Outdoor automation
Cameras
Modern IP-based cameras (for example Trendnet) can record in HD quality with a distance range of 30-40 metres even at night. Moreover, you can easily automate their control even without calling a technician by using a NAS device (such as the Synology J series). You can set many different sensor modes and recording modes. The camera footage should be continually screened on old tablets that are attached to the wall in some of the more high traffic areas of the house (for example the lobby or the kitchen). As for recording quality, I would suggest 1 fps rate. This produces okay-quality still images while requiring less storage, allowing you to keep the footage for as long as you need. You should also put up a sign, clearly visible from the outside, that your property is under CCTV surveillance/it has an alarm system/it has a dog that bites.
Garage gate and yard gate
Opening and closing doors/gates are essential functions of controlling your Smart Home. For example, when you open your garage gate, it’s good if your garage door also opens. Don’t use an IR gate as the emergency mechanism to stop the closing of the yard gate. If you have foot traffic by your house, people walking by may inadvertently keep the yard gate open for a long time.
Garden lights around the entrance
Using a motion sensor to turn the light on/off here is a no-brainer. You’ll probably need a sensor by the front door and one by the yard gate. The distance between the gate and the door can be covered by correctly timing the lights. Up-to-date systems “understand” sunrise and sunset, so if you set your motion sensor to only turn the light on when the sun is no longer out, the light will not be unnecessarily on.
Lights elsewhere in the garden
Security cameras come with night vision, so just for the cameras, you don’t need to have the lights on. Gardens don’t need constant lighting because you’re not out there all the time. In my house, you can control different mood lights for the garden manually at the Smart Home control unit.
Driveway heating
The problem is that if your driveway has thicker pavement, regular heating cables will not be able to heat it through. Even if you’re using thinner pavement, it takes at least 3-4 hours for the heating to start melting the snow. You can automate the driveway heating by connecting it to an outdoor temperature sensor. But I have yet to figure out how to tell the system when icing begins. So for now, I continue to use the device own internal sensors and controls.
What doesn’t belong to the Smart Home system and why?
Alarm system
For the alarms, I’ve chosen a stand-alone system. We only have data exchange between the Smart Home and the alarm system. This means that once the alarm is turned on, the Smart Home manages the additional functions:
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automatic moving of shades
presence simulation by randomly switching lights
Irrigation system
Modern irrigation systems do pretty well watering your plants on their own in accordance with precipitation levels and the season. Since I needed a controller unit for the sprinklers to coordinate different irrigation zones anyway, I didn’t see the point in combining the irrigation system with the Smart Home.
Heating the house
The expectation for the heating system is to provide a constant temperature in the house with the help of thermostats. This means that there’s no point in using the Smart Home to control the heating. If your house has modern insulation, using the “holiday function” only makes sense if you’re away for weeks. And this can be turned on manually.
Living in a smart home 