The 5 Maxims of Smart Home Automation
2 min readJul 29, 2020
I oft note that Home Automation newcomers come across pitfalls — which often frustrate them (and/or their families), and they get turned off Home Automation altogether. If you are new to this, or have deployed your first few devices, it’s worth keeping a few things in mind to make the right decisions.
Maxim: a short, pithy statement expressing a general truth or rule of conduct
Here are my 5 Maxims of Smart Home Automation:
- Never control a life-saving or critical system (e.g. security alarm, smoke alarm) solely through your Home Automation hub
- Where possible, always wire in dumb switches; to ensure you can still control your house when (not if) your WiFi or Internet fails
- Make use of Scripts and Automations throughout the home; controlling the brightness of a lightbulb with an smartphone app does not make it a smart home
- Always configure your home and systems for maximum Partner Acceptance Factor (PAF)
- If you’re not confident in wiring up a system, choose a simpler and safer method; or get help from a professional
The perfect app is no app
- Paulus Schoutsen (January 19, 2016)
I highly recommend reading Paulus’s Vision for Home Assistant and in general, for Smart Home Automation. Simply, it’s one of the best things I’ve read on this subject.
