Home Automation Basics: Complete Beginner’s Guide

In this beginner’s guide, I’m going to show you how to build smart home automation that has an easy user experience.

You’ll learn:
– How to choose right smart home devices and apps
– What is a smart home hub and whether you need one
– How to add basic automation routines
– Lots more

Let’s get started.

Contents

Smart home devices are more appealing than ever before.

But everything is fragmented.

Creating an interconnected system, where each of the smart home devices talk to each other, takes a lot of time, money, and grief.

I will show you the building blocks needed to unlock the full potential of your smart home.

If you wish to replicate my smart home automation system in your house, you can follow the links to buy the components.

• Voice assistant for voice control (My recommendation: Google Home)
• Hub for advanced home automation (My recommendation: Raspberry Pi 4 with Home Assistant)
• Hub for controlling all your devices that uses infra-red, radio frequency or Bluetooth (My recommendation: Logitech Harmony Hub)
• Hub for controlling lights (My recommendation: Philips Hue)
• Motion sensor for controlling lights (My recommendation: Philips Hue Motion Sensor)
• Switches for mechanical lights (My recommendation: Switchbot)
• Hub for controlling air conditioning units (My recommendation: Sensibo Sky)
• Smart plugs for controlling appliances (My recommendation: Belkin Wemo Switch)
• Camera for home security (My recommendation: Logitech Circle 2)
• Software to run scripts (My recommendation: IFTTT)

I’ll start by sharing my story on why I needed smart home automation.

 
Some time ago, I injured my leg quite badly (Achilles tendon rupture) and that forced me to stay at my home for 5 weeks.

When moving around the house using crutches, I started to see inconveniences around the home.

For example, I found it difficult to

• turn on and off the bedroom stand light as the switch was inconveniently located.
• control air conditioning units as I needed to use a separate remote control.
• reach for my TV remote control

While recovering from my injury, I started doing smart home experiments.

I figured out that I can control my air con units in a same way as controlling my TV either using a remote or voice control.

As I could not move very easily, it made sense to have voice control as the main way to control my smart home.

It was not easy at first to integrate all the home entertainment devices and smart home devices together so that I could use voice control.

However, after trial and error, I managed to put everything together and in this post, I will share with you how I did it.

This is what I wanted my smart home system to do

• Turn on and off home theater devices and switch entertainment modes
• Control lights and automate lights
• Control air conditioning units
• Make my home secure with cameras
• Automatically open and close curtains

During my smart home project, I learned that building an awesome home automation system is possible and fairly affordable with today’s technologies.

But, it is definitely not easy to integrate everything together into on seamless user experience.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to smart home hubs and voice assistants.

You should choose the one that works the best in the scenarios that are relevant to you.

 
There are four main ecosystems when it comes to voice assistants: Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google’s Assistant, and Microsoft’s Cortana.

Apple Homekit

If you are an Apple user interested in smart home gadgets, HomeKit is a capable—if not quite mature—entry point to home automation, with some privacy advantages over other systems.

Many of us carry our iPhone everywhere you go (about half of Media Experience readers), so why not use Siri to control your devices.

Apple’s Homekit was my first choice, as I already had the needed hardware (iPhone, iPad and Apple TV).

Unfortunately, I quickly learned that Apple’s HomeKit ecosystem is still quite limited.

With HomeBridge software running on my Raspberry Pi, I was able to control Logitech Harmony Hub activities with Siri voice control.

Even with the Homebrige software, the experience was not optimal, and I had occasional problems running activities when Homebridge software crashed.

Microsoft Cortana

As I already had a Windows-based HTPC, I thought to test Microsoft’s Cortana.

I needed to get a separate microphone for my HTPC to voice control Cortana.

I managed to pair Cortana with Philips Hue lights, but I quickly realized that Cortana was not as good as Siri.

Amazon Alexa

Amazon Alexa is really popular in the US, but for those who live outside the US, they need to use another voice assistant or use Alexa with a limited set of functionalities.

Amazon is the de facto standard smart speaker and is more widely supported than its competitors.

