, we still have to worry about how we're going to turn on the lights when carrying an armload of groceries or a toddler who really does not want to nap.
The premise is simple. You walk into a room, and the motion sensor sends a message to your smart home hub, triggering the lights in that room to turn on. Then, you leave the room, and the lights turn off again after no motion is sensed for some time.
This type of automation can be deeply customized so that lights use different temperatures or colors depending on the time of day or night. For example, I find value in ensuring lights turn to a bright white while the sun is above the horizon and warm white when below the horizon. This helps match the light levels outdoors and supports the natural circadian rhythm, positively affecting sleep patterns.
Equally interesting is setting lights to turn to the color red if triggered in the middle of the night. This is useful for using the bathroom at night without blinding yourself with bright white lights.
I have personally had all the lights in my home automated for the last ten years, and I will never look back. The money it has saved, the frustration with lights left on has gone away, and the convenience has multiplied. I believe everyone should be able to experience this without spending upwards of $10,000 like most smart home companies would have you commit to. Lighting automation can be achieved at a fraction of that price, and Tegrify can help you get there.
Automated lighting is quickly becoming standard in homes across the US, and that trend is snowballing. In fact, most US companies have been using this technology for decades. So why not use it in your home?
Energy Savings
We all have someone in the home notorious for leaving the lights on. When using LED lighting, this may not seem like a significant problem at an average of 9w per bulb. However, multiply that 9w by the number of bulbs in your home, and you start to see the complete picture.
According to Energy Star, The average US home has 50 light bulbs! At the current average of .167 cents per kWh in August of 2022, this cost can quickly add up to $1.10 per energy-efficient bulb per month and increase your carbon footprint. In addition, if you have older, incandescent bulbs, that cost may skyrocket to more than $7.32 per month per bulb!
Maybe you're thinking that automated lights aren't for you, or you're just not ready for them. That's ok! Motion sensors provide benefits that reach far beyond convenience.
Reduce the Illnesses in your Home
I know what you're thinking. How on earth could motion sensors be connected to viruses and bacteria? The premise is simple: the fewer things you need to touch in the home, the less transmission occurs.
Suppose you have kids or several people living in your home. In that case, this benefit is paramount in the age of Covid and other easily transmitted illnesses. In the first year of a child going to school, it is said that parents should expect anywhere from five to twelve colds and cases of flu per year. You don't have to be terrified by germs to realize the impact this has on daily life.
Reduce illness in your home by automating lights. Light switches are a significant transmission point for many viruses and bacteria, especially in bathrooms. Instead of using that paid time off to get over an illness, save it for a nice vacation where you can relax and not need to spend it at Urgent Care.
Trigger Custom Automations
Lastly, motion sensors can be used creatively to trigger any number of actions in your smart home. For example, if everyone is in bed and there has been no motion in the living room for 20 minutes, turn off the TV.
Another favorite example is controlling an intelligent thermostat. We can tie an Ecobee or Nest thermostat to motion to enable a "Follow Me" pattern. When coupled with temperature sensors, customers can have the AC or heat focus only on occupied zones or occupied rooms.
Tegrify specializes in custom automation, working with our customers to learn their most significant pain points and needs and creating customized experiences for those individuals.
This concept ties into all the previous benefits but opens the door for creativity and endless possibilities!
Conclusion
Now you know why it is essential to consider motion sensors for your home.
The next step is to reach out to Tegrify. We can help you plan your automation and how motion will work with other sensors in your home and help you achieve all the benefits listed above.
We know how daunting it can feel to wrap your mind around all the considerations and technologies for a smart home implementation. So we are standing by with smart home implementation, project management, security, and automation experts.
Book today for a free, no-commitment conversation about your goals. No sales pitches. No pressure. Just problem-solving, one home at a time.
We are here to help!