Filip Brož Imagine a hot summer day. You're at work, you're going home in a few hours, but you forgot to set the air conditioner or fan to turn on automatically. At the same time, you do not have any smart system installed with which such an action would not be a problem. However, you do not need expensive solutions to remotely start the air conditioner, but also any other smart appliance. A Piper camera can be enough for a start, which can do much more than it looks at first glance.
The compact Piper Wi-Fi camera is an all-in-one solution for virtually the entire smart home. Piper is not just an ordinary HD camera, but also functions as a high-quality weather station and secures the household. To top it all off, it controls the innovative Z-Wave protocol, which ensures wireless communication with any compatible smart accessory.
Thanks to Piper, you can remotely not only start various appliances, but also control blinds, open and close garage doors or give commands to other camera and security devices. In addition, you can set various automatic rules such as: when the temperature in the apartment drops below fifteen degrees, automatically turn on the radiators.
At first it all felt a bit like science fiction. Although there are more and more smart homes, so far I have mainly known various expensive system solutions that did not consist of only one "camera" as the center of everything.
At this year's International Electronics Fair AMPERE 2016 in Brno I had the opportunity to examine, for example, professional system solutions from KNX. Thanks to it, you can control everything that is connected to electricity, all from one app on the iPad. However, the disadvantage is the expensive purchase price, and if you would like to install a similar solution in an already finished house or apartment, you will have to completely remodel and drill it, which entails significant costs.
Simple to control
Piper, on the other hand, represents a very simple and, above all, affordable solution, if you do not want to equip your house or apartment with a complex system for tens to hundreds of thousands. The Piper Classic costs less than seven thousand and you can really use it anywhere. Installation and control of the system is easy, and with Piper you can monitor a family house, apartment or cottage.
The well-designed camera just needs to be placed in a suitable place that you want to keep under surveillance. Piper needs to be connected to the mains via a cable, and we recommend inserting three AA batteries into it, which serve as a backup source in the event of a power outage.
I tested the Piper in a block of flats for more than half a year. During that time, the camera has become a smart base in our household. I connected several extensions to Piper that communicate with each other using the Z-Wave protocol.
I placed one sensor, monitoring if water was flowing somewhere, between the shower and the sink. The water sensor has also proven itself next to the washing machine in case it accidentally seals poorly during washing. Once the sensor registered the water, it immediately sent an alert to the Piper. I placed another sensor on the window. If it is opened, I will immediately receive a notification.
The last extension I tested was, at first glance, an ordinary socket, but it again communicated via Z-Wave. However, with the socket, you need to think about what appliances you plug into it. If you put a regular iPhone charger in there, you can remotely choose when it should start charging, but that's about it. More interesting is, for example, a fan that can switch on as soon as the temperature in the room exceeds a certain limit. You can also use other appliances, lighting or home cinema in the same way.
Although the main features of the Z-Wave protocol include a wide range without interference, the signal gradually weakens, especially indoors, due to walls and the like. In this case, it is ideal to use a range extender, which amplifies the original signal from the central office and sends it to more distant parts of the home. The range extender will also come in handy if you decide to secure a garage or garden house where the signal from the central office cannot reach. You simply plug the range extender into a free socket within reach of the central unit with which you pair it.
On an iPhone or iPad, the Piper can be controlled using the mobile application of the same name, which is available for free. After all, like the use of the entire security and communication system, which is not always the rule with competing solutions. With Piper, you only need to create a free account, which serves for data backup and full access to the camera from any web interface. Piper will thus connect to your home Wi-Fi network when it is first launched in order to broadcast.
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Pipera's camera shoots with a so-called fisheye, so it covers the space at an angle of 180 degrees. You can divide the recorded live HD image into up to four equal sectors in the application, and 30-second videos can be constantly uploaded to the cloud, which can be viewed at any time.
Many sensors and a smart home
In addition to motion and sound sensors, Piper is also equipped with temperature, humidity and light intensity sensors. You can see the measured and current data in the mobile application, and thanks to the Z-Wave system, they are not only there for information, but also for triggering various reactions. You can create various commands, tasks and complex workflows to keep your household running as it should. The key at this point is the fact that the Z-Wave protocol is compatible with a number of third-party manufacturers, so it is far from necessary to buy only the Piper brand.
The fact that you are not locked into one closed ecosystem is very user-friendly with such a solution as a smart home. You don't have to look at just one brand, but if you like someone else's smart socket, for example, you can connect it to the Piper camera without any problems (if it's compatible, of course). You can find more about the protocol at Z-Wave.com (list of compatible products <a href="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1932/8043/files/200721_ODSTOUPENI_BEZ_UDANI_DUVODU__EN.pdf?v=1595428404" data-gt-href-en="https://en.notsofunnyany.com/">here</a>).
The Piper camera itself also works great for babysitting or checking on kids and pets, and with its built-in microphone and speaker, it doubles as a baby monitor. In addition, there is a fairly powerful siren inside the camera, which, with its 105 decibels, has the task of either scaring off thieves or at least alerting a neighbor that something is happening at your place. In addition, you can give the whole family access to the system, and if you do not have an Internet connection, you can delegate the control of all smart products to another person. Otherwise, the application will keep you informed about what is happening.
After six months of using Piper, it is clear to me that this little camera opened my door to the world of smart home. Initial investment of 6 crowns, for which she you can buy at EasyStore.cz, is not at all high in the final when we imagine the Piper as a main station around which you then build an ecosystem of smart appliances, light bulbs and other components of your home.
The price is one of the advantages against competing solutions, the universal and easily expandable Z-Wave protocol is another advantage. Thanks to it, you are not tied to one system and you can purchase any products you need at the moment. In the final settlement, you can also end up with amounts in the tens of thousands of crowns, but the important thing is that the initial investment does not have to be that high.
You can buy a Piper camera and, for example, one smart socket, a window sensor and a water sensor together for about 10. And when such a smart household works for you, you can continue. Moreover, this world - of smart components - is constantly expanding and becoming more and more accessible.
So far, we have had the opportunity to test the classic Piper Classic in the editorial office, but the manufacturer also offers an improved NV model, the main advantage of which is night vision (NV = night vision). The camera in the Piper NV also has more megapixels (3,4) and is an ideal option if you need to keep an overview of what's going on even at night. But at the same time, the "night" model is almost three thousand crowns more expensive.
