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WATCHING THE HOUSE WHILE I'M GONE: Cameras and Smart Home for People Who Travel
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items I'm an apparel rep and I'm gone about 200 days a year, so my house sits empty more than it sits lived in. This is the setup I actually run - the doorbell, the cameras that cover the parts of the property nobody thinks about, and the thermostat I chan...
Sections
3
Start With the Doorbell
Outside: Driveway, Garage, Back Door
Inside, and Running the House From the Road
Start With the Doorbell
One thing. Buy it first, live with it for a month, and you'll know whether you want the rest of this list.
If you only buy one thing on this list, buy this. Almost everything that happens at an empty house happens at the front door - deliveries, somebody knocking to see if anyone's home, the neighbor you asked to check on it. The taller head-to-toe view i...
Ring Battery Doorbell Plus (2K)
Outside: Driveway, Garage, Back Door
Two cameras, two jobs. One where there's power and something worth lighting up, one where there isn't. Between them you cover the ways onto a property that aren't the front walk.
The one that changed how I feel about leaving. Motion-triggered floodlights plus a camera on the driveway means nobody walks up to the garage in the dark without lighting themselves up. It's wired, so you're picking a spot with power and probably bor...
Ring Floodlight Cam Plus (Wired)
This is the one you put where there's no power and no good mounting spot - the back door, the shed, the corner of the yard the floodlight doesn't reach. Battery means you move it until it's right instead of committing on day one. Two things I learned...
Ring Stick Up Cam Pro (Battery)
Inside, and Running the House From the Road
Cameras only tell you what already happened. These two are about the house running itself while nobody is in it - the temperature, and somebody actually getting called if a door opens.
Not a security device, but it belongs on this list. When you're gone half the year you're either heating an empty house or coming home to one that's 50 degrees. I drop it while I'm out and bring it back up from the airport so the house is right when ...
Google Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Gen)
Cameras tell you what happened. This tells somebody while it's happening. Contact sensors on the doors, a motion sensor, a keypad, and a base station with battery and cellular backup - which matters, because the first thing a cut power line does is k...
Ring Alarm 8-Piece Security Kit