Building a Smart Home That Works For You

on this channel i have shown off many different types of smart home devices you can add into your own home to make your home smart but in this video and with the help of today's sponsor the home depot i'm going to show you how you can build your very own smart home from scratch going from zero devices to adding five different devices into your own home and how they can all work together let's get started [Music] hey everybody welcome to techwithbrett where i help tech work for you now when you start looking into building your own smart home there are thousands of products available and it can get pretty confusing so in this video i'm going to show you a step-by-step process in which you can use to find smart home products that will work for you now the first thing we need to do is choose a certain type of smart home now there are different companies that offer smart home platforms so that you can have all of your devices integrated together so make sure that you stick with one platform so that those types of devices can all work seamlessly together now when i also talk about types of smart home i'm also talking about different voice assistants you could choose now the first voice assistant option available is amazon alexa so alexa is a voice assistant you can use that would integrate with other services and you can turn on lights and all kinds of different things something you may have already done with echo devices and this is a great option if you already use amazon services now the next smart assistant would be google assistant so i personally use google assistant as my main assistant as it integrates with other google services that i'm already using now the third option is using apple homekit so apple homekit does require a hub if you have a apple homepod an apple tv or an ipad you would be able to use apple homekit but this is only a good option if all of the devices you have within your home and your family are apple devices as you can't use apple homekit if you have an android device so those are three different options available for voice assistance apple homekit does use siri then we have google assistant and alexa so you choose one of those then once you have chosen the voice assistant you want to use the next thing to do is choose compatible products so today we're going to head down to other home depot actually i'm going to save you a trip to the home depot and we're going to head to the web to see what products are available and i'm going to show you the different products i'm going to select for today's video to build my smart home so let's head over there and so here we are at the homedepot.com now the first product i'm going to search for is a smart speaker as this is going to be the main control of the rest of my smart home now as you can see there are quite a few different products available but this is going to be a speaker in the main part of our home in the kitchen so i'm going to choose something with some good sound so here we have the sonos 1 gen 2. now let's go ahead and check out some more options of this product right here you can see that this does work with the google assistant and it also works with amazon alexa so some speakers are specific to each of those but i like the option where i can actually choose with this speaker and then down here i have a few colors i'm actually going to choose the white and so this definitely fits my needs my smart home we're going to add that to the cart next we're going to search for smart light bulbs now this is one of the easiest ways to add smart home products into your home is through a light bulb so here we have the philips color and tunable white a19 light bulbs and now this is the whiz version now over here you can see again it's compatible with the amazon assistant google assistant and series shortcuts and i'm actually going to go ahead and choose the dual pack and here you can see they are wi-fi certified so they're going to connect directly to wi-fi and they don't require a hub so let's add those to the list now next we're going to search for a smart thermostat this is actually one of the first smart products i added into my home and i love the convenience of being able to control it from anywhere and it also helps save on energy so here we have the google nest thermostat comes in a few different colors but i like this fog version here let's go and look at a few more details now if you can't find if it's compatible with your smart home up here you can go down to the specifications and right here it shows that it is compatible with alexa as well as google assistant so let's add this one to the cart now in my backyard there's an area that's pretty dark in the evening and i also want to be able to make sure nobody's coming into my backyard so i'm actually going to search for a smart camera and i want to find one that has video function as well as a light and here you can see there's a few different options but i like this one right here the arlo pro 3 floodlight security camera so in here it talks a lot about what this does so it's automatically going to turn on the light when it detects motion you can view the camera feed at any time and then here this does work over a battery so i don't need to worry about getting a wire to this location i can then just charge it up plug it in and then it will work so let's go ahead add this to the list and last there's one smart home product i thought would always be cool to have but it didn't really exist until recently and that was a smart faucet now there are actually a few different options but i like this u by sc moen smart faucet so if we come in here it's going to tell us a few different details so there