Everything we publish, organised by what you're trying to do — 48 independent guides across 9 curated topics, written specifically for Australian homes, local retailers, and electrical rules.
Hardware verticals — Security, Lighting, Hubs, Vacuums & Climate.
Task-based guides — installation, troubleshooting & buying advice.
Essential guides, reviews, and foundational advice handpicked for building your Australian smart home.
Buying GuidesA practical first-purchase plan for Australians new to smart home tech — what to buy first, what to avoid, and the mistakes that cost people the most.
🔒Security & CamerasWired or battery, cloud or local storage, subscription or not — how to choose a video doorbell in Australia without signing up to a decade of monthly fees.
💡LightingThe bulb-or-switch decision shapes your whole lighting setup. Here is how to choose, plus the B22 bayonet and no-neutral problems that make Australian homes different.
🧠Hubs & PlatformsThe four wireless protocols behind every smart home device, what each is actually good at, and the Australian frequency trap that makes imported Z-Wave gear useless.
What you are buying or setting up. Each one covers what to look for, what is genuinely different about buying it in Australia, and what to avoid.
Security is where most Australian smart homes start. This section covers indoor and outdoor cameras, video doorbells, motion and door sensors, smart locks and full alarm systems — including the privacy law and strata rules that apply when your camera can see a neighbour or a shared space.
Smart lighting is the cheapest way into home automation and the easiest to get wrong. This section covers bulbs versus switches, the B22 vs E27 fitting question that trips up Australians buying from overseas, dimming compatibility, and how to wire smart switches safely under AS/NZS rules.
Australian electricity is expensive and our solar uptake is the highest per capita in the world. This section covers energy monitoring, smart plugs, hot water and pool pump control, and how to automate around time-of-use tariffs and feed-in tariffs so your automations actually cut the bill.
Smart speakers, multi-room audio, streaming boxes and how they tie into the rest of the house. Includes what actually works with Australian free-to-air and local streaming services, and which voice assistants are worth committing to.
Australia asks a lot of climate control — 45°C summers in the west, damp winters in Melbourne, humidity in Queensland. This section covers making split systems smart, thermostats, ceiling fan control, humidity and air quality monitoring, and bushfire-smoke automations.
The most important decision you will make is which platform to build on, because it determines what you can buy for the next decade. This section explains Matter, Thread, Zigbee and Z-Wave in plain language, and compares Apple Home, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, SmartThings and Home Assistant.
Robot vacuums and mops, how mapping and navigation actually differ between price tiers, what a self-emptying dock is worth, and how they cope with the pet hair and hard floors common in Australian homes.
The ten most recently added devices, each stocked by an Australian retailer.
What you are trying to do. Setup guides walk through installation and troubleshooting; buying guides work through the decision before you spend anything.
Practical, step-by-step walkthroughs: getting devices onto your Wi-Fi, building your first automations, fixing connection dropouts, and knowing when a job legally requires a licensed electrician in Australia.
Decision-first buying advice. What actually matters in a spec sheet, what marketing terms mean nothing, how to compare options honestly, and how to avoid the parallel-import and warranty traps that catch Australian buyers.
A blackout or an NBN dropout can blind your cameras exactly when you want them watching. Here's how Australian homes can keep footage recording and alerts flowing, using UPS units, portable power stations, battery cameras, local storage and 4G failover.
Cloud plans buy convenience and off-site backup; microSD cards and NVRs buy ownership and no ongoing fees. Here is how the two approaches compare for Australian homes, including NBN upload limits, subscription costs in AUD, and the privacy questions worth asking before you commit.
Storms, planned outages and NBN faults take most home camera systems offline within seconds. Here's how to keep recording using a UPS or portable power station, local storage, battery cameras and mobile data failover — sized for Australian homes.
Most video doorbells are designed around American 16-24V AC transformers, not the 8V plug packs and battery chimes common in Australian homes. Here's how to work out what you've got, what a licensed electrician has to do, and when going wire-free is the better call.
You don't need to touch a single wire to get automated, colour-changing, voice-controlled lighting into a rental. Here's how to build a system out of bulbs, plugs and battery-powered switches — and pack the whole lot into a box on moving day without leaving a mark.
Retrofit globe, smart dimmer module, smart switch or full replacement downlight? Here is how each option works in a typical Australian ceiling, what the AS/NZS abutment and coverage markings (IC, IC-4, CA135, non-IC) actually mean, and where a licensed electrician is legally required.
Most Australian homes built before the 1990s run a switch loop with no neutral at the wall plate, which is exactly what a smart switch wants. Here are the five realistic ways around it, what each one costs, where flicker comes from, and where a licensed electrician is legally required.
Most Australian switch boxes have no neutral, which rules out a lot of smart switches. Here's how no-neutral switches actually work, why the ceiling rose is often a better place to install a module, and the renter-friendly options that need no wiring at all.
Most smart plugs look identical and are not. What the 10 amp rating actually means, why the shape matters on a double power point, and the specifications worth checking before you spend.
Smart plugs are cheap, useful and occasionally a genuinely bad idea. The appliances to keep off them, why the current rating matters more than anything else, and where the real risk sits.
Smart plugs are sold as an energy-saving device. Here is what they genuinely save, what they cost you in standby power, and where the real savings are in an Australian home.
