Smart home maintenance suggestions to keep your Champaign system running properly

Maintenance is essential to many parts of our lives. You exercise to keep yourself in shape and take your car to the shop so it operates smoothly. Your Champaign smart home is no exception. Although it needs less care than your car, you still have to handle a couple basic tasks to keep devices functioning smoothly. It’s not challenging, and we’ll make things even simpler with these smart home maintenance tips.

Clean Devices Are Vital To Reliable Function

Dirt and dust are enemies to sensors, surveillance camera lenses, and all electronics. How effectively do you think your outside surveillance will spot prowlers if it’s coated in cobwebs? Your smart home won’t seem so smart if it’s not functioning as you expect. But you’re able to help by doing these basic maintenance chores:

• Keep your camera lenses dirt-free by wiping them down regularly with a microfiber towel slightly moistened with glass cleaner. Avoid paper towels that could damage the lens, and avoid spraying a liquid directly on the camera.
• Don’t let dust settle on delicate electronics. If debris get inside the outer exterior, it can damage those sensitive electrical components and stop air from flowing. Even your central command panel's level, narrow top can accumulate dust.
• When cleaning or dusting, quickly verify to ensure your tools are fixed solidly and positioned correctly.

It’s not challenging to keep your smart home devices dirt-free, but you can carry out a few other tasks to promote performance.

Perform a quick check of your Champaign security system

Have you not been sent a smartphone update in a while? Your system might be working great, and your house safe and secure, but it could also indicate there is an issue. How about finding out by doing a brief inspection of your devices? Here’s how to proceed:

• Take on the part of a burglar and try to trigger your door and window sensors, motion detectors, or additional devices you have. You can often place your system into “test mode” to avoid alerting your monitoring company.
• Go into your home security smartphone app and examine the video footage. Ensure the images are crisp and the camera is pointing where it is supposed to be.
• If you have automation configured, test it. Did the smart thermostat update settings at the specified time? Did your lights flip on or off as planned?
• Ensure batteries are replaced regularly. Many systems will even tell you when replacement is needed.

Inspections can be done occasionally or whenever you believe a component is not functioning as it should.

Is your system firmware up-to-date?

Those smart devices you have around your house don’t just operate independently. These connected elements have firmware installed, so they perform as intended. In many instances, the firmware will self-update, but not every time. Run the updates as soon as they’re ready (your system will probably alert you) to prevent errors or security issues.

Get a low-maintenance smart home in Champaign from Vivint

Looking for an intuitive, low-maintenance smart home in Champaign? Speak to the home security specialists at Vivint. Offering the latest in home automation and outdoor surveillance, we have the right system for your residence. Reach out to (217) 759-1212 now to get started.