10 MUST KNOW Tips To Plan a Smart Home

I have gathered some of the frequently asked questions and turn them into tips for you when you are planning to setup a smart home. Comment and share any other tips you have!
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[@guoyao8082]

Just sharing on my experience as I am starting on my smart home renovation journey. I have been following your videos throughout my journey and it has been helpful to me. I found the most important is to decide on what is your comfortable budget first before deciding on what extend of automation is needed. Any appliances with the word smart comes with an additional cost (~20% to 30% extra). i do agree that it is important to plan before hand and the most fundamental step is to determine on what is the platform that the entire eco system will need to house as most appliances have their own apps and if integration is need, additional steps are required. one suggestion is by building the automation by milestones instead of a big bang upgrade. Prioritize the wants and need

[@AlexTeo]

yeah 100% agree on prioritizing the wants and needs. Since you have been following my videos, you have witness my smart home journey, I didn't do a big bang setup/upgrade as well

[@AKC-81]

Your points are all valid. I couldn't stress these points out any further..

[@CasperOng]

Thanks so much Alex I'm buying my first home next year and I really want it to be smart. This is so helpful.

[@JasonOJX]

Good pointers! Planning is super important c especially for swtiches and powerpoint

[@LutherYiew]

If you are going with smart lights instead of switches, a lot of IDs and electricians will give you a perplexed look when you want an always on ceiling smart light that can only be turned off on the switch board / remote control. Just persist and ask them to label the switch board so you know which to flick if you ever need to change light bulbs.

[@AlexTeo]

thanks for sharing!

[@AkhiZakariah]

Thanks.. this is a great channel for us SG home..

[@galbrie]

Wow thanks for the tips! At least now i know where to tell the electricians to pull the neutral wires from and if i needed to move my smart switches nearer to those points to save me a buck on renovation! Im going to become a new homeowner soon and building a smart home feels so complex to me now... So im going to start simple with smart switches on dumb lights and ceiling fans first.

[@AlexTeo]

yeah its alright to slowly build up your smart home, i don't feel there is a need to pull neutral wire to every point, some will be good enough. I think its more important to have a standardize look for all the switches haa

[@lt1lt2lt3]

omg i cant wait for u to do a video on switchbot vacuum and dreame x30 master!

[@AlexTeo]

in the process of testing haa

[@PressPlay3093]

Usually those salesperson have 0 clue what I'm asking them lol, things like controls/entities that can be exposed etc, just wanted to integrate them into HA via z2m (not a fan of a single manufacturer's ecosystem), it's better to just google and hopefully someone is kind enough to share the information on the same devices. Btw, great tips for people who are planning a smart home system!

[@AlexTeo]

typically salesperson usually don't know the products well, have to ask the right people haa

[@benraus]

Very helpful mate, thanks! What are you using for the smart water heater? We're doing our (hdb) reno shortly and that's still on my list.

[@AlexTeo]

there you go, www.cityenergylife.com.sg/collections/water-heater-homes/products/macro-ma-10wfe

[@benraus]

Nice thanks.

[@chrisyeo2442]

Anyone find any issue using the power socket netural line for the switch ? Will it trip the breaker ?

[@Marcus-mg6zw]

Thank you so much Alex! If I’m understanding correctly, there’s no need to buy a smart aqara switch (Z1 pro) with my smart Yeelights in living room for ambient light? Thank you so much!

[@AlexTeo]

its up to you, the Z1 pro slider is able to change the color temperature or brightness without any wiring, entirely on the software

[@chinweiyeoh1163]

Good tips that are coming from someone who's experienced with how a smart home should function. How does connecting a smart light to L work though? Will the switch be powered by L1 and if someone presses the L1 switch will it cut power to the whole switch? Thanks!

[@AlexTeo]

the switch is powered by L... pressing L1 will toggle power to the wired device

[@chinweiyeoh1163]

​@AlexTeo Ok i think I understand now. You wire the lights to L along with the input electricity. Similar to decoupled mode

[@Ace-pb1qj]

Can I check If the smart Daikin aircon has some of the features like on/off, temp control like you mentioned on HomeKit?

[@AlexTeo]

based on google search it seems like its supported

[@eightfoldsg]

Hi Alex! Do you know if there is a compatible switchbot blind for making the blinds smart? I'm referring to the blinds where you pull one side to go up, and the other side to go down.

[@AlexTeo]

i don't think switchbot has such device, i recommend smartwings for motor, aqara shade E1 for retrofit

[@wonderbuffon]

Hi Alex, do you recommend Aqara's dimmer switches? They have the H1 Wireless Knob and Z1 Pro now. Also for home reno, do you recommend to do smart switches and a tri-tone dumb light? Cos seems overkill to have both smart switch and smart bulbs. Thanks

[@AlexTeo]

note that they are not dimmer switches, these are something like the flic twist meant to control smart devices with a percentage scale if you want to change light temperature or dim lights, i recommend smart lights

[@wonderbuffon]

@@AlexTeo Thank you!

[@xylesx]

Thanks for sharing! Any motorized smart blinds with HomeKit support recommendations for SG?

[@AlexTeo]

curtain - zemismart, blinds - smartwings

[@xylesx]

@@AlexTeo Amazing, thank you so much!

