FAQ

In most cases, we encounter homes and properties that can simply be controlled remotely. Digitalized light switches, or perhaps mechanical systems, each with a virtual button. While these are good foundations for a properly automated property with added convenience features, Yabune aims to go significantly further than that.

The most important feature of the systems we install is that they are able to operate independently of devices and brands. We do not need to commit to a manufacturer's equipment, we are free to use the best devices from different manufacturers. The data of all relays, sensors, valves and switches is collected in a processing center.

The cooling and heating system is working properly, the Wi-Fi doesn't drop, there are no more wasteful lights left on or lawns watered before it rains. They respond to the user without the need for an app or a tablet mounted on the wall, hiding complexity and maximizing comfort.

It largely depends on the quality of the implementation and service. A solution that anyone can put together for themselves can also be perfectly implemented. Many smart device manufacturers also emphasize, among other things, how easy it is to integrate their devices — however, if the number of people who can understand and manage the system as a whole is limited to one person, it can reduce the future value of the given property, and even make it more difficult to sell.

In several cases, our clients have contacted us at a point where, due to the number of devices in the property and the variety of manufacturers, the complexity of smart home technology has reached a critical level, where it has become a burden rather than an increase in comfort.

The price of installed smart devices alone does not really add to the value of the house, but a carefully implemented — and more importantly — properly supported and maintained system is a price-maker when selling, as it represents added comfort value for future owners.

The biggest savings from smart home technology come in heating and lighting: a smart thermostat or radiator valves can reduce your heating bill by 15–30%, and automatic lighting control eliminates unnecessary consumption. Where you fall in this range depends on the condition of the building, the heating system, and your habits — which is why it's worth measuring first, then intervening.

It is also worth monitoring standby consumption with smart plugs, which is surprisingly high in many households.

Monitoring consumption can bring significant savings in itself, as we can reduce what we measure. With smart meters, you can see in real time which devices are using the most electricity and easily filter out hidden standby consumers.

In the case of gas, telemetry from smart thermostats and radiator valves provides the most information — you can see when and how much you heated, and adjust your habits accordingly.

Water meters, leak detectors and smart irrigation systems can save a lot of money. Even an unnoticed, slowly dripping tap or toilet tank can mean hundreds, even thousands of litres of water per month.

When building a new house or renovating an existing one, it is definitely recommended to plan ahead. For example, even though the garage door will not be smart in the near future, it is still worth taking the time to run the 230 V and an additional 6-core wire underground in a conduit. We draw attention to countless such small but critical points during our consultations.

So don't be afraid to seek advice from a smart home expert, even if you want to do the work yourself — the experience of professionals can save you many hours of wasted time during an already stressful construction or renovation project.

Always assess exactly what your goal is and think ahead as much as possible. This is especially critical when it comes to wiring and designing the electrical network: no one wants to have to dig and rewire a nicely finished and furnished house later just because the circuit or neutral was not connected in the right place.

You can find what is worth building by area: Smart home technical preparation.

It depends on several things, and the correct answer is rarely one extreme these days.

The advantage of wired solutions is reliability: they are not dependent on the radio environment and do not drain the battery. In return, the implementation and design cost significantly more, and later expansion is severely limited — we either wire everything or rely on a hybrid solution.

Wireless devices have brought the real breakthrough: they can be deployed quickly, can be expanded later, and there is greater interoperability between devices from different manufacturers. With a properly designed network, almost the same stability can be achieved for a fraction of the cost of a wired implementation.

In practice, a combination of the two works best: wired backbone (structured network, PoE endpoints, wired relays in critical circuits) and wireless endpoints (sensors, switches) — so neither reliability nor flexibility is lost.

However, this requires the system to be brand-independent. For business reasons, major manufacturers are reluctant to allow other devices into their own controllers, and in the end you end up with multiple systems that don't talk to each other — and managing this is not user-friendly.

Based on the current state of science, Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) and other wireless technologies used in households (RF, Z-Wave, Zigbee) are not ionizing radiation. This means that their harmful effects are negligible. We are much more exposed to radiation from mobile phones in our daily lives, and no demonstrable harmful effects have been demonstrated there yet.

There are some good tips — like turning off your phone before bed or keeping it at least one meter away from you — that are worth heeding. However, let's not forget that most wireless smart home devices are tiny sensors with a signal strength that is a fraction of that of our smartphones.

With proper design, even this minimal electromagnetic smog can be reduced to a negligible amount inside the home.

It is important to consider what our goal is with making our home smarter. If we are skilled and don't mind the smell of solder, then flashing it to Tasmota will give us usable devices in pretty plastic cases. Of course, in this case we can say goodbye to the manufacturer's warranty — although this may not be a consideration for devices ordered from AliExpress.

It is important to decide whether a smart home is a hobby project or if you really want to save time and keep your loved ones and valuables safe. When purchasing devices from a reliable source, the manufacturer's warranty is often useful, and professional smart home installers usually have general insurance up to a certain value limit. No one would be happy if their new house was damaged by a malfunctioning device.

Homemade ESPHome and flashed SONOFF solutions often require extra care — which is fine for a hobby project, but can easily become a hassle in busy everyday life. However, by choosing the right central system (such as Home Assistant), we can leave the possibility open for the integration of lesser-known devices.

A smart relay is nothing more than a remote-controlled switch — usually wireless, but also available in wired versions. The advantage is that it can control an entire electrical circuit.

Let's take an example: the kitchen has two lighting circuits, an LED strip hidden under the kitchen cabinets and six spotlights for general lighting. If we replace all six spotlights with smart ones, we can control them individually — but this is the more expensive way, and if the Wi-Fi or internet goes down, there is no way to manually switch them.

With a single smart relay, the six bulbs form a circuit, so it is less flexible, but by installing the relay behind the switch, the possibility of mechanical switching remains as an emergency solution.

Lighting is just one use case for relays: practically any switching task can be automated with them — heating, blinds, garden watering.

If we have chosen the devices and the central system with the appropriate expertise, the only negative effect is that the system cannot be accessed remotely — but everything at home will still work, as the apartment and network components (such as the Wi-Fi router) will still be powered. Local automation — heating, lighting, shading, alarm — will continue to run independently of the Internet.

In the event of a power outage, the heart of the system (the controller and network devices) can be operated from an uninterruptible power supply, so that measurement and notification are not interrupted.

That's why brand-independent, on-premise control is important: a cloud-based system becomes unusable even if the service provider goes down.

There is no one price, because there is no one smart home: basic heating and lighting control for an apartment is one thing, and a fully automated family home is another. The price depends on the number of areas covered, the quality of the devices, and how much preparation has been done during the construction or renovation phase.

The good news is that smartization can be scheduled. It's worth starting with the areas that are most critical or where you can save the most — typically heating and cooling and security technology. There are hundreds of devices to choose from for each task, so there's room for maneuver.

The cheapest step, however, is the one that costs almost nothing during construction: proper wiring and space saving. Afterwards, the same thing means carving, repairing, and painting.

See what you should prepare: Smart home technical preparation — or request a consultation, and we will discuss your case.

• Continuous, trouble-free operation. We monitor the system status and apply updates in a controlled manner — a bug isn't discovered until it's already causing problems.
• Guaranteed remote access. You can access your system from anywhere via a secure channel operated by us, not depending on the goodwill of a free service.
• You don't have to worry if something breaks. The error handling and replacement procedure is clarified in advance and does not have to be agreed on a case-by-case basis.

• The settings required for remote access are channeled to a free service, for which Yabune Solution Kft. cannot provide a guarantee.
• In the event of a fault — if it is proven not to be of warranty origin — the investigation and solution will be carried out for a fee, based on an individual offer.
• We offer a 1-year warranty on the system and its components; any malfunctions will then be repaired at the above-mentioned case-by-case fee.