I purchased Amazon Alexa and found it very similar to Google Home in terms of functionalities for my selected smart home devices.

You can use Alexa on a Fire TV to stream video and audio, but that’s not as flexible and widely supported as Google Chromecast.

Google Home

Next, I purchased the Google Home smart speaker to see if it would beat Apple’s Siri and the Homekit ecosystem.

In short, yes, it did.

However, I learned that sometimes commands with Google Home can be long when using third-party hubs like Logitech Harmony.

For example, I was able to integrate Logitech Harmony with Google Home but, it was a bit tedious to always say: “Okay Google, ask Harmony to turn on the TV.”

Fortunately, I was able to overcome this again by using IFTTT commands like “OK Google, turn on the TV.”

Google Home’s clear advantage over Alexa is its Cast support.

You can use Google Home as a controller for your other Chromecast devices such as NVIDIA SHIELD TV.

You can ask Google to play music, YouTube videos, Netflix movies or TV and pictures from Google Photos and it will instantly play on your selected speaker or TV.

For me, Chromecast integration is one of the biggest reasons I prefer Google Home over Alexa.

Second, Google also supports multiple actions, which means that you can do more than one thing.

For example, you can ask to lower the TV volume and dim the lights, using a single phrase.

My recommendation is Google Home

According to my experience, both Alexa and Google Home can help you to effectively run your smart home.

If you live in the countries where Alexa is not officially supported, I definitely recommend using Google Home to get a seamless experience across all your devices. Otherwise, both Alexa and Google Home are good choices.

Choosing between Alexa and Google Home ultimately comes down to your preference, but after testing both voice assistants, I prefer Google Home as it better fits my needs.

Apple’s Siri is okay for simple, smart home setups, but you may come to a conclusion later that you need more advanced flexibility than what Apple’s Homekit can offer.

Next, let’s have a look at the smart home gear that works best for me…

 
I have done countless hours of research in order to find the best smart home gear for my needs.

Here are my tested recommendations for smart home gear and apps that I use every day in my home.

	Category	Product	Description	Price
	Voice Assistant (Option 1)	Google Home	Google Home can help you to effectively run your smart home using your voice.	Check Price on Google
	Voice Assistant (Option 2)	Amazon Echo Dot	Amazon Echo is the de facto standard smart speaker and is widely supported.	Check Price on Amazon
	Mini Computer	Raspberry Pi 4	Computer to run Home Assistant software, turning it into an automation hub.	Check Price on Amazon
	Smart Lighting	Philips Hue	Starter kit including a bridge and two light bulbs to easily control your lights.	Check Price on Amazon
	Smart Lighting	Philips Hue Go	Use Go light to enhance the atmosphere or as a night lamp. It is also portable.	Check Price on Amazon
	Smart Lighting	Philips Hue Lightstrip	Place Lightstrip under cabinets or behind entertainment systems.	Check Price on Amazon
	Motion Sensor	Philips Hue Motion Sensor	Turn on and off your lights automatically with the Philips Hue motion sensor.	Check Price on Amazon
	Smart Plug	Smart Plug for Hue	Turn any light even one in which you can't place a Hue bulb into a smart light.	Check Price on Amazon
	Smart Plug	Wemo Insight	Turn your appliances (e.g. cooling fans) ON/OFF and get insight into energy usage.	Check Price on Amazon
	Universal Remote	Logitech Harmony Hub	With Logitech Harmony you can control all of your entertainment devices.	Check Price on Amazon
	Smart WiFi A/C	Sensibo Sky	You can control your A/C and set automation rules with this WiFi controller.	Check Price on Amazon
	Switch	SwitchBot Bot	It mechanically turns rocker switch or button ON/OFF. Hub Plus required.	Check Price on Amazon
	Bluetooth to Wi-Fi Gateway	SwitchBot Hub Plus	Make all your nearby SwitchBots (the Bots) access to Wi-Fi + IR remote control.	Check Price on Amazon

Now, let’s add these recommended hubs to your home…

 
A smart home hub is a computer that acts as the brains of your smart home. The hub software runs on a dedicated mini-computer that integrates all your devices into one ecosystem to avoid the need for multiple apps. The hub will also allow you to set up advanced home automation rules.

