Home Automation Hub is simply the networking or connection of household gadgets to a central hub via Wi-Fi or any similar medium. In simple terms, it is the ability to control home appliances from a remote distance using a mobile device. The home appliances that could be connected to a central hub are numerous and they range from thermostats, doors, security cameras, alarm, fire detector, window sensors, light switches, automatic door locks etc. However, controlling all these appliances on different apps could be cumbersome, but with the help of a centralised hub and a single app installed on your mobile device the automation can be achieved.
Why You Need a Hub for Your Home
There are a thousand and one reasons to use hubs to automate your home. The following bullet list provides these points in a simple way.
- A hub can be connected to any part of the home where it is easily accessible and can be operated upon.
- Also, there are automations that help in saving energy usage in order to reduce the cost of living which will work only when connected to an efficient hub.
- With the use of a hub, communicating with gadgets at home from wherever you are using your smartphone can be easily done through a smooth connection to the internet.
- Furthermore, with a hub, there are a lot of things you can achieve using smart home automation which doubles as a security monitor that monitors our homes and its environ due to its programme of intelligence.
- Hubs come in different types and varieties making it very possible for them to work with any gadget you have whether it operates on WiFi, Bluetooth or some other platform.
- Likewise, home automation has really made life easily for people by helping them with basic things in the house such as lighting the bulb, turning the sound system on, informing one when there is an intruder among other things.
Note that, you can use voice prompt to communicate with some of these gadgets which must have been recorded before time and same can be used to ON any device. On the contrary, if there is a downtime in your internet connection you won’t be able to communicate directly with any of the devices remotely, but the device will still alert you if there is any eventuality in your house.
Moreover, it is highly important to put into consideration the compatibility of the hub and the home appliances you want to use with it. Also, you need to be sure that the hub supports a flexible protocol that will enhance the smartness of the devices connected to it. As earlier mentioned, we have different hubs with different methods of connectivity such as Bluetooth smart hubs, Wi-Fi smart hubs, and Z-Wave and Zig-Beehubs.
The Best Home Automation Hubs for Your Home
Samsung SmartThingsHub
This is one of the best apps which connects wirelessly and it helps in monitoring the home by giving an immediate alert in case there is an unlawful entry into your apartment/home, when there is fire in the building, when there is a leak, you can tell it what to do remotely, when to do it, when the refrigerator is short of some items same will be communicated to you, and many more things can be still be done using the hub. In addition, some of these devices have their own app which could be awkward in installing them one after the other on your mobile device and this is where the hub comes into play.
The hub helps to unify all the apps on a single platform, the hub is connected to a router and controlled using the internet connection. Besides, a standard protocol like Z-wave which Samsung SmartThings hub uses help the devices to effectively communicate with one another and with the hub.
Features
- The battery last long for about ten (10) hours without power
- It is compatible with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE, Zig-Bee and Zig-Wave connectivity
- It is compatible with an Android device from 4.0 upward, iOS devices from 8.0 upward, and Windows phones from 8.1 upward
Cozify
This is one of the plug and play home automation hubs that is compatible with most devices and it automatically picks any device in its range via Wi-Fi upon installation. The cozify hub is connected to a router with internet connection so as to control all the connected devices. It works with various devices that one could imagine using at home from the door sensor, water sensor, window sensor, Osramlightify bulbs, and smoke detector just to mention few.
Features
- It supports Zig-Bee and Zig-Wave devices
- It supports Air conditioner controllers
- It supports indoor cameras, outdoor cameras, and smoke detectors.
Amazon Echo
This is typically one of the hottest hubs in the recent time because it works well with the Alexa app. The Amazon Echo has different smart devices ranging from a Bluetooth speaker that can be found on some devices which helps to play music on your phone.
Features
- It is compatible with Alexa devices
- It supports voice prompt in communicating with your gadgets
Wink Home Automation Hub
This is another good home automation hub which allows a great number of devices to be connected to it using a single app installed on a mobile device. The Wink hub has some devices it manufactures and primarily works with them the likes of smart locks, thermostats, cameras etc and it also works with devices from other manufacturers.
Features
- It is very easy to install
- It supports different mobile devices as well as different gadgets
- It is compatible with Zig-Wave and Zig-Bee, Bluetooth LE, Wi-Fi etc
Echo Dot
This is relatively cheap compared to other automation hubs and it controls a large number of devices. It supports voice recognition, light switches, as well as giving weather reports.
Features
- It is cheap
- It support different devices
Home Seer
This home automation system has its own hardware controller and it is very compatible with various devices which made it popular, very easy to use, it has fantastic customer support, but it does not support security monitoring.
Features
- It supports huge number of devices
- It has its own controller with an option of hardware with preconfigured software or software with the option of installing it on any choice of mobile device.
If you carefully study all the aforementioned hubs you will notice that they differ in terms of functionality and compatibility. But then, they tend to achieve the same purposes by creating smart homes for us.