Smart home
Thermostats, doorbells, and cameras, including the jobs we do not rewire.
Check a smart thermostat before you buy oneThe app is the easy part. The wires decide whether it fits.- What comes back after a power outageThe modem needs a few quiet minutes. The plugs do not all need a factory reset.
- Aim a video doorbell at the walkwayA wedge is a small piece of plastic that decides whether you see faces or sky.
- A camera under the eave: height and Wi-FiCover from rain, a view of the door, and a signal that is more than one bar.
- A sensible order for a first smart-home visitWi-Fi first, then the one device you will use this week, then names.
- A doorbell on a weak porch signalThe chime in the hall can be fine while the video never connects.
- Which smart devices belong on 2.4 GHzPlugs, many doorbells, and older cameras never learned 5 GHz.
- What a smart-home visit will not rewireExisting low-voltage and existing outlets. Not a new circuit, not an HVAC redesign.
- Indoor cameras and ordinary privacyPoint them at doors and rooms the household agreed on. Say that they are there.
- Name cameras so the alerts make senseFront door and driveway beat Camera 1 and Camera 2 at 11 p.m.
- A smart speaker in a room with a dead spotThe speaker is not broken. It is too far from the router, same as a phone would be.
- Thermostat photos to take before you order oneBreaker off, faceplate off, one sharp photo of every terminal that has a wire.