Smart Home IO

The placement of your Wifi router is important to gaining the best possible signal you can throughout your house. There are many variables to be aware of when locating the best location for your WiFi router and below are some tips and tricks when trying to determine the best available space for your router. Centrally locate your router to provide good coverage to all areas of the house. (Do not place on one end of your house) Limit the obstacles on or around your WiFi router (mirrors, glass, cabinetry and drywall all reduce signal strength) Do not place WiFi router on the floor as it will hinder signal strength. Place WiFi router on a table or counter top. Make sure the orientation of your router is correct. Knowing where the antennas are located on the unit will help determine the antennas signal pattern in correlation to the area you are locating it in. The house wiring may be a large determining factor where you will be able to locate your WiFi router but new wiring can alwa

Keeping your Wifi secure is a very easy and important to do especially today when more and more people rely heavily on the data we use. General rule of thumb is to keep your password as long as possible. A computer program can hack your password faster the shorter it is. If only 7 characters are used your password can be cracked in .29 milliseconds! At minimum I would suggest your password to be as least 9 characters long as the amount of time to crack becomes days instead of hours or minutes. When creating that new password it is also important to keep a secure note of what it is as you will be giving to friends and guests that will surely want to use your WiFi.

Google Voice is a great free way to provide a 2nd telephone number other than your cell phone number to use for many purposes.  Once you have signed up for a google voice number (all you need is a gmail or google account) you are able to use the google voice app to make and receive calls. Connecting a regular telephone to your google voice account can then be accomplished by purchasing a  Obihai OBi200 The Obihai OBi200 allows a physical telephone connection jack to use your google voice number with a plain old telephone. The Obihai does need to be hardwired to your internet router to allow connection to the internet to operate correctly.  Once connected and setup through the ObiTalk website portal you can use your old telephone with your Google Voice number free of any monthly charges. Your old monthly landline telephone can now be cancelled and save you money each month.

The most reliable solution to feed internet to your Amazon FireTV is to hard wire it to your home network via an ethernet cable. The Amazon FireTV can be hardwired to your router and home network system by using the Amazon Ethernet for Amazon FireTV .  Most home owners installing the FireTV use the built in wireless adapter but with more and more wireless WiFi devices in peoples homes this can create reliability issues when streaming content.  The FireTV adapter is installed directly to the FireTV via the micro USB connection from the adapter and the original FireTV micro USB power is connected into the adapter. The ethernet cable is also connected to adapter inserting the hard wired network connection and proper power to the FireTV. The Amazon FireTV ethernet adapter is the best solution to hard wire your device to obtain the fastest network speeds and can be purchased directly from Amazon using the link below.

When attempting to control and integrate an NVIDIA Shield with the use of a universal control you will need the help from the Flirc USB Dongle to accomplish the task which is readily available on Amazon's Online Store .  When setting up the Flirc adapter you are able to configure the USB dongle and learn the IR codes that you would like to use to control your NVIDIA Shield with the downloadable Flirc configuration software. The Flirc dongle and software together learn the IR codes from any remote and allow them to control the functions of the NVIDIA Shield which are set one at a time.  Once the setup has been completed with all the IR codes learned into the Flirc adapter you finalize the configuration and the dongle is ready to be plugged into the NVIDIA Shield in an open usb port. Essentially now you have an IR receiver located off the usb port for you to use as you wish. The Flirc USB dongle also is compatible in controlling Amazon Fi

When attempting to control and integrate a computer or PC (Windows Media Center) with the use of a universal control you will need the help from the Flirc USB Dongle to accomplish the task which is readily available on Amazon's Online Store .  When setting up the Flirc adapter you are able to configure the USB dongle and learn the IR codes that you would like to use to control your computer with the downloadable Flirc configuration software. The Flirc dongle and software together learn the IR codes from any remote and allow them to control the functions of the computer which are set one at a time. Once the setup has been completed with all the IR codes learned into the Flirc adapter you finalize the configuration and the dongle is ready to be plugged into the computer in an open usb port. Essentially now you have an IR receiver located off the usb port for you to use as you wish.  https://flirc.tv/downloads The Flirc USB dongle also is compatible in cont

