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Smart Lock Scout

Smart Home Scout

The source for smart home buying advice.

Smart Home Retrofit Image

Smart Home Retrofit

Looking to upgrade your home to a "Smart House" without tearing everything out and starting from scratch?

Considering all the smart home products that have appeared in the last couple of years, it’s getting hard to resist the temptation to strip one’s house down to a wooden frame and start all over. Like the Six Million Dollar Man, we can rebuild it. We have the technology. We can make it better…more efficient…more connected than before.

The smart-home market often fuels this impulse by offering products that replace the “dumb” appliances and infrastructure of existing buildings, without regard for the decades-long life cycles and sunk costs that homeowners have already invested.

Luckily, more and more products are taking the “retrofit” approach: designs that piggyback on a home’s existing infrastructure to connect it to the Internet of Things, inexpensively and without the use of power tools.

11/01/2019

Heating and Cooling

Air Conditioners

Price Ranges: $108 - $159
How they work: Infrared Hubs

Smart thermostats have been the poster child for the IoT ever since Nest hit it big, but they only work for homes that have central control over heating and cooling. Sensibo, Ambi Climate and Tado Cooling are three products for automating any standalone AC unit that can be operated with an infrared remote control.

Ambi and Tado can control multiple units in a single room, while Sensibo places a sensor on each AC unit in the home and ties them to a central hub with Zigbee.

All three systems use predictive algorithms, presence sensors, weather data, and other sources to optimize the indoor climate while minimizing energy consumption.

Ambi Climate

Ambi Climate Image

Highlights

  • Auto adjusts AC for ideal temperature and energy savings
    • Works with any remote-controlled air conditioner, old or new (uses infrared)
      • WiFi or Ethernet Connectivity (Android and Apple support)

Sensibo Air Conditioner

Sensibo Air Conditioner Image

Highlights

  • Works with any A/C (Uses IR commands)
    • Smart scheduling feature
      • Sensibo Pod runs on two standard CR123A batteries (last for 3-6 months)

Quick Links


Online Pricing

$89.00 - Amazon More

Sensibo Sky 2nd Gen

Sensibo Sky 2nd Gen Image

Highlights

  • You can control the air conditioner from anywhere, be it just from the other room or from work. No more looking for the remote control.
    • You can control the air conditioner from anywhere, be it just from the other room or from work. No more looking for the remote control.
      • It makes any air conditioner smart.


Online Pricing

$89.00 - Amazon More

Tado AC

Tado AC Image

Highlights

  • Sensors: Humidity, temperature, volume, brightness, IR temperature, movement by PIR sensors, IR-RX & IR-TX
    • Connects via Wi-Fi with all 802.11b / g / n, 2.4 GHz router
      • iBeacon, Bluetooth 4.1 / BLE, IFTTT, Apple HomeKit ready

Quick Links


Merchant

$179 - Direct

Online Pricing

$79.99 - Amazon More

Security

Sesame Smart Lock

Sesame Smart Lock Image

Highlights

  • You can install the Sesame smart lock directly over your existing deadbolt lock
    • View your the locks history and give access codes to others
      • Bluetooth connectivity and auto lock and unlock capabilities

See also:

Postscapes’ Smart Door Locks roundup collects products that replace or augment mechanical locks to enable proximity-based and remote access. Our Smart Garage Door Openers roundup collects products that wire into an existing garage door opener to allow smartphone control and proximity access.

Safety: Fire, Smoke, & Carbon Monoxide Alarms

Price Range: $40-$99
How they work: Batteries and Audio

Leeo Alarms

Leeo Alarms Image

Highlights

  • Leeo leverages technology and age-independent design to help you and your family and friends.
    • Simple alarm monitoring
      • Ping lets you know friends and family are OK


Merchant

$69.99 - Direct

Online Pricing

$74.98 - Amazon More

Roost

Roost Image

Highlights

  • Retrofit any existing smoke alarm that uses a 9V.
    • Get notified the moment water leaks in places
      • Know the state of your garage door

Windows & Lighting

Price Range: $40-$75 How they work: Actuators, magnets and bulb sockets

Ember

Ember Image

Highlights

  • No additional complex wireless
    • Connect to Wifi
      • Take control with a tap on the app,

Rise

Rise Image

Highlights

  • Easy to install, simple to use.
    • Control from your smartphone
      • SOMA Connect + Smart Shades = Voice control all your window treatments


Electrical / Power

Price Range: $40-$99
How they work: Breaker panels and electrical outlets

Neurio

Neurio Image

Highlights

  • Real-time energy monitoring
    • Installation time of around 15 minutes on your breaker panel

Sense Home Energy

Sense Home Energy Image

Highlights

  • WiFi Connectivity
    • Measure solar production versus power consumption.
      • Simple installation.

Quick Links


Merchant

$299 - Direct

Online Pricing

$233.18 - Amazon More

Smappee

Smappee Image

Highlights

  • Smart Outlet Integrations
    • Appliance Detection (Seen savings of up to 30%)
      • Connect Smappee to your fuse box with a clip-on sensor

Smart Energy Monitors
View all options

Price Range: $40-$99
How they work: Breaker panels and electrical outlets

Smart Outlets

Attaching to existing power outlets to collect electricity consumption data, and enable automated and remote control of appliances.

Price: Ranges - See Smart Outlet Roundup

Belkin WeMo Insight Switch

Belkin WeMo Insight Switch Image

Highlights

  • Set Schedules and receive customized notifications
    • Amazon Echo, Nest and IFTTT Compatibility
      • Wi-Fi enabled

Quick Links


Merchant

$34.99 - Direct

Online Pricing

$42.96 - Amazon More

iDevices Switch

iDevices Switch Image

Highlights

  • Apple HomeKit Integration
    • WiFi Connectivity (no additional hub is needed)
      • Energy Tracking and Reporting

Quick Links


Merchant

$23.96 - Direct

Online Pricing

$188.88 - Amazon More

TP-Link Smart Plug

TP-Link Smart Plug Image

Highlights

  • No additional hub required using WiFi Connectivity
    • Away mode allows you to set schedule for turning on and off lights, etc.
      • Amazon Alexa support

Quick Links


Merchant

$29.99 - Direct

Online Pricing

$40.99 - Amazon More

Smart Outlets

Water

Price Range: $40-$99
How they work: Actuators, sensors

HydroPoint 360

HydroPoint 360 Image

Highlights

  • Lower liabilities and brand damage risk
    • The recognized leader in smart water management
      • Reduced damages from unattended leaks


Water Hero

Water Hero Image

Highlights

  • Water Hero is the ultimate smart business or home water monitoring and automatic shutoff system.
    • Customize alert system and dashboard.
      • Access historicl water consumption.


Merchant

$649 - Direct

Additional resources

Retrofits tend to be cheaper and easier to install than standalone replacement products, which make them more sustainable, and appealing as introductory products to homeowners unfamiliar with the IoT. They’re also great for renters, who may not be able to mess with things like wiring and plumbing without the landlord’s approval.

Deciding what counts as an IoT retrofit is not an exact science. In this roundup, we’ve chosen to focus on products that add connectivity and computational intelligence to something you already have in your home, but that can’t stand alone as a complete functional product without that pre-existing object. That means we didn't include multi-purpose sensors, even though they can provide a range of utility around the home (check out our separate roundup for examples).

More to come as this category develops.

Looking to develop your own Connected Home Product?