As some of you know I’ve been moving in the last few weeks. I moved from Amsterdam back to Almere. In Almere, we bought a house with more space. Because I’m traveling a lot its important to me to know that my stuff is safe at home when I’m away for work.
I started to look for an alarm system about 1 year ago. Because it’s very expensive and with the requirements, I have on an alarm system, it got even more expensive I thought. I wanted a combined system that could arm the alarm but as well use the sensors to switch on lights for example. This wasn’t so easy to find especially because there are not so many companies offering this. Mostly you have to buy an alarm system and thereafter a system for your smart home and do a lot of research if these 2 are combinable.
After going back to work, I told one of my captains what I wanted to have. A smart home with an integrated alarm function. He is into gadgets as well and told me about Fibaro. He told me this system could do all of that what I needed to have in a smart home. It could switch on almost everything with the small good looking motion sensors they make and the sensors would also be capable to arm the alarm. The small sensors can measure the temperature, movement, light intensity (lux) and if someone is trying to rip it off a wall it will feel movement and can trigger an alarm.
After reading one of their own articles on the website about the possibilities. I wrote an email to them to see if they wanted to collaborate with me to set up my house. I ordered some sensors and they told me the alarm function is standard. As Fibaro is a Z-wave (programming language for smart homes) system, it can connect with almost every other smart home system. As well with Google home etc. I was “Sold” on this system. I’m away from home a lot so I want to have a solid alarm system that is not easy to tamper with.
To start you have to use the basic gateways, see this as an internet router for the system. Fibaro offers 2 systems the Fibaro home center 2 and the Fibaro home center Lite. In short, the Fibaro home center 2 has more programming options but is also a bit more expensive. I want to do a lot in my future house so I decided to go for the Fibaro HC2. This lets me control the alarm from my tablet, phone or computer wherever I am in the world. Which is handy when you are a pilot.
Thereafter I ordered the sensors that are able to see if someone is trying to get in or not. These motion sensors are easy to connect with the Fibaro system and are made as a plug and play. I’ve placed the sensors in some corners so they can easily overview all the spaces. As I just started I also wanted to have some door/window sensors these sensors you easily put on a window or door and the system will tell you if it is open or closed. Also when you put the alarm the Fibaro will give you a reminder to tell you that the front door is still open. If you want to keep it open it will arm the alarm thereafter. I almost forgot 1 of the sensors. I also took one Floodcensor. This sensor I’ve put underneath the washing machine if the waterline if being pushed off it could flood very fast. When I’m not home this could give big problems. If the flood sensor is being triggered I’ll get a message on my phone and my fiancee as well. With this, we can check it or ask someone to check it for us.
A little bit about the Alarm function itself. I also ordered some Dimmers for the lights in the house. A few Wallplugs. Connected the Fibaro system to some of my other smart appliances like my Sonos and Google home. Now if the alarm is set and is triggered by one of the sensors. I’ve made it like this that the system will text me and my father. It will flash all the lights in the house so people outside will notice and a 110 decibel sound alarm will go off. My neighbor is a police agent so that’s helpful as well but nevertheless, I can call the police to send a car to check it out if I’m away from home. Also, the camera’s in the front and back of the house will give me some overview of what happened before. Most important is that it feels safe when I’m away from home, as well when I am at home and go to sleep everything is still guarded. It is a system that gives me the security I feel safe with.
As I’m just starting with my smart home I’ll try to keep you guys posted.
In the video’s below you can have an idea of what this system can do. I LOVE IT!
