It may seem like a completely crazy, impossible, and probably unnecessary idea at first, but what if your Christmas tree turned on automatically at dusk? What if you could turn it off with your voice? Well that’s just what we’re going to show you today.
How to turn your smart Christmas tree
As you may be imagining, the only thing we need this time is a smart plug. In the market you can find lights and garlands illuminated with WiFi connectivity, but in reality, you will not need to get rid of their classic lighting that you have always had, since with a smart plug you can control them to your liking.
The idea is to control when to power the Christmas tree, and thus be able to decide when to turn on and when to turn off with total flexibility. In addition, taking advantage of home automation, we can program a large number of functions and behaviors that we will calibrate according to our needs.
What I need?
In principle, to configure a simple controlled lighting system we will use two elements:
- A common string of lights
- A smart plug
Which smart plug to choose?
In the market you will find a large number of smart plugs from all kinds of manufacturers, so the only thing you will have to take into account is the compatibility with the assistant that you are going to use. In this case we are going to configure it with Alexa, so you should choose models compatible with the Amazon assistant.
In our case we have used a D-Link DS100, which is compatible with most assistants and also integrates perfectly with HomeKit, but you could use others, such as the Smart Plug from Amazon, or the Tapo P100 from TP-Link.
How do I set up my plug with Alexa?
Although each brand will use its own application to configure its device, in the end you can always control it through Alexa as a switchboard. That is one of the great advantages of the assistants, since they allow you to have control of an infinity of devices without having to switch between a sea of applications (that is why it is also advisable to bet on a single brand to avoid getting dizzy between so many different applications) .
Once you have the plug configured in the official application and it responds perfectly to your commands to turn it off and on (from the application), you have to install the Skill in Alexa that will allow you to remotely control the device.
In that case we will have to open the Alexa application on our mobile and select the Skills and games option. There, we will look for the corresponding skill of our device (TP-LINK Kasa, in our case), we will install it and complete the configuration process, which normally consists of logging in with the same account with which you configured the plug in its official application.
By doing that, you will only have to look for a new device in the Alexa device management section so that it appears and you can control it with your voice giving it the appropriate instructions. Thus, you can turn on the plug by giving the appropriate command to Alexa, but remember that to make everything sound more natural and comfortable for you, you should name the plug as “tree”, in order to have to recite the command “Alexa, turn on the tree ”.
Another option that you can program is to create a routine for the assistant to be in charge of activating the plug just when it starts to get dark, and thus illuminate your home with the tree as soon as the light falls in your area. But you could still complicate yourself and create a completely personalized Christmas mode …
Activating christmas mode
Having controlled the activation of the plug, now you only need to unleash your creativity to create environments and automated configurations with which to surprise at home. For example, you could set up a routine that every day just at dusk, your tree automatically turns on, orders your smart home lights to turn green and red, and your smart speaker starts playing All I want for Christmas is you by Mariah Carey. Does anyone give more? All this can be configured in the Alexa routines, and the music can be selected from Amazon Music, Spotify and even your personal library.
