Belkin WeMo Light Switch Builds Simple Home Automation into Your Wall
Belkin WeMo Is One of the Simplest Home Automation Solutions We've Seen Yet
Belkin's new WeMo Home Automation Switch lets you control various electronics in your house right from your iOS device, and it's available… Read…
We've previously mentioned Belkin's super simple WeMo home automation system, but back then they only offered outlets and motion sensors. They've now bridged the gap with a light switch you can install directly into the wall in order to add WeMo services to the wiring in your home.P
While not quite as simple as plugging something into a wall, replacing a light switch is one of the easier electrical projects you can undertake. While you should hire an electrician if you don't feel qualified to do it yourself, Belkin does provide a simple and thorough tutorial to walk you through the process (see video above). Barring the installation process, the WeMo Light Switch takes just as little time to set up as the original devices. The service now comes with enhanced IFTTT support and an Android app, so you no longer need to own an iDevice to use it.P
Belkin WeMo Light Switch ($50) | BelkinP
I wonder why everybody is going with the wireless networking. It seems to me it would be much easier and more secure to just have switches/outlets that work over Powerline Ethernet. One Powerline adapter at your router and you could have every device in your house connected regardless of wifi signal strength.8/21/13 7:01am
As an owner of one of those Homeplug/Powerline adapters, I have to say that I'm not overly impressed. They're OK, but nothing to write home about. I purchased a pair of 500 Mbps units and in actuality, they get about 80 Mbps throughput. Not terrible, but not the same as having a wired gigabit home. In my particular case, I haven't noticed anything wonky with them, but I have heard that the wiring of your home is very critical to ensuring that Homeplug adapters work properly. Perhaps older homes with older wiring might not be as friendly for these as newer homes?
Also don't get me wrong, I hate WiFi. I absolutely detest it. It's latent, finicky, and has traditionally been much slower than wired. However, with advancements in WiFi, I see it becoming a better solution and I have a feeling I'm going to like it a lot more in about 5-10 years.
As for their applications in this regard, I think either would work fine and actually Homeplug's would be less latent than most WiFi signals, but not more secure. Homeplugs also have the potential of broadcasting that network around your neighborhood.Today 12:08pm
Unless they've fixed their security flaw, I won't be installing any of these soon. http://hackaday.com/2013/01/31/tur...8/21/13 7:03am
I could see some security issue with this as well. This looks like it creates its own wireless network that the WeMo app connects to for configuration of the switch. What's the security of that WiFi network? What stops someone else from connecting to that same network (WeMo wifi, not my own wifi). It is a very nice product, but I think they need to show us more details of the setup.8/22/13 8:59am
Is this the one that creates a separate WiFi network? I can't imagine how frustrating it would be to try and control these things with a phone/tablet.8/20/13 4:54pm
Nope - it joins your existing wifi, and can be controlled from anywhere in the world you have internet access (provided your home internet is working).8/20/13 5:53pm
Good to know. I was reading the packaging at Costco and it wasn't very clear.8/20/13 5:59pm
Blah blah give me the damn product link!
I installed three of these last week in a hall light, a flood light in my back yard and my light post in the front of the house. Then using the IFTTT app on my iphone I set up three recipes. One that turns all three lights on at sunset every day, one that turns the lamp post off at 1 a.m. and one that turns the flood light off at dawn. No longer do I have to worry about leaving the house in the evening and forgetting to leave a light on or forgetting to turn the flood light over the back yard off in the morning and having it on the whole time I'm at work.8/21/13 6:15am
Thank you for the practical application of the device. 8/21/13 9:04am
There's one thing better than getting and using Belkin WeMo family of products: Living in a high-tech house, maybe a few years from now, when all light switches and AC outlets have the same high-tech abilities built in!8/21/13 12:32am
Source: lifehacker.com