Securing your home during summer vacation with Piper nv

Summer vacation season is upon us and everyone we know heads out of town for a much needed break from their busy lives. It’s difficult to enjoy a relaxing vacation when you are worried about what may be happening at home. My husband is obsessed with the idea of having a “fully connected home” and I knew that adding several of the Piper nv’s would help him achieve his dream while easing our travel fears.

What is Piper?

Piper is a home security and automation hub, allowing you to manage and connect with your home via your smartphone or tablet. It’s the perfect balance of security, video monitoring, and automation that will help make life safer and more convenient for you and your family. In a world where we are always “on”, Piper saves us money by negating the fee we would normally pay to a security company that alerts authorities if your alarm goes off too many times without just cause.

According to a recent survey by Piper, only 1.64% percent of people used a security camera they set up themselves. After setting up the Piper nv in my home, I’m not sure why more aren’t using them for every day home security automation. Setup was painless, simple, and only took about five minutes.

The Piper nv ($279) is about the size of a soda can and looks like a much sleeker, over-sized webcam. I have very bold white walls in my home and the glossy white (black is also available) Piper nv blends in seamlessly on my coffee nook (doesn’t everyone have a nook in their kitchen dedicated to hot beverages?). It came with brackets to mount it on the wall, a silver table stand, extra long cord, and a backup battery system.

Like 11.19% of people surveyed, neighbors and a few caretakers will be checking on my home multiple times per day when we travel. While nothing is fool proof, knowing that I can check on my house with the Piper nv during times that I know they won’t be around gives me peace of mind. In case you’re wondering, it will be at 3 a.m. when I’m trying to sleep and my husband and son are snoring in our hotel room.

I have peace of mind knowing I can open the app on my phone or tablet at any time and check on my house with the Piper nv’s real time HD video. The 180 degree view allows me to browse different sections of my home while panning, tilting, and zooming in and out. Piper nv also alerts me, based on my own personal security rules and settings. Depending on what I have it set on, my neighbors, friends and family who are caring for my home while I am away are alerted as well.

As you can see, my rules are set up so that my trusted circle is notified in multiple ways. (I asked their permission before adding them to all of the alerts.) If motion is detected in my house, the siren will turn on, as well as my lamps that connect to Piper via Z-wave.

What is Z-Wave?

Z-Wave is one of the home automation standards that exist for having devices talk to each other. I have connected my Piper nv with the Piper door and window sensors, as well as the automated switches.

I have connected Piper to multiple Z-wave tools, including Z-wave door and window sensors, as well as switches so I can turn different items on and off in my house.

Piper nv Siren

The Piper nv comes with a powerful 105 dB siren that goes off when a security mode is breached. I tested it in panic mode and scared myself silly. It was LOUD. How loud? Loud enough my neighbor came over to check on me. I’ll be quite honest with you, it’s loud enough to make your ears ring. I’m pretty sure The Who played at those levels back in the 70’s.

With the different settings for the siren, the Piper nv can be used quickly in panic mode, or set to vacation, away, and stay mode. There is even a setting for the siren to turn on if a loud noise happens in your home while you are away. The local CSX train tracks are behind my home and I am pretty sure the engineers blowing the whistle to alert people at the next crossing would set the Piper nv siren off. (I have been tempted to test this theory while my family is at home.)

Piper NV Technical Specs:

• Night Vision
• Enhanced HD Resolution
• 3.4 Megapixels
• 180 fisheye camera to monitor in many directions.
• Pan, Tilt, Zoom & Quad-view
• Motion sensor
• Temperature sensor
• Humidity sensor
• Light sensor
• Sound meter / microphone — you can listen to what’s going on in the room remotely
• Internal accelerometer — to tell if someone is tampering with the Piper unit

I’ll have a full review in a couple weeks, so keep reading, because I’ll be giving you the chance to win your own Piper nv!

Find Piper Online:

Piper: http://hubs.ly/y0Try20
Piper NV: http://hubs.ly/y0Try20
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PiperByiControl 
Twitter:  @HelloPiper

I was compensated for taking time to set up and evaