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A hurricane is nothing to fool around with! Make plans for your family’s safety, and then take care to protect your home, including your technology. Get your technology ready for the storm with these top tips.
1. Charge Everything Up
Make sure all your devices, including phones, computers, and tablets, are fully charged. Spare batteries are a great help too.
2. Put your Smart Technology on a UPS
In case of a power loss, an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) kicks in, leaving you time to shut down tech equipment before you get a power surge. Consider putting your smart home hub on a battery power supply that will see you through most outages.
What if your outage takes days to resolve? Many people hook up a generator for these eventualities. But if you must do without power, your smart home is still pretty smart—you won’t get locked out if you can’t power the door locks. You can do what primitive man did: use a key.
3. Unplug Unneeded Devices
When the power comes back on, it can send a strong surge through your delicate electronics, even if they’re on a surge suppressor. Unplug whatever you can, including smart home technology, computers, TVs and DVD players, audio equipment, and phones, and unplug the TV cable too.
4. Collect Cables and Car Cables
If you need to evacuate, have all your cables in one place so you don’t end up with a device you’re unable to charge. Make sure you have a USB charger for the car, too.
5. Think Alternative Power
A solar-powered battery or hand-cranked charger can give you power when Duke Power can’t. Look into solar panels or small chargers for your devices.
6. Fill Your Pockets with Cash
Your house is not the only site that may lose power—this happens at ATMs too, so get enough cash to last a little while. Fill the gas tanks, too, because gas pumps need electricity to work.
7. Baggies Are Your Friend
Watertight, sealable plastic bags are a smart way to protect electronics from possible water damage or dampness. If you must leave behind technology like smart home hubs and tablets, protect them by zipping them into plastic bags.
8. Bookmark Important Utility Pages
You will appreciate having quick access to power, gas, and water companies. Many have special pages that allow you to check on outages.
9. Make a Hotspot
Before the storm hits, be sure you know how to set up a hotspot to share wireless data with your tablet or computer—if you lose access to Wifi, this will get you back in action.
10. Install Helpful Apps
Use your Wifi now to install apps you could be grateful to have in an emergency. Consider news and weather apps and social networking apps that help keep track of your loved ones.
Connected Home is ready to help you troubleshoot any storm-related problems with your smart home technology. Call us today at (910) 317-0876 with any questions or concerns, and be safe out there!