Deter Thieves for Under $10 With This Smart Home Trick
We know that smart home devices can do all kinds of things. Smart lights offer customizable colors and brightness to set the mood, while locks help secure our doors and cameras monitor our homes for incoming deliveries and potential bad actors. But these handy gadgets can also help deter unwanted guests before they ever reach the front door.
By using a simple smart bulb or smart plug, you can give the impression that you are home when you are not. Even better, this setup is very affordable as you can get started for $10 or less.
Let’s get started so you can start securing your home.
Using a smart plug to deter thieves
Smart plugs are a quick and easy way to remotely control not only appliances, but also automations.
Smart plugs are a fantastic smart home device for beginners and enthusiasts alike. While there are many uses for smart plugs, such as the ability to remotely control your favorite light bulb, one particular feature is super useful in deterring thieves: scheduling.
The ability to turn the light on and off automatically creates the illusion that someone is home. But for the best effect, you would want the light, or better yet, the lights, to turn on and off randomly for a set period of time, indicating that activity is taking place inside. Some smart plugs, such as the Kasa Smart Plug Ultra Minioffer a feature called Away Mode to handle this for you.
Away mode for Kasa smart plugs that randomly turns on and off whatever is connected to it during the set time frame.
Away mode allows you to set a start and end time for the smart plug to operate. Then the plug will automatically turn on and off during the specified time frame and days you selected to work.
These randomized activities are designed to simulate people being at home, turning lights on and off as they move from room to room, making it much less attractive to potential thieves.
Use the rest of your smart home to deter thieves
Amazon Echo devices come in many styles, but they can all be great home assistants.
Since a smart plug can control a non-smart bulb to give the illusion that people are home, going straight to a smart bulb is another option to deter thieves.
By using a smart bulb, you can use any lighting fixture in your home instead of just the bulbs plugged into a wall socket. The options for scheduling a smart light are like a smart plug, but again, a random schedule is the best option here.
Some smart lighting brands including Philips Hue offer a pre-built automation that will do most of the work for you, much like the Kasa smart plug. But others require more effort on your part to manually create the routine of your choice.
Smart home devices have increased in availability while becoming more affordable and easy to use.
Another route you can take to simulate active lighting in your home while you’re away is with Amazon Alexa or Google Home. Each of these platforms offer ways to create custom automations that provide you with that random lighting to make would-be thieves think twice.
Getting started with a smart home can be tricky, but there are three simple steps you can take to dive in. Once you have a few appliances and automations under your belt, you’ll be on your way to a home full of convenience and, with this cunning trick, one that’s safer.