When attempting to control and integrate an XBOX 360 with the use of a universal control you will need the help from the Flirc USB Dongle to accomplish the task which is readily available on Amazon's Online Store .  When setting up the Flirc adapter you are able to configure the USB dongle and learn the IR codes that you would like to use to control your XBOX 360 with the downloadable Flirc configuration software. The Flirc dongle and software together learn the IR codes from any remote and allow them to control the functions of the XBOX 360 which are set one at a time. Once the setup has been completed with all the IR codes learned into the Flirc adapter you finalize the configuration and the dongle is ready to be plugged into the XBOX 360 in an open usb port. Essentially now you have an IR receiver located off the usb port for you to use as you wish.  https://flirc.tv/downloads The Flirc USB dongle also is compatible in controlling Amazon Fire TV, Wind

When attempting to control and integrate Kodi software with the use of a universal control you will need the help from the Flirc USB Dongle to accomplish the task which is readily available on Amazon's Online Store .  When setting up the Flirc adapter you are able to configure the USB dongle and learn the IR codes that you would like to use to control your Kodi software with the downloadable Flirc configuration software. The Flirc dongle and software together learn the IR codes from any remote and allow them to control the functions of the Kodi software which are set one at a time. Once the setup has been completed with all the IR codes learned into the Flirc adapter you finalize the configuration and the dongle is ready to be plugged into the device you are running Kodi in an open usb port. Essentially now you have an IR receiver located off the usb port for you to use as you wish.  https://flirc.tv/downloads The Flirc USB dongle also is compatible in co

The Amazon Echo Dot is an excellent device that provides voice control for a growing list of smart home devices. While most Amazon Echo Dot homes have the device sitting on an end table or counter top, those areas are not the most convenient locations to have the Echo Dot pick up your voice properly.  We have all been there frustrated talking to Alexa and she doesn't understand what we say and two or three deliberate attempts at repeating ourselves finally accomplishes our voice command. Wall mounting or ceiling mounting your Amazon Echo dot allows the user to now put the device in a more central location to help in Alexa hearing clearly what you are saying. Mounting the Echo Dot can also free up precious space in your home while also discreetly locating the device with a flush mount clean and professional installation. The Echo Dot In-Wall / In-Ceiling recessed flush mount bracket can be purchased through Amazon from the link below. The below Ama

Traditional home alarm systems from companies like ADT, Vivint and Protect America are expensive with the recurring monthly monitoring fees. If you also want to package a phone app with your alarm system that may also cost you more money each month on top of your monitoring alarm bill. You still can't get away without paying a recurring fee if you would like your home monitored 24/7 but you can greatly reduce and lower the amount you pay each month. With the new Ring Alarm system you are able to lower your monthly home alarm bill to $10 (tax included) a month or even a lower price if you pay a full year for $100. The Ring Alarm system is an easy DIY alarm system that can also be paired with their great lineup of cameras and of course their flagship Ring Video Doorbell. The alarm system is usable from a traditional wall mounted keypad or the Ring phone or tablet app. The Ring alarm system has no long-term contracts to sign up and you can cancel anytime without fees to worry

The Ring Video Spotlight Cam offers great wide angle video visibility to help keep eyes on your home as seen in the image above. The Ring Spotlight Cam can be purchase via Amazon for the easiest fast shipping.

The Amazon Fire TV remote control has limited buttons and functions because of its size and in order to allow the remote to control your TV via Infrared (IR) you will need to use the SideClick Remote Control attachment. The Side Click remote control can learn your TV IR codes and with a small setup process easily control your TV's power and volume for simple use.  The  Side Click  remote control has a total of 8 programmable buttons that can be used for any IR device (ie. Sound Bar, Receiver, Bluray) and is not limited to your TV only. The  Side Click  remote is available Prime shipping from Amazon with the link seen below.