[@CocklesOfYourHeart]

@@AlexTeo You purchased smartwings from local or global shipment? Do they have any showroom in sg?

[@KopiRoaster]

Would you recommend ziptrack? Couldn't find anyway to integrate it with home assistant sadly..

[@AlexTeo]

@@KopiRoaster i didn't go research on that, but i'm sure you can always go with somfy with bond bridge

[@telepathyh7343]

Very useful tips. Where and how can I learn more about Home Assistant? I have someone install for me for my home and now I am stuck with this system.

[@AlexTeo]

youtube has a lot of creators focused on home assistant content such as @everything smart home

[@illumnae]

I'm currently using somfy motorized blinds and curtains (remnant from when i previously used homeagenius) but most of the rest of my smarthome is on tuya. For my next smarthome upgrade should i change my curtains/blinds to tuya compatible ones and have my whole house on tuya or would it make more sense to upgrade to home assistant to integrate everything together and give me more options for other upgrades (e.g. its frustrating that i cant seem to find good tuya light switches that also act as zigbee repeaters and i have to use usb repeaters throughout the house)

[@AlexTeo]

each smart home systems has its own pros and cons, for me now, i would always go with the most powerful platform which is home assistant

[@JackyFrostSG]

hey Alex, how does adding neutral wire to a smart switch extend the Zigbee network?

[@AlexTeo]

those zigbee switch that can only work with neutral wire will most likely be able to extend zigbee network, works the same as a smart socket

[@yoshikev]

Hi Alex, was wondering if the Z1 pro is compatible with sol luminaire lights for the dimmer function?

[@AlexTeo]

explained at 1:06, aqara Z1 pro is not a dimmer switch

[@kean806]

What smart fan would you recommend for integration with Home Assistant? Or should I just consider getting a dumb one with RF/IR blaster?

[@AlexTeo]

i heard big ass fan is good, yet to check it out myself

[@sgwhj]

Please review the X30 master!!

[@AlexTeo]

yup its in the plan, unless X40 master is released lol

[@sgwhj]

@@AlexTeo x40 just got released in sg!

[@mrgodliker1992]

Hi Alex, I am planning to get the switches from Aqara, but do you know how can I integrate third party lightings to aqara, it seems to me Aqara is too expensive

[@AlexTeo]

aqara has different models at different price point

[@yipchihkiong]

Hi Alex, im using xiaomi bulbs with mihome app. Im planning to get more smart bulbs fr ikea and integrate it to apple home. Can i also integrate the MiApp with Apple home app? Many Thanks.

[@AlexTeo]

refer to apple official site for the list of supported devices, use that as a general guideline. If the device has the 'works with apple homekit' label then it will work

[@1MW9]

can DC ceiling fans or DC appliances be connected to a smart switch?

[@AlexTeo]

yup why not, as long as the power supports

[@wongguowei355]

Is prism+ Smart Aircon good?

[@AlexTeo]

no idea, didn't research on it

[@75madmonk]

can I know what brand and model your water heater ?

[@AlexTeo]

there you go, www.cityenergylife.com.sg/collections/water-heater-homes/products/macro-ma-10wfe

[@LeonTanKokLeong]

@@AlexTeo Hi Alex, mind sharing why you went for the wifi model? Life salesperson recommend to keep it switched on all the time, so I'm still deciding if it's worth the extra cost

[@AlexTeo]

@@LeonTanKokLeong because i like having a smart home? what is the reason for switching it on all the time?

[@75madmonk]

@@AlexTeo thank you

[@PressPlay3093]

@@LeonTanKokLeong Just use a smart heater switch for non smart model

[@LouisQuah]

No. 11 - Budget... 😅

[@abbiejoyguabna5320]

are there smart home curators out there

[@jarrylng9514]

bro are u from SG? can i dm you toa sk a few questions about home assistant setup ?

[@AlexTeo]

ya you can just ask here or dm me on IG

[@jarrylng9514]

@@AlexTeo thanks for answering. i'm doing up my reno currently and have yet to reach the part to setup HA or Controller for homekit. do you think both of them could integrate together well ? i just saw the video about contoller for homekit and its mind blowing. do you think you can make a video on how to integrate things into that controller app ? thanks a million!

[@AlexTeo]

@@jarrylng9514 i am not an iphone user so i cannot use homekit. There are actually a lot of youtubers that does purely apple home content, you can go check out those channels, eg. @shane whatley. There are built-in integration for HA and homekit - www.home-assistant.io/integrations/homekit/

[@jarrylng9514]

@@AlexTeo thanks so much alex! i just realise i have a bad habit. always looking at all the cool tech videos and buying them straight. when the items come i do not know how to do it xD

[@217PARADISE]

3:23 bro's actually dr strange

[@AlexTeo]

😅

[@exile4829]

aiyaa I dont see Bubble setup anymore. Are you guys good? 😢

[@AlexTeo]

yeah she is mainly into aRPG now, rotating seasons at diablo 4, last epoch and POE for me, I am playing ffxiv new expansion dawntrail next month, followed by black myth wukong!

[@exile4829]

@@AlexTeo oh cool! I think I saw her at 5:44 behind you. God bless u all 💕