is a device which is installed next to your standard smoke or CO detector and responds to the high frequency sound they emit in an emergency, allowing the device to trigger an alarm response and send notifications to other devices on your Z-Wave Network or to your smart phone.  Simple to install, this is an affordable and effective solution for integrating any smoke alarm with your Z-Wave smart home system ..read more

Earlier this year, it became painfully clear to us (and no doubt many of you as well) that something was up with ImperiHome – the very popular app for controlling a wide array of smart home devices. The first indication of something wrong was when we tried to log into the app, which failed. When we headed over to the ImperiHome website to manage our account, the entire site was unresponsive. Huh? After a couple days, we stumbled across which revealed the problem: “ he Evertygo company, which published the excellent Android/iOS ImperiHome application, is in bankruptcy proceedings. Bye bye Imper ..read more

Whilst it’s true that remote control (or "home control" as it’s known in this context) is an important part of any home automation solution, on its own, it is not home automation. The real advantage of a smart home is realised when all your devices can operate as a unified system, without any need for human interaction. This is home automation! Home automation is not about pushing buttons. It’s about employing technology to take care of the day-to-day operation of your home Now, we will admit, the first time we experienced switching our lights on and off from a smart phone was a truly memorabl ..read more

With numerous improvements over the  also shares many of the same features as its .  ​Some of the most notable improvements include; the chip (also known as Z-Wave Plus v2), ​Wi-Fi, increased memory capacity and the ability to use powerful LUA-based scenes ..read more

is an open-source home automation project developed by a worldwide community of very clever people, with a strong focus on performance, reliability and protecting your privacy. If you’ve spent any amount of time researching smart home tech and the world of the “Internet of Things”, chances are, you will have seen a reference to Home Assistant somewhere, partly due to the vast number of system integrations it can support. ​Home Assistant has long been a powerful force amongst smart home aficionados, but it is sometimes criticised for being too complicated for the “average Joe” due to the produc ..read more

This guide describes how to add Z-Wave to your Home Assistant using the To support the integration, we will be using the , available from the Home Assistant community add-on store. This add-on includes the Z-Wave JS Server as part of the Z-Wave JS to MQTT application and despite the name, MQTT is not required to run it. The Z-Wave network can be configured via the Z-Wave JS Control Panel built into Home Assistant but the benefit of using the Z-Wave JS to MQTT add-on is that it also exposes an additional, more advanced control panel, which offers wider network configuration options and diagnost ..read more

This video guide describes how to add and configure Z-Wave devices in Home Assistant using the  Home Assistant OS running on a Raspberry Pi (3 and above) or similar  or other compatible Z-Wave stick or module installed.  Software Versions Used in this Guide Z-Wave JS to MQTT version 0.22.1 ..read more

In this guide, we're going to show you how create a simple in Home Assistant which will send a   to a mobile device running the  when some lights have been left on for an extended period.  At the end of this tutorial, we're also going to show you how you can build upon this functionality to include an   - allowing you to open the Home Assistant app directly from the notification message. If you don't have the app already installed, you will find links for both the Android and iOS versions plus the official Home Assistant Companion App documentation Home Assis ..read more

Z-Wave's mesh networking capabilities are one of its most powerful features, but blindly throwing together a bunch of devices in an effort to achieve smart home greatness is not a very realistic expectation. Knowing a little about how Z-Wave mesh networks work, and the ways you can assist the technology in performing its magic, can bring significant speed and reliability improvements to your whole smart home solution.  ​In this article, we want to explore some common mistakes we see people make when setting up their Z-Wave networks, and the simple steps you can take to avoid them in your ..read more

Are you searching for a professional to come and install your smart home purchase in your home?  RKM Smart Home has partnered with to help you find suitable electricians for your next smart home project. Sparky Search is an Australian platform which aims to connect Australians with qualified electricians for a range of different services such as Smart Home Automation, Audio/Video Installations or General Electrical work. ​If you’d like to find a Smart Home expert near you simply click the button below, fill out the Sparky Search form and their team will find a suitable professional for yo ..read more