If you are trying to hide your cable or DirecTV box from visibility and still have the factory remote control still work you will need to install and connect an Infrared IR repeater kit. The kit allows a receiver IR eye to pick up and transmit the remotes IR signal through the powered IR kit. An IR emitter also connected to the IR kit gets stuck to the front of the DirecTV or cable box where the boxes Infrared receiver is which will complete the IR kit installation having the IR codes pass through the IR kit to the hidden equipment. The IR kit relays any IR signal not limiting you to just a DirecTV or Cable Box. See link below for an cost effective IR kit.

The new Apple TV's generation 4 and 5 both have eliminated the digital audio output connection which in many setups and systems has created issues when not being able to now send a separate audio feed to separately amplify the audio signal. The fix for getting a new separate digital audio connection is to install an Audio De-Embedder  / Audio Extractor which essentially strips the audio signal from the HDMI output of the Apple TV and allows the de-embedder to send the audio to a separate device or amplifier. An additional HDMI cable is also needed to go from the Apple TV output to the De-Embedder input which is required for proper connection and installation. Below are two options that are recommended to get the digital audio connection of your choice from the Apple TV to your system or amplifier.                        

The new Sonos 8.0 app update contains major UI changes that will be and is a new learning curve for Sonos users. Below are the following major changes Sonos has implemented with their newest 8.0 software release. New Tab Bar The new Sonos 8.0 app Tab Bar now allows you to access your favorites, browse your available music services, select rooms from the dedicated tab, search your Sonos music and use the more tab to get to your Sonos system settings right from the bottom of the app all the time. Easy Room Control The easy room control allows the Sonos user to send the now playing music to other rooms within the Sonos system by tapping the room name at the bottom of the app and then selecting either an individual room or the convenient everwhere slide button which plays the now playing music to all Sonos devices within the system.  Favorites All In One Place The favorites are now located all in one place from the My Sonos tab on the l

Niles Intellipad Ci Solo Audio Keypad RJ45 Pinout Wiring Diagram Pin 1 - 16v Power Pin 2 - IR Data Pin 3 - Ground Pin 4 - Not Used Pin 5 - Bus Data Pin 6 - Bus Data Pin 7 - Not Used Pin 8 - Ground (common with Pin 3)

Crestron has announced Lifetime Warranties for the their residential product lineup of Shades, Lighting Controls and Speakers in an effort to boost their market share in these categories which is very enticing and a win for the smart home consumer. Below you can view the offerings of what is and is not included with their new Lifetime Warranty.   Crestron's Digital QMT shade motors are included in the limited lifetime warranty. Crestron's Lighting Control Lifetime Warranty is applicable to residential lighting controllers, control panels, control modules, dimmer devices, sensors and keypad devices. The Crestron Speakers Lifetime Warranty is applicable to the Air, Aspire, Essence, Excite, FS and Saros Speaker lineup. For a full in depth view of what Crestron's Lifetime Warranty does include please visit the below link to read more. Crestron Full Warranty Information

Apple's tvOS 10.2 is currently available for download with some new incremental changes that expand the features of the Apple TV. 1.  Discover more with the TV app - 40 apps now supported with the TV app. 2.  Faster List Scrolling - By swiping along the right edge of the remote you can scroll long lists faster. 3.  Rentals Across Devices - You can now for instance rent a movie on you iPad and watch it on your Apple TV. 4.  Remote control from iPad - You can now use the remote control app on the iPad.

Savant Pro 8 App User Guide

When planning for wall mounted TV's at your residence do not rely on the Cable Company or Satellite provider to leave you with a clean tidy wiring job after their installation. If you have not properly planned for the design of your TV system you can easily end up with a sloppy installation that usually only a certified electronics contractor can help you with. Your local electrician can sometimes help with these issues but depending on their experience they can get your TV hung on the wall but the necessary details and proper wiring requirements are often over looked.