Do smart clothes drying racks, electric curtains, and plant waterers need WiFi connection? After installing three things on the balcony, the only thing that really can't do without a net is the watering planter

just finished fiddling with the toilet lid, bathroom heater, and water heater in the bathroom last month now it's the balcony's turn: smart clothes rack, electric curtains, and a plant waterer. Before installation, my wife stumped me with one question: "Is WiFi connected to that corner of the balcony?" To be honest, I'm not sure. The bathroom signal is the worst in the whole house, and I've tested it myself. The balcony is separated by most of the living room, so no one can say for sure. After installing these three, I happened to have another internet outage at home, and the answer became clear: among the three, only the plant waterer really needs a net, the 80 yuan internet fee for the clothes rack is a bit unfair, and the curtains depend on which version you buy.

first talk about balcony signals: better than bathroom signals, but curtain boxes are a new pitfall

still used the old method: holding my phone and reading the dBm reading, I measured along the way: living room -44, inside the balcony sliding door -58, closing the glass sliding door to -64, finally putting the phone into the curtain box and dropping it directly to -75.

the first three numbers are within usable range. Anywhere within -60 is connected; from -60 to -70 is normal. After -70, it starts to drop. I previously set this setup during a self-check signal blind spots. When the balcony sliding door closes at -64, daily network setup is fine. The real failure was the last number: the curtain box.

motors for electric curtains are installed in the of curtain boxes reserved for ceilings, surrounded by a gypsum board ceiling above them, and the motor itself is a metal shell. On the day of network installation, I pressed the setup button on the ladder for five minutes, but my phone couldn't find any device, and for a moment I thought the motor was broken. Later, I learned my lesson: first set up the motor on the dining table, set it up, then put it whole into the curtain box —done in one go. This is the same as putting a router into a weak current box where the signal is good and where the device is located are often not the same location.

clothes drying rack: remote control for lifting and drying is entirely local, WiFi costs 80 yuan for voice

my clothes drying rack is from Hao's wife. At that time, the store had two versions: a pure remote control version and a smart voice version, with a price difference of 80 yuan. The salesperson said the smart version could connect to the app and use Xiao Ai, so I impulsively bought the expensive one.

spent a year to be honest. Functions such as lifting, lighting, air drying, drying, and sterilization are all available on the remote control, and RF remote control does not rely on network , it works normally even when the home internet is off. After connecting to WiFi, the app gave me something, counting on my fingers: remote lifting (who is remotely controlling the clothes rack at home at the office?) ), a drying countdown reminder (I'm at home, I can hear the machine stop), and voice messages.

voice is actually quite useful. Carrying a basin of wet clothes to the balcony, unable to spare a hand to press the remote, he shouted, "Xiao Ai, lower the clothes rack!" This was the only place where the eighty yuan was worth the money. But if you want to be serious, a Bluetooth remote with a lanyard and a little over ten yuan can just as much as you can do.

So my conclusion is: if you have a speaker at home and are used to voice control, eighty yuan won't be a loss; No, the pure remote control version is sufficient. Just like the judgment the toilet seat— first check how many functions remain after the internet disconnects, then check whether the network connection is worth the . This ruler works well when measuring the lock.

Electric Curtains: Timed opening and closing is real value, but the WiFi version runs on cloud timing

Among

three, the one I expect the most is the electric curtain. I set it up to open the curtain at 7 a.m. as an alarm clock every day, and in summer, it automatically closes the sunscreen at noon. I spent the whole summer in these two scenarios, and I'm very satisfied.

Until one night last month, I flashed the router's firmware and rebooted it once. At seven o'clock the next morning, the curtains were still closed. The sunshine didn't come; what came was me, who overslept.

only after checking around did he understand the tricks inside. I bought the Duya WiFi version, scheduled tasks are sent from the cloud. If the router is offline or the manufacturer's server is out of air, the timer goes off. Local settings work fine by pressing the panel or remote control, but the most valuable feature of the timer is inseparable from the internet. But the Lumi curtain motors running Zigbee are timed in the local gateway, and even if the external network is cut off, it still executes. Only if the gateway itself loses power is it completely blind. Distinguishing between these two routes before buying is more important than anything else.