are a few options you can get the touch list but make sure you get the voice control so you can wave your hand over the sensor here to turn it on and off as well as you can use different voice assistants to turn it on and off and give you the exact amount of water that you want to use so this is compatible again with amazon assistant and google assistant so let's add this to the cart and here in our cart we can see the five different products we're going to add into our smart home today now again i do want to mention that you need to make sure that you find a smart home product that is compatible with the type of smart home that you choose so as you can see the home depot is a great place to get affordable smart home products and they have a great selection so you definitely can find something that will help you in your home and make life a little bit easier so i'm going to go ahead and check out patiently wait for these devices and then show you how to get them set up all right packages have arrived let's see what we got all right now that we have all of our smart home products here the next step is to go through the process of getting each one of these set up now one of the main requirements of a smart home is to have a wi-fi connection in your home as well as to know the username and the password for that wi-fi so that you can link these to the wi-fi so that they are always connected to the internet now all of them have a different app that we will need to use to get them set up and start working with our wi-fi and connected to the internet and now all of these apps are available on android as well as ios devices so let's go ahead and start with the sonos one here is our speaker so on the top you have some controls that you can use it lights up and then on the back here we simply have a power cable ethernet and then a pairing button and so all we really need to do is plug this in and head into the sonos app now because the sonos one is going to be the voice control for our smart home i'm going to set this in a central location in the home so here we're going to place it in the kitchen so it's always available for us to use voice commands to adjust our home now before we set up any of these devices it's a good idea to make sure you are connected to the wi-fi network that you want to use these on so first we're going to head into the sonos app and then for most of these you will need to go through the process of creating an account so automatically it found the sonos one so here we're going to select add it's now connecting our sonos to wi-fi so we just need to type in our wi-fi password and now it's going through the process of connecting the sonos one to our wi-fi so if i leave with my phone it still always has access to the internet and anyone can continue to use the device [Music] now our speaker is set up now we can set up the voice assistant on our sonos one so in the settings we're going to go to services and voice and here we can choose add voice assistant and now you can choose if you want to use google assistant or if you want to use amazon assistant but i'm going to go ahead and choose the google assistant as that's how we're going to set up the smart home first and then we'll go to the amazon assistant in a bit so now we can select add to sonos and now the setup is complete hey google what's the weather tomorrow in aurum tomorrow it'll be sunny with a high of 38 and a low of 17. not only does the sonos 1 have the option to be our voice assistant but it also has the option to control all kinds of different music services so you can connect to amazon music apple music pandora spotify title youtube music and so on and it has a really nice sound this sonos one can definitely fill the room with its music now that the sonos one is set up we now have a voice assistant in the home and so let's go ahead and install some smart light bulbs all right so the install on this is pretty easy all we need to do is plug this into a light socket and you do need to make sure that it has power so if you're using a lamp make sure the lamp is turned on or if you're using an overhead light make sure the light switch is turned on to get this connected we will be using the whiz app and it will connect over wi-fi this is different than the philips hue bulbs that do require a hub easiest install ever once we have the light bulbs installed and turned on we're going to head into the wiz app and i'm going to go into the settings and create my account and now on the main page we're going to select add a device and here we have the light bulbs and when you power off our lights quickly turn them on three times and your light should be pulsing blue and cool white now they are in pairing mode and here it found our two different bulbs we're going to do one at a time and now it's adding our wi-fi network to the light bulb and so here in the wiz app i have a lot of different options where i can control my light so here i can tap on a single light to adjust or we can tap on the room to control both of the lights here i can change the brightness i can set night light mode and then i have the option to completely turn off the lights and then if i want to adjust the colors or set a preset temperature or a preset scene i am able to do that here in the app and then we can choose if we want it to be fast or if we want it to be slow and so that is how you set up the whiz light bulbs now let's move on to the google nest thermostat so this is the fog color inside here we have the thermostat here we have some instructions to get set up and then here we have the base plate which will attach to our wall and all of our wiring will go into here and this just snaps on now the first step to installing