 
I would also recommend adding Philips Hue for lights and Logitech Harmony to easily control your entertainment devices. Both of these can be integrated with Google Home (and Alexa).

You can also do more and more home automation routines with Google Home and Alexa.

You should note that smart speakers have a limited selection of sensors, such as contact sensors for doors and windows and room sensors such as motion sensors.

If you enjoy tinkering and want to configure a comprehensive smart home automation system, then a hub will allow you to add complex automations and routines that aren’t possible with smart speakers or third-party apps like Yonomi.

My two recommended hub options are Samsung’s Smartthings v3 (easy option, but limited flexibility) and Home Assistant running on Raspberry Pi 4 (advanced option with ultimate flexibility).

SmartThings Hub allows you to hook into other supported smart devices and set up schedules or commands driven by an event to execute specific routine for example when you arrive home.

I have not tested SmartThings myself, but based on reviews, it is a very good off the shelf device, but it is dependent on the internet and has limited flexibility.

Home Assistant is an open-source home automation software that is ideal for tinkerers and home automation hobbyists, but it will require some time to get used to.

Let’s now go more in detail on each of the recommended devices to add automation to your home.

Philips Hue Bridge

Philips Hue bridge is not really a hub, but it allows you to add some basic automation. The reason I chose Philips Hue lighting was Scenes, which allows me to control multiple lights with commands such as “Chill-out mode or Movie mode”.

The only problem with Philips’ own Hue compatible bulbs is that they are quite expensive.

Let’s start by installing Philips Hue lights and setting up a Philips Hue bridge.

After you have installed all the lights, connect the Hue bridge to the router via an Ethernet cable and plugin the power cable.

Next, download the Hue app where you can add new lights and organize your rooms.

You can create lighting routines using the Hue app or create them directly in the Google Home hub.

I prefer creating specific lighting scenarios in the Hue app while I use Google Home for more complex routines involving several devices.

Logitech Harmony

Logitech Harmony allows you to control all your entertainment devices with one remote, one Harmony app, or via Alexa or Google Home voice control.

These are the main benefits of using Logitech Harmony:

• Use one remote to control all devices, including your media streamer
• Control your devices through cabinets and walls
• Remote control doesn’t need line-of-sight for it to work
• Easy setup with your smartphone (no pairing is needed)
• Find content faster via custom activities

I would also recommend getting the Harmony Smart remote control that can control up to 6 activities. I find it still more convenient using this remote instead of your smartphone to control your entertainment center.

You can pair Harmony with Alexa and Google Home natively with the app.

However, with Apple Homekit, it is a bit trickier as you need to use a third-party software called Homebridge.

I have also written a more detailed article on how to use Logitech Harmony.

Switchbot

I live in an apartment where it is not feasible to replace light switches on walls.

Therefore, I use Switchbot Bots to turn mechanical light switches into smart ones. In addition to Switchbot Bots, you will also need a Switchbot Hub Plus that will translate WiFi commands to Bluetooth commands for Bots.

You can easily add new Bots and control them using Switchbot’s own app.

Google Home

Google Home is not a smart home hub, but it is becoming a viable way to control your smart home without the need for a separate hub.

It is much simpler to use compared to smart home hubs like SmartThings or Home Assistant.

You can find detailed steps from Google’s Support page.

Simply plug in Google Home speaker, install Google Home app to your mobile phone, launch the app, and follow the instructions from there.

I currently use only WiFi-connected smart devices, so I’m able to control all my devices via voice control.

There is also the possibility to create some simple routines to automate tasks. For example, you can set ready-made morning, bedtime, leaving home, and so on routines.

You can also create custom routines to do multiple things with just one command.

Home Assistant on Raspberry Pi 4

If you want to achieve full control of automation rules, triggers, and schedules, then Home Assistant may be the right solution for you.