Here's a fun fact: when the power goes out, pulling by hand is a mechanical feature and has nothing to do with the network. If the power goes out, just pull the curtains by hand. After power comes back, the motor adjusts itself without resetting.

Watering Device: The Only One That Truly Needs a Net Among the Three

waterer isn't at my house, it's at my sister's place. She travels for nearly half a year on business, and the balcony's dozen pots of flowers used to rely entirely on neighbors. They also have their time to go out. Last year, a pot of bougainvillea she'd been cared for for five years died of thirst, and she felt heartbroken for half a month.

later installed a WiFi waterer costing just a few dozen yuan, a water bucket, and a water pump. The app set watering plans and soil moisture alerts for each pot. the value of this thing lies in the when she's "not home": when she's on a business trip in Shenzhen, she opens the app to see how much the balcony humidity drops, which basins have been watered, how much water is left in the bucket, and even adds a last round during an unusually hot week. Remote needs for drying rack curtains are false demands, but remote needs for planters are real.

there are two pitfalls in the distribution network, let me mention them in advance. First, the graffiti solution used by these devices only 2.4G. When configuring a dual-band router, it's best to split the two bands first, as setup is the same as robot vacuum; Second, it stays on the balcony for years, so signal -64 is critical, so it's normal to test it twice during network setup.

there's another account that only the actual use can be counted: the pump needs to take water, and the bucket must be large enough. Her family's fifteen pots of flowers consumed nearly ten liters a week, and the five-liter bucket ran out in three days, while the person outside emptied the bucket first, just like a disconnected net. Later, I switched to a 20-liter barrel to feel more at ease.

balcony has two other hurdles: freezing batteries in winter, drying equipment in summer

bathrooms are afraid of moisture, while balconies fear extreme temperatures.

winter, the enclosed balconies here only get five or six degrees at night, and in the north, balconies aren't even more so. My sister's waterer is battery-based, and it drains quickly all winter. In spring, I replaced it with a new battery—lithium batteries lose discharge efficiency at low temperatures, and near zero degrees, they can't even be charged. It's best to move the battery-powered device into your room in winter, or as I later suggested, switch to a plug-in version to end it all.

summer, the opposite happens: the exterior of the balcony equipment exposed to the west can get heated to fifty or sixty degrees, and the curtain motor pressed against the glass is the first to bear the brunt. The machine's rated operating temperature is generally between minus 10 degrees and 45 degrees. Exceeding this limit may not necessarily cause failure, but its lifespan will definitely be shortened. Also, don't wrap the watering hose and wires around the railing on the sunny side. Also, the balcony has water and electricity, and the outlet for watering plants is properly equipped with a splash box, strictly following bathroom rules.

How to fix insufficient signal? Here are three key points

balcony signal measured around -64, the network is sufficient but not very wealthy. For a planter that stays online year-round, you can prioritize spending in order of cost: first move the router from the study to the living room TV cabinet. A wall difference can be traded back for over ten dB, which is zero cost; If you have an old router at homeAP switch to a single 2.4G transmission as an IoT private network , you can pin all your slow devices on, and the main network remains stable and clear; If that doesn't work, then the Mesh node hang it in the corridor outside the balcony door. Be careful not to actually hang it on the balcony, as it is also afraid of moisture and direct sunlight.

order: before buying, take your phone to the balcony to check the signal; after -70, fix the signal first before buying the device; Of the three, prioritize keeping your planters connected to the internet, prioritize checking whether curtains are stored locally or in the cloud, and any clothes drying rack is fine. With the remote control in hand, I have everything under heaven. During the first month after installation, pick a night when the internet is off at home and try it one by one—it's obvious who is naked swimming.