For years, during the summer, I would look at the weather forecast on my phone before going to work and decide whether or not to turn on the solar for my swimming pool. If the prediction was wrong, I would have either the expense of running the solar for no benefit or miss out on the opportunity to heat the pool.
The solution turned out to be using a couple of smart plugs. Smart plugs enable you to control and monitor your home appliances and electronics using smartphones or voice assistants. So now I can be at work and remotely switch on and off the solar in my swimming pool using either the app on my phone or Amazon Alexa (Google Home also works). Other benefits make them an essential part of a smart home setup.
Convenient control
As well as allowing you to remotely turn on/off your appliances, you can set schedules such as turning the solar on at 11am and off at 3pm daily
Energy savings
Using smart plugs can monitor your energy consumption and reduce your energy bills by scheduling your appliances to turn off when not in use and setting specific times for them to turn on. You can determine which of your devices is the highest energy user.
Improved safety
Smart plugs can also enhance the safety of your home. For example, you could have a smart plug on an iron, coffee machine or heater. So when you are in the car and have that feeling you left the iron on, you need only look at the smart plug app and turn it off if necessary.
Voice control
Most Smart plugs are compatible with voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. It allows you to control your home appliances and electronics using voice commands, making it even more convenient and hands-free.
Smart plugs can be integrated with other smart home devices, such as lights and thermostats. This allows you to create automated routines and scenes that can be triggered by specific events or at particular times. For example, you can set your lights to turn off automatically when you leave the house, or turn them on when you return.
My next stage is to set up automation using If This Then That (IFTTT) so that the solar comes on automatically based on temperature.
The brand I’m using for my automation is TP-Link.
Call me if you want more information on smart plug automation or to purchase some smart plugs.
