Part 1: Smart Home Wiring Basics
Beginning your home automation journey can be pretty intimidating. This is especially true when it comes to smart home wiring. Normally when you’re at the novice stage, your biggest worry is not being able to make two devices integrate with each other the way you want them to. The stakes are quite a bit different when wiring gets added into the picture, however. Answers to the question “what could possibly go wrong?” include electrical fires and severe burns. But there are also a lot of benefits to being able to perform some simple electrical wiring yourself. And luckily, most of it is simple enough to allow you to keep yourself perfectly safe throughout the entire process.
Everyone Has To Start Somewhere
This article will be the first in a series on smart home wiring. In this article, we’ll go over some installation and safety basics that we need to know before beginning our smart home wiring project.
In subsequent posts, we’ll use what we learned about wiring to guide us, step by step, through the installation of a few smart home related examples. These will include wiring a smart light switch, a smart outlet (where we will also cover adding a neutral wire from an outlet to a light switch), a ceiling fan (smart or otherwise), and a smart thermostat.
Before Beginning Your Smart Home Wiring Project
Disclaimer
Although wiring can be done safely by following a few simple steps, if you feel uncomfortable about dealing with wiring, you should contact a licensed electrician. The vast majority of electricians these days are intimately familiar with smart homes. Also, be sure to check your local codes. Electrical codes vary by location. The codes touched on in this article are general and standard.
A Note on Wiring Codes
Now, don’t get me wrong. There’s a reason that residential electrical wiring codes are so strict. The consequences of a major mistake can be catastrophic. And the codes themselves can be intimidating. Many people view the codes the way they would a warranty on a computer – thinking that any tinkering on their part will void the safety net completely. Here’s the thing about the codes, though: they’re centered around user safety and usability. The entire electrical industry has had to design their products around these specific codes. As such, almost every device is wired so that pretty much anyone can install them. The codes have matured to the point that even the color patterns on the wiring covers are almost universal.
Turn off the power at the circuit breaker
This is #2 in our overall tips for smart home beginners, and is an absolutely must. First, find your circuit breaker. It will typically look like a gray metal box mounted on a wall somewhere. Then try to determine which breaker supplies the circuit you’re working on. This is where most people experience their initial hang up. Circuit breaker labels are notoriously bad for correct identification of a circuit. If the pencilled writing hasn’t all rubbed off, they are typically not labelled descriptively enough for you to figure out which one you need.
For beginners, there are two ways around this problem:
The first and easiest is to turn off power at the main breaker – usually a large switch near the top. The switch will be heavy, so don’t be afraid to put some elbow grease behind it. This will kill the power to wiring on every circuit on that breaker (usually, your whole house). Naturally, you’ll need to use a battery powered light if you’re working in a room without windows or at night time. Additionally, you’ll need to reset all of your clocks when you turn the power back on.
The second way is more time consuming. Turn off the switch at just one breaker – I recommend starting at one corner. Then use a non-contact voltage sensor (no need to be intimidated by this device – most are extremely easy to use. I use this one here) and walk over to test it on the desired wiring. If the light on the non-contact sensor lights up, walk back to the circuit breaker, turn that switch back on, and try the next switch in the line. Keep repeating the process until you find out which breaker controls the wiring you need. Of course, this is infinitely faster with two people. And you may still end up turning off all the switches by the time you find the right breaker. But statistically, you will only need to turn off half as many.
It’s best practice to always double-check that the power is off at a given outlet, lightswitch, etc. with a non-contact voltage sensor. The good news about these things is that while they will be one of your most-used smart home safety devices, they will also be one of the cheapest. You don’t have to go with the one I mentioned above – it’s a bit more on the expensive side. I just like that I don’t have to go looking for 2 separate tolls when doing electrical work.
Don’t Forget…
This one will be obvious to most people, but it bears repeating. You also don’t want to leave projects have finished with wires hanging out for stray dogs and kids to come shock themselves.
Final Thoughts About Smart Home Wiring, Before Moving On
Electrical wiring can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. With some basic electical and safety knowledge, you can do amazing, borderline magical things with tech.
It’s worth emphasizing again: Everyone has to start somewhere. The first time I changed out a light switch, it took hours. Not to mention all the anxiety I had about the safety issues. But you’ll never become comfortable with something until you actually do it, and see that it’s not so scary. If you learn to be ok with a little uncertainty, you’ll be a smart home wiring pro in no time!
To get started on your first project, check out Part 2 of this series: Changing out a dumb light switch for a smart one.
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