The IT Nerd

I got some interesting equipment from Belkin’s WeMo home automation family recently. The whole point of WeMo is to utilize your Wi-Fi network and smartphone to control your home electronics anywhere. The key advantage over similar systems is to do this with a setup process that is so easy that you don’t need an IT Nerd to do it. Here’s what I got from Belkin:

• WeMo Light Switch: The WeMo Light Switch allows you to turn lights on and off from anywhere. It’s intended for light fixtures like your dining room chandelier for example. Unlike most of the items that I will talk about, you need to do some electrical wiring which means that you may need to employ the services of a licensed electrician if you don’t feel confident about doing it yourself (which isn’t all that hard from personal experience replacing light switches). MSRP: $50
• WeMo Switch: This is one of a number of WeMo products that is aimed at devices that you plug into an AC outlet. Simply plug the switch into an outlet in your home, and plug any device into the switch. Done. MSRP: $60
• WeMo Insight Switch: The next step up above the WeMo Switch is the Insight Switch. It can monitor your electronics and will send information about the device’s energy usage directly to your smartphone or tablet. That way you can see what that device is costing you. It is perfect for A/C units, TVs, washers, dryers, fans, lights and more. MSRP: $60
• WeMo Switch+Motion: If you need more than the ability to turn your devices on and off from your phone, then this is for you. It is capable of turning devices of your choice on or off as soon as movement is detected using a motion sensor. MSRP: $80

I was able to test the last three items. Setting this stuff up was incredibly easy, which is fortunate as there are little in the way of instructions inside the box. Here’s all I did:

1. Plug in WeMo device.
2. Download and install the WeMo app for iOS onto my iPhone 5. Don’t worry Android users, there’s a version for you too.
3. Go into the WiFi settings on my iPhone and choose the WeMo network
4. When prompted, pick the WiFi network that I want to use and enter the password associated with it.
5. Enable remote access. I should note that I did not have to change a thing on my router to enable remote access.
6. If it prompts for a firmware update, let it do it while you play Angry Birds (which is what the app suggests that you do).
7. Done. Declare victory and have a beer.

This was about 10 minutes from start to finish. When I completed the process, I was able to turn the lights that I had plugged into the WeMo Switch anywhere. By anywhere I mean in my condo, or anywhere that I had a data connection. Another thing to note, every other WeMo device I plugged in was easier to set up as it cached some of the info related to my WiFi network. You’ll appreciate that when you’re setting multiple WeMo devices up. One thing I did notice was that the more devices you add, the longer that they take to appear for remote access. Sometimes as long as 10 minutes. But once they have appeared, they seem to remain visible remotely unless you reboot your router.

Now using the app (which is extremely easy to use by the way), you can set WeMo devices to turn themselves on and off by a schedule, say sunrise or sunset, or by motion if the WeMo device supports it. You can also get a notification via e-mail if there’s motion or if certain power thresholds are exceeded. I should also note that two or more people can control WeMo devices as my wife and I were both able to turn devices on and off from our respective iPhones. If you’re really into customizing things, the WeMo devices works with if This, Then That (IFTTT) recipes. How can this help you? IFTTT is a free service that lets you relate functions across different applications and services.  For example, you could create a IFTTT recipe that alerts you by flashing the lights when Twitter is going nuts because Justin Bieber got arrested again or when Mayor of Toronto Rob Ford is in one his famous drunken stupors. Okay. Those are kind of trivial examples. But you can actually do them. I should not that there are all sorts of recipes available online that allows you to do whatever you want if those don’t interest you.

So, what’s the bottom line? The WeMo family of products are an easy way to automate your home. They’re easy to set up and easy to use. If you want to have the ability to turn your lights or other devices on and off from anywhere, or set up a schedule to do it for you, check out the WeMo family of products. Give the a look and I think you’ll like what you’ll see.

This entry was posted on February 7, 2014 at 6:28 am and is filed under Products with tags Belkin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.