What really sets Home Assistant apart from other hubs is it’s power and privacy.

Power: Home Assistant isn’t focusing on a single brand of smart devices, but what ever devices or sensors you use, they will work with it.

Privacy: It’s a local service, which means it’s not going to send any data to the cloud, and you won’t depend on internet connection or remote servers.

I started experimenting With Home Assistant by installing it on Raspberry Pi 4 some time ago. While it is a really powerful solution, it has such a more advanced configuration that I excluded it from this guide.

I will later publish a detailed and advanced guide to running Home Assistant on Raspberry Pi.

If you are ready to dive in to more advanced home automation scripts, I suggest checking out my own getting started with Home Assistant guide.

Control lights and automate lights

Let’s start with the easy and obvious automation: your lights.

Here is a list of the bulbs that I use with hue:

• Philips Hue ambiance light bulbs (living room)
• Philips Hue Go (living room and kids’ room)
• Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus (gaming room)
• Philips Hue white light bulb (bedrooms)

Create different lighting scenarios

I created a couple of useful lightning scenarios.

These are the scenarios that I currently use in the living room:

• Movie time: Sets the mood lightning suitable for watching movies (darker and turns on light behind TV).
• TV time / Game time: Sets the mood lightning suitable for watching TV (brighter than movie mode).
• Chill out: Dims lights and sets them to a bit of a yellow tint.
• Day time: Sets lights to bright and white.

Control lights that are not compatible with Philips Hue

My wife loves Christmas and Christmas lightning.

The problem is that most of our Christmas lights are not Philips Hue compatible. So, during the holiday season, we needed to manually turn off lights on the Christmas tree and all the other non-Hue compatible lights.

The easy solution is to buy a smart plug to control these lights.

I’m using Belkin Wemo smart plug in my home.

If you want to link the Wemo smart plug with Apple Homekit, then you will need to buy Wemo Bridge.

Add automation rules for more convenience

You can create simple automation routines with Philips Hue.

• Turn on bedroom lights automatically at 07:00 PM.
• Turn lights automatically off when you leave your home.
• Turn lights automatically on when you come back to your home.

Control lights with sensors

If you want to add further automation to your lights, I would recommend using Philip Hue’s Motion Sensor.

You can place the sensor anywhere like a hallway or a bathroom as it is battery powered and wireless. The motion sensor trigger lights when someone walks by.

You can configure motion sensors using the Hue app.

Just go to “Settings” > “Accessory setup” and select “Add accessory.”

For example, I use one motion sensor in my hallway as a night light. Motion sensors are really useful in bathrooms as well.

More scripts to automatize lights

IFTTT is a great app to do automation scripts for your smart home. You can tie your devices and scripts together to create unique experiences.

There can be several triggers for your flows.

Here are the example flows that I have created so far for my home.

One word to choose your Hue Scene and brightness

I have created an IFTTT script that allows me to easily adjust lights according to a certain mood.

For example, if I say “Daytime,” Google Home will set my lights to bright with white color temperature.

Or if I say “Dim the lights,” it will adjust certain lights to dim mood.

Awake
I have created a script that I run in the morning:

• Turn on all the lights on in the living room (using Philips Hue)
• Turn on the bedroom light (using Philips Hue)
• Turn on living room thermostat (using IFTTT and Sensibo Sky)
• Make sure that the bedroom and kid’s room thermostats are on (using IFTTT and Sensibo Sky)

Sleep
When I want to go to sleep, I’ll run the following script:

• Turn off all the lights on in the living room (using Philips Hue)
• Turn off entertainment system (using IFTTT and Logitech Harmony)
• Set the bedroom light brightness to 10% (using Philips Hue)
• Turn off living room thermostat (using IFTTT and Sensibo Sky)
• Leave bedroom and kid’s room thermostats on (using IFTTT and Sensibo Sky)

Away
When I’m leaving my home, I’ll run the following script:

• Turn off all the lights on in the living room (using Philips Hue)
• Turn off entertainment system (using IFTTT and Logitech Harmony)
• Turn off bedroom and kid’s room lights (using Philips Hue)
• Turn off living room thermostat (using IFTTT and Sensibo Sky)
• Turn off bedroom and kid’s room thermostats (using IFTTT and Sensibo Sky)

Control TV

Turn on/off the TV by voice

I have linked Logitech Harmony with Google Home with Turn on/off the TV by voice scripts.

