How to Prep Your Smart Home for Summer Vacations

Are you planning your upcoming summer vacation? Be sure your smart home is ready before you depart. From checking your security cameras to changing the batteries on your smart lock, here’s how to get your smart home ready before you leave on vacation.

7

Check Your Security Devices

One of the first things to check on before you leave on a summer vacation is your security devices. Whether you have cameras, an alarm system, or both, you should verify that everything is in good working order before hitting the road.

This means checking that your cameras (including a video doorbell if you have one) are online and properly working. You’ll also want to make sure you disconnect your phone from Wi-Fi to use cellular data to ensure the feed is available even if you’re not at home.

Reolink Altas PT Ultra – 4K Solar Wireless Outdoor Security Camera

The Reolink Altas PT Ultra security camera delivers a crystal-clear 4K resolution, 360-degree pan-and-tilt coverage, AI motion detection, and full-color night vision for intelligent, easy-to-use home security. Other features, like weatherproof durability, two-way audio, and a pre-recording mode in the Reolink app, make this a competitor for any home security needs.

Also, be sure to check that everything is up-to-date firmware wise. This will ensure that your devices are ready to go and have the latest features, bug fixes, and security updates.

One final note here is to verify the camera angles and motion zones of your cameras. I recently changed up my doorbell’s motion zone to only notify me if someone is near the door, and not when a car passes on the road, because I was getting too many false negative notifications from it. I also recently made sure that my porch camera is positioned correctly to capture what I need it to.

Ensuring your cameras and security devices are prepared for your vacation goes a long way to deliver peace of mind while you’re away from home, as you’ll be able to verify security on your camera and with your locks and such.

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6

Automate Your Lighting

If you want it to still look like someone is home even when there’s nobody there, then smart lighting can go a long way to help with that.

Lutron Caseta Smart Start Kit

Looking for a smart plug that can do it all? The Lutron Caseta Smart Start Kit gives you voice control, remote control, security features, and more.

Using smart switches, plugs, and bulbs, you’ll be able to automate quite a few things. For starters, this will help save electricity while away by turning lights and lamps off when nobody is home. However, this comes into play more with vacations when you start to automatically turn on and off lights randomly.

Having your lighting turn on and off randomly will simulate someone being home, even if nobody is there. There are various ways to automate this, be that through device-specific apps or with a system like Home Assistant. Not every smart device supports random schedules, so be sure to verify the ones you’re looking at can do this before purchasing.

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5

Adjust Thermostat Settings

One of the nicest things about smart thermostats is the ability to program them for something other than just a repeating weekly schedule. I personally use Ecobee, but other brands also offer similar functionality to what I’ll describe.

Ecobee Smart Thermostat Essential

The Ecobee Smart Thermostat Essential provides built-in energy savings and easy temperature control on its sleek touchscreen and convenient app.

Ecobee’s vacation functionality works in a very simple way. You give it the date you’re leaving, the date you’re returning, and a max hot and cold temperature for it to stay within. This is different from your normal comfort settings and is retained for the next time you go on vacation.

Personally, I set the cool to 80F and the heat to 60F. I don’t want the house getting any warmer or colder than those temperatures. The thermostat will intelligently bring the temperature down to your desired comfort level before the time that you return. This means your cooling system likely won’t run most of the time you’re away from the house.

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4

Set Smart Locks and Access Rules

Wyze

Smart locks are a crucial element of keeping your smart home safe when away on a summer vacation. One of my favorite aspects of a smart lock is being able to check that the door is locked even when I’m not home.

Eufy FamiLock S3 Max

Eufy FamiLock S3 Max brings together a smart lock and video doorbell together into a single package. Along with a PIN pad, the smart lock feature palm vein authentication biometrics. After enrolling, you’ll just place your palm around 4 inches away from the scanner at the top of the smart lock. It also features a video camera that can sense motion when anyone comes near your front door. On the inside, a large screen will show you who is at the door without the need for an app or smart display. 

However, that’s far from the only benefit that smart locks bring to the table. You should enable one (or more) temporary access codes before leaving town. These codes can be set to auto-expire the day you return, and are great for giving to trusted family members or friends to access your home in case of an emergency.

You’ll want to make sure to disable any lingering codes that others might have access to before leaving town, though, just to make sure only those you really want to have access can enter your home. Also be sure to put a new set of batteries in any smart locks around your house, as you don’t want them dying before you come back home.

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3

Prep Smart Sprinklers and Sensors

If you have a smart sprinkler system, then you’ll want to make sure it’s programmed properly before you hit the road.

Rachio 3 16-Zone Smart Sprinkler Controller

With 16 zones, Rachio 3 allows you to precisely monitor and manage your lawn perfectly to save on your water bill.

Be sure that you schedule watering based on the upcoming forecast, but also that you have access to the system to trigger it on (or turn it off) if things change while you’re away.

Also, ensure that your rain or moisture sensors are cleaned up and fully functional by testing them with a garden hose. Use these sensors to set a delay so that your sprinkler system doesn’t engage if there has been enough rain to adequately water your yard, saving you on your water bill when you’re not home.

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2

Unplug or Schedule Unused Devices

TP-Link Tapo P210M

$24.99 $29.99 Save
$5

The TP-Link Tapo P210M smart outlet takes the features of a Tapo smart plug and integrates it directly into a power outlet. This is also one of the first smart outlets to come with Matter compatibility, enabling it to work with just about any smart home ecosystem.

Smart plugs aren’t just for lights. You should put devices that draw a lot of power on smart plugs so they can automatically be turned off when you leave home, and be ready to go whenever you come back.

You can also schedule power-off times so that way things aren’t reliant on a geofence to turn off and back on. Smart plugs are great for things like coffee makers, gaming consoles, cable boxes, printers, or even a mini fridge.

If your mini fridge (or garage fridge, for that matter) is just for keeping drinks cool, then it doesn’t need to run the entire time you’re away. Shutting those devices down with a smart plug adds to your energy savings and will help knock down your power bill even more.

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1

Test Everything Before You Leave

Lastly, just simply test everything before you leave. Do a full away mode dry run to make sure everything works as you’re expecting. Ensure schedules shut things off properly and nothing goes awry.

You’ll also want to make sure that everything works remotely when not on your local network. Verifying this, as well as verifying that notifications are working properly, will ensure that you have peace of mind when you’re on vacation instead of worrying that things could be going wrong back at home.

Concerned about router problems preventing your home from being contactable while you’re away? Invest in a purpose-built smart plug that reboots everything if the worst happens.

Keep Connect Automatic Router Rebooter

This is not your typical smart plug. The Keep Connect Automatic Router Rebooter triggers a power cycle when it detects a connection loss to automatically reboot your devices without you having to lift a finger.