the nest thermostat is to turn off the power to your furnace and then label the wires then we're going to remove the old thermostat and then install the new one now i've actually done a full video on how to install the new nest thermostat so you can check that out in the description below but i'll do that and then i'll show you how to get this set up in the google home app once our base plate is on and the new wiring has been added we can then pull the pull tab on the battery of the nest thermostat unit and plug it on let's go ahead and turn on the power we're then going to head into the google home app we're going to select the plus right up here and then we're going to select setup device and then set up new device in your home and so here we're going to choose the home and now it is looking for devices that could be set up now it's asking what device we want to install and here we're going to select nest thermostat and nest thermostat and now we're actually going to scan the qr code on the back of the device the app will then guide you through the setup to make sure that you installed everything correctly it will then ask a few different questions about your heating and cooling system you will then add it to your wi-fi you'll also create different comfort levels as well as set a schedule and now we're going to choose where we want this in our home i'm actually going to put this in the hallway and now here we have the thermostat so i can tap on the thermostat and then i can easily change the temperature and adjust all of my settings here we now have access to adjust the temperature right here on the side of the nest thermostat and we can also tap to go in and configure and change to cooling or heating or whatever it may be and then we also have the option to adjust the thermostat right here from our phone no matter where we are and then here in the settings we have the option to create our schedule so it's really nice that you can come in here and specify what the schedule is going to be for a certain day so here in the morning i have it turn on the comfort level and then at 8 30 i have it go to eco and then in the afternoon i set it back to comfort and then at night i have it go to the sleep schedule so that we sleep at the proper level and then you can create a different schedule for every day of the week now this also has a feature called home and away where if your family leaves the home it's automatically going to set it to the eco temperatures so that you're going to save on energy so here is the arlo pro 3 floodlight camera wire free which i'm really excited about so i can place this pretty much anywhere so here inside there is the floodlight with the camera and the attachment inside the box here we have micro usb charging cable as well as a power brick and here is the battery and then here we have screws and the mount to install it so here we have the arlo app and i'm going to create an account now we need to select our device so here it says light and we have the pro 3 floodlight camera and then we're going to insert the battery and now we're going to display the qr code in front of the camera so now i'm going to call this floodlight cam and now we're going to mount the floodlight now before we mount it here you can actually see what the camera is going to look like and this will help you make sure that you put it in a place that has a good wi-fi connection and to charge this up you will use the micro usb port right there on the side so all you need to do is pull it off the mount and then you will be able to easily charge it up whenever the battery is low having the camera feed on my phone makes it so easy to position this where i want it and now we're going to do some final positioning to make sure we get it in the perfect spot now that our arlo camera is set up we can actually come in here select the play and then we can view the live feed of the camera if we see somebody that's not supposed to be there we do have the option to tap up here and we can activate the siren so we can simply turn on the siren by swiping here and then we have alerted who is out there and so we can turn it off there and this is what the speaker sounds like on the arlo and then under the library we can view what the camera has seen and the different notifications that have come through that's a pretty clear picture i really like that the floodlight is there to illuminate the view of the camera now let's test out the floodlight so once it detects motion it's automatically going to turn on the light it actually works from pretty far away and then here we have the light on low brightness and here it is on high brightness and here you can see how far away i was when it was triggered now you can also view the arlo pro 3 on compatible smart displays hey google show me flood cam sure streaming the flood light cam on kitchen display let's go ahead and install our faucet and in here looks like a little complicated setup but it says to download the app first and then there is a guided setup to get everything set up properly let's go ahead and do that and get this installed so now let's head into the moan app create our account and then we'll register the product and here we can give it a name so we're just going to name it kitchen faucet and now we're going to go through and install the faucet now i have never installed the kitchen faucet before but going through the app and the installation was very easy to do it had step-by-step instructions as well as a video for each different part so that i knew exactly what i was doing and the install went by very smoothly now make sure you build something fun out of the boxes you receive so the kids can stay distracted [Music] now this is