Smart lighting is just the beginning…

In one of our previous posts we provided a general overview of some of the possibilities available when creating a scenario for home automation with the Crownstone App. In that post we introduced two scenarios. The first one, called the “sunset” scenario, automatically turns on the lights of a specific room (while someone is present in that room) when it starts to get dark. This scenario defines behaviour that is presence-aware. This is possible thanks to Crownstone’s indoor positioning functionality. The second scenario, called the “sleepy baby” scenario, uses the twilight mode to make your ordinary light switch smart (when configured with switchcraft). This allows you to dim your lights when flipping the wall switch at night (or at any other time that you wish). In those scenarios we provided examples when using the Crownstones behind lights. However, Crownstones can also be used with electronic devices. This means that you can, for example, allow a device to turn on at preset times, make devices presence-aware, and more. Let’s see with which other devices we can use the Crownstones.

For those hot summer days

Nowadays, even in cooler countries, hot summer days get even hotter. It is nice to have a fan to cool down. You can buy a smart fan for around €100 up to €1000 depending on the functionality and the brand. However, if you already have an existing desk fan, tower fan or ceiling fan, you might want to make it smarter without spending that amount of money and throwing your “dumb” fan away. Just place a Crownstone behind it! So, what can you expect from this? Well, you can for instance add a smart timer behaviour to your fan, which means that the fan will be on at specific times. Another thing that you can do is to make your fan presence-aware. It will turn on when you are actually in that room. Finally, Crownstones also allow you to control your fan with a voice command, so you can simply say: “Alexa, turn on fan” to start cooling off.

Television

Did you turn off your television? Or do your teenagers keep forgetting to turn off the television when leaving home? A solution for these situations is to put a Crownstone behind your television so the television is turned off when you are not at home. This makes your television presence-aware. Cool, isn’t it? Turning off your television (and mediabox and other media devices) saves energy and it saves a couple of euros every month on your electricity bill as well. With one of us at Crownstone, it happened that we did rush to the airport and forgot to turn off our television. If it is automatically turned off you don’t need to worry about loud sounds for your neighbours during your holidays. televisions or mediaboxes can go in a very eco-friendly standby mode automatically after a few hours of inactivity. However, starting back up from standby can take a long time! With Crownstone you can set it such that it is truly off when you are gone, but in a “normal” standby mode (and fast startup times) when you are home. Of course, you can also set an ordinary timer for the television. This can be useful to trigger a time to go to bed. Have the television switched off at nine o’clock. Time to go to bed kids!

Safety first

Of course, as parents we always keep an eye on our children. However, it is not always that easy. Kids are curious! One of the ways in which Crownstones can help making our home a bit safer, is by turning off outlets when we are not around. Particular outlets in which we plug the iron, toaster, electric kettle, etc. can just be turned off when we (the adults) are not there. In this manner the presence-aware functionality of the Crownstone makes the home a bit safer.

Conclusion

As previously mentioned, Crownstone can help you to automate your home in many ways. Crownstones can be used not only with lights, but also with other electronic devices. It allows you to add useful “smart” behaviour to devices such as fans, televisions, speakers, video game consoles, etc. You don’t have to get rid of your normal fan to buy a very expensive smart fan. The presence-aware feature means different things for different people. Perhaps for you it means not to have to wake up in the middle of the night to turn your fan off. Or perhaps it means that you’ve the ease of mind on your holidays that all devices that you like to be off, are switched off. Finally, Crownstone can also contribute to the safety of your home if you have children, again, by the same presence-aware feature!