What is SmartThings?

SmartThings is like a gateway drug of home automation. Let me warn you now! Once you get a taste of what you can do, you will be hooked and will crave more.

In order to use SmartThings in you home you will need to purchase the SmartThings Hub; this is the brain of the system and of your home. Most people will buy a starter kit that includes the hub along with some other goodies that you will be able to use with it, this is the most cost effective way to purchase the products. 

A hub currently costs $99 USD and shipping to the USA is free, if you are in Canada like me then shipping is just $15 for as many items in your order. 

I should also note that SmartThings is currently only available in the USA & Canada.

Your SmartThings devices will all connect and communicate with the hub as well as other home automation products made by other companies. You can also expect that the list of smart appliances will be growing quite rapidly now that SmartThings was bought out by consumer electronics giant Samsung for an estimated $200,000,000.00  in August 2014.

I bought the Smart Home Starter Kit for $199.00 which came with the following:

• [1] SmartThings Hub
• [1] SmartSense Motion Sensor
• [1] SmartSense Open/Closed Sensor
• [1] SmartSense Presence Sensor

Additionally I also bought:

• [2] SmartPower Outlet @ $105.00 (normally $55.00 each)

I did not think much of it at the time. However, I am very happy that I purchased the 2 additional SmartPower outlets, because without them I would have felt that this kit fell kinda flat as the items that come with it are all trigger devices, meaning that the detect movement or presence but they cannot perform an action, such as turn on or off a light.

With the items listed above, you have the ability to set up programing like:

• Turn a light on when I arrive home
• Turn a light of when I leave home
• Turn on your coffee pot at sunrise
• If no motion is detected, turn off light/switch
• If motion is detected turn on light/switch
• Send alert to phone if door/window is left open
• Control your lights/switches from the other side of the world.

I could go on & on about what you can do with theses few items and that list only grown once you add IFTTT to the equation.

In future posts I will go into specifics about what programming I have set up but hopefully this should give you a basic understanding of SmartThings and what it gives you the power to do.

If you are considering buying SmartThings and you would like to save 10% of any order containing a Hub or Kit, while also supporting this blog. Please use this link: http://fbuy.me/bmxam 

What is IFTTT?

IFTTT (pronounced gift without the G) is an app/website that allows you to automatically perform predetermined tasks based on an event trigger.

The name is an acronym for IF THIS THEN THAT which explains exactly what it does.
Are you confused? Let's look at some examples of what it can do, in particular what it does for me.

IF space.com posts the image of the day THEN change my phone background to THAT.

IFTTT has a simple interface that is very user friendly. You can browse through thousands of user and company created recipes (a set of instructions that run an automation) or write one yourself.

IFTTT currently has 136 connected channels; websites and apps that it works with, and that number is constantly growing, especially as it has become so popular, more and more companies are embracing it.  

IFTTT has become an integral part of my home automation giving me the ability to connect my phone to my home and vice versa.