very similar to any other faucet the main difference here is you have a control box with a battery pack that is able to automatically turn on and off the water as well as adjust the temperature and connect it to wi-fi installing the faucet was actually way easier than i thought it would be the app was amazing in showing me every step of the way to get this installed and let's test it out and we have water awesome so now i'm also supposed to be able to wave my hand and turn it on no way that's so cool so next we're going to go through a calibration process and then i'm going to set this up so i can turn it on and off from the moment app now i'm going to put it in pairing mode by plugging in the control box so now it's going to perform an update and the water will turn on and off a few times and run the coldest and hottest water possible please do not touch during the test [Music] now once we have our moen faucet set up in the app we can create what are called presets so up here i have a few presets set i have mac and cheese i have my water bottle so it automatically knows how much water i need and it will automatically stop when it has reached that level and then you can also create preset temperatures so if you want it to warm up before it starts giving you water you can do that as well down here we have the option to check our device and then here we can actually see usage of how much water we are using so it's going to show us our gallons per day per week per month or even per year so there's a lot that can be seen here in the moen app now that we have all of our different devices set up and connected to the wi-fi the next step is to get them to talk to each other and we're going to do this through different assistant apps so first we're going to do this through google assistant and the google hall map so once we go into the google home app we are then going to select the plus up here at the top and then we're going to select setup device and we're going to choose have something already set up we've already gone through the process of the setup now we need to go through and link this now during the process of setting up sonos we already linked that so now let's go and connect the other devices so next we need connect wiz so down here we have wiz and then i'm going to sign into my account and link it to google assistant it found the two light bulbs we're going to tap on both of them and we're going to add them into our room and here we are in the kitchen select done now we're going to add the next one so next we're going to add arlo for the nest thermostat we already set that up in the google home app so we don't need to add it here now for the moment smart faucet it's actually not going to be found here in the google home app we're then going to head into the moen app and then we're going to select the settings we're going to select user and down here at the bottom it has the option to set up our voice assistant so we're going to tap google assistant and then tap link and now it is giving us the option to link now that all of our devices have been linked in the google home app we now have the option to adjust our lights see what music is playing adjust our thermostat and create routines where it can automatically do certain things at certain times of the day scrolling down here you can see in the hallway we have our nest thermostat here in the kitchen we have our kitchen lights and we have our kitchen speaker and then down here we have our floodlight cam now i actually want to add that into its own room so i'm going to tap on it select the settings and here we're going to add it to our home and then we're going to create a new room for this called the backyard so we're going to tap backyard select next it's now moving that device into the backyard and into its own room and we're going to do the same for the floodlight cam which is the actual light now that we've built our google home smart home we can easily share this with others in our family just by selecting the plus and then inviting home member here you would tap invite person add their email address they will need to accept the invite in their email account and then they will have access to the google home devices in the google home app as well as through other google assistant speakers now that all of my devices have been set up in the google home app i'm ready to show you how a smart home can all work together now this all starts at our smart speaker and we're going to start here with the google assistant hey google play some music okay playing music on youtube music now that we have our music playing let's set the lighting right in the room hey google set the lights to blue changing two lights to blue all right the lights are set now i want to set the temperature to the right comfort temperature hey google set nest thermostat to comfort [Music] temperature okay and the kids are playing outside in the backyard it's kind of getting dark hey google turn on the floodlight sure and last i need to get dinner ready so let's ask google to help out as well hey google ask moen to fill shells and cheddar dispensing 16 ounces now from kitchen faucets [Music] and just like that i have full control of my home hands-free so now let me show you how you can do this with amazon alexa now to build your amazon alexa smart home you need to head into the amazon alexa app we are then going to sign into our account and then we're going to add some info and if you verify your phone number you can then use some of the communication features now that our profile has been created you are welcome to the home page of the app now the first thing we need to do is link our smart speaker so for this i'm actually going to head back