Wrapping Up 2019

IoT Tree  
This year, I set up app-controlled, multi-color LED lights for the tree with different 'modes' - twinkle, sparkle, rainbow, etc. This type of light does not get hot so there was no need to worry about the lights sparking a fire, which is usually a concern during the holidays. Making the tree smart allowed us to have the tree come on every day at 4:30 and automatically turn off at midnight. The system used local communication so no cloud connection was required, and it was easy to both set up and control.

Air Quality
We have an air monitoring system set up in our home to asses the quality of air and alert us of any high levels of CO2. We found that with the amount of people over this time of year, our ventilation/air purification system needed to run all the time. The CO2 and Total Volatile Organic Compounds were much higher when family was over, so having the air purification system helped manage the air quality and reduce the abnormally high levels of elements that we didn't want in our home.  

Sound
My family uses Napster because it integrates well with our Control4 touchscreens and iPhones. This year, we downloaded a few Christmas playlists and made a favorite on the kitchen dashboard so we could easily stream holiday music throughout our home. 

Video
Our family loves video games! I linked our PS4, XBoxOne, and Google Stadia to the video switch, allowing us to move where a game was being played to various rooms throughout the house. Since all three platforms use either bluetooth or wireless, we were able to add a 'consoles' section of our family room so all the rooms of the house could access the consoles. This feature was really nice because the kids could play Roblox in the family room until the family came over, then pause the game and continue playing downstairs. Using FamilyLink and Microsoft family, I set up max use time for the kids to limit the amount of time they spent in front of the screen, and they would need to ask me for more time to play the gaming systems. 

Lighting
Now that I've converted my entire home over to occupancy-based lighting, we love our lighting system even more. Now our lights just work - we don't ever have to think about turning on or off light switches as we move around the house. The lights come on automatically when we come into a room and turn off when we leave.  The speed at which the lights turn on and off has been great. I've also added time of day adjustments to the lights, which ensures that they come on at the correct level at all times of the day or night.  

Energy
My family uses the Sense energy system to monitor our energy usage throughout our home. Our energy system is solar with a lithium battery for solar harvesting. We noticed that our energy consumption was about the same as it was during summer months mainly due to the additional cooking we were doing. We do use an induction stove which has been great and is lower in energy usage than traditional stoves. There was one power outage during the holidays, but both our solar and battery systems were able to keep us up and running during the outage.  

How Can We Make Your Smart Home Even Better?

My family was very happy with our system this holiday season. The DoorBird sent us a push notification of who was at the door when packages or family arrived, the house locked automatically each night, and the home alerted us when we needed to take out the trash or when the kids forgot to feed the dogs.

We have made our smart home work for us in the ways that make most sense for our unique family. At Cinegration, we want each of our customers to love their smart home and experience the Power of Control as well. Let us know what features could enhance your smart home experience!  

Sincerely, 
AJ Brunson