I have created separate activities for different inputs.

I found it cumbersome to say “Ok Google, tell Harmony to turn on Shield TV,” so I am using a separate IFTTT script to make the command a bit shorter.

For example, if I want to turn on the TV and set HDMI input for Shield TV, I simply say, “Okay Google, turn on Shield TV” or for Xbox, “Okay Google, turn on XBOX.”

Control air conditioning units with Sensibo Sky

I first paired Logitech Harmony with Mitsubishi Electric air conditioning remote control. This worked quite nicely for the living room unit, but using this method, I was not able to control air conditioning units in other rooms.

One benefit of using Logitech Harmony is that I can control the living room A/C with my remote. I also configured green and red color buttons on the Logitech Smart Remote Control, so that it is quick and easy to turn air conditioning on and off while using a remote.

After a while, I changed to a different method and installed the Sensibo Sky air conditioner controller. Sensibo Sky is absolutely great.

You can use Sensibo Sky with any aircon unit that comes with a remote control that has a display.

Installation follows a similar pattern as other devices.

Plug in the power cord to the Sensibo Sky device and then download the Sensibo app to your phone.

Then follow the instructions in the app to set up a new Sensibo device.

I can easily control Sensibo Sky with Google Home.

I have also set up some automation rules, such as automatically turning off A/C in the living room in the evening and then turning it back on before my family wakes up.

You can also easily check the temperature and humidity in different rooms.

However, if you want to do some more advanced automation rules, then you might want to consider pairing Sensibo Sky with Home Assistant software.

Make your home safe and secure

A smart home should consider your safety and security.

In this section, I will give you ideas on how to make your house or apartment more safe and secure.

I have not implemented all these ideas myself yet, so please make sure to join the smart home waitlist at the end of this post to get notified on the updates.

Home security camera

I installed a couple Logitech Circle 2 security cameras to my home. I really like the 180 lens in Circle 2 as it allows me to cover large areas with one camera.

Logitech Circle 2 is intended for both indoor and outdoor use.

Window sensors

Window sensors are also on my to-do list to improve my home’s security.

Window sensors are a simple way to get notified if someone attempts to access your home through a window or if you have forgotten to leave a window open when leaving home.

Smart locks

Smart locks are also still on my to-do list as I am not able to do modifications to locks in my current apartment.

Fire safety

Smoke alarm system

Smart home alarm system is still on my to-do list, but Nest Protect seems to be a popular choice based on my research.

Smart plugs for the chargers

Another idea to improve fire safety is to use smart plugs for all your chargers. You can set a routine to turn chargers automatically off when leaving home.

Water leak detector

Water leak detector under washing machine and dishwasher is a good idea to improve safety of your home.

I’ll update here my recommended sensors and software once I have implemented water leak detection in my home.

Automatically open and close curtains

This is an area that I have been watching closely, but have not yet found an ideal solution. Most promising seems to be Slide smart curtain system that works with your existing curtains.

SwitchBot Curtain, is another interesting looking device to make your curtains smart. It works both on rod and rails.

This is on my to-do list, and I have not done this part yet.

Summary

In this smart home automation tutorial, you have learned how to integrate different devices together and use a smart home assistant to control them.

My smart home is certainly not completed yet, but I have been happy with these basic features and automation over the past few years.

Once you have created a solid foundation in your home, you can start adding more sensors and more advanced automation rules.

And that will be a whole other guide…

New Course: Learn How to Get More Out of Your Smart Home

Learn how to utilize smart home devices and sensors to interact with voice control systems combined with distributed media outputs. The course opens later.

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