into the sonos app and choose amazon assistant as my smart assistant by going to the settings voice and then i'm going to add a voice assistant and choose amazon alexa and we're going to add to sonos and then we're going to switch the voice assistant and sign in to our amazon account now that we have linked our speaker we're going to head back into the amazon alexa app we're going to head to more and then we're going to go to skills and games this is where you're going to search for the different devices that you're going to link so first let's start with arlo tap on here sign in to our account and so on if you can't find it in here you do need to head back to the manufacturer's app to link the device so we're going to go to the wiz app go down to settings here and then we're going to scroll down until we see alexa we're going to tap on here and link my account for ns thermostat we're going to search for google nest and then here we're going to enable skill and choose our account and then you will need to turn on permissions so that has access to your different devices and then allow for access and last we're going to search for moen and here we're going to launch moen and now our moen account has been successfully linked once you have finished linking the different skills and you head back to the devices tab many times you will ask if you want to discover new devices but most of the time it will automatically find them so here you can see that it had found them up there and so if we tap on a view you can then see all of your different devices now that we have all of our devices linked let's go ahead and group them together so they're easier to access select the plus and then add a group so here we're going to create a group and we already had one called kitchen so i'm just going to call this the hallway and we're going to add the hallway thermostat so now we have our different room set up that we can control here if there are lights in the room we can easily turn on and off the lights just like that and then up here we have the option to see our lights to see our camera and our thermostat so that we can control everything right from the app but now let's go ahead and see how this all interacts with our amazon assistant smart speaker now that all of my smart devices are set up in the amazon alexa app it's time for my smart home to start working for me now again this all starts over here at our smart speaker alexa let's play some music here's a popular station easy pop on amazon music alright we got our music going now let's set the lighting in the room to the right color alexa set the kitchen lights to blue okay all right we got the light set now let's change the temperature in the home to a more comfortable level alexa set the hallway to 68 degrees the heat set to 68. all right we got the heat going and it's been a pretty long day i haven't had much water so let's fill up my water bottle over here alexa ask moen to fill water bottle dispensing 50.7 ounces now and there we have the perfect amount so that is how you can use amazon alexa to control your smart home completely hands-free today we didn't talk much about apple homekit because the featured devices do not support apple homekit but here in the home app this is where you can access all of your different devices you do need to set up a hub so if you tap home and you tap home settings here you can set up your hub which would be something like an apple tv an ipad or a home pod now on the main page you have the option to select the plus and add an accessory and then here you will add an accessory by scanning the product code on the product or by scanning the code in the packaging and so that is the full process in building a customized smart home for your specific home now again let's go through the process first you need to decide on which smart assistant you're going to use second you need to choose the different types of devices that you want to use you can get anything from a smart speaker to a smart light bulb to even a smart faucet really there's so many different options available at the home depot you can start from any of these different options third you need to get those products set them up and link them to the app in which they will connect to the internet and the last step is to link them to your voice assistant so you then have voice control over them and you can add them to different routines and make them do all kinds of different things so if you are looking for a great place to start your smart home make sure you check out the home depot online or in store as there is a wide selection of smart home products available if you want to see the specific products we talked about in today's video you can check them out in the description below and if you have any other questions about how this process works please let me know in the comments below as well i want to thank the home depot again for sponsoring today's video and if you want to see other devices that are compatible with your different assistants you can check out the videos over here on the side thank you so much for watching we'll see you on the next one

Channel: Tech With Brett

Views: 380,042

Keywords: Tech With Brett, How to Build a Smart Home, The Home Depot Smart Home Products, Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Security Camera, Moen U by Essie Smart Faucet, Google Nest Thermostat Fog, Philips WIZ Wifi Light Builbs, Sonos One 2nd Gen Smart Speaker, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa Speaker, How to build a Google Assistant Smart Home, How to build a Amazon Alexa Smart Home, the home depot

Id: LJiWPHGpaUQ

Length: 27min 7sec (1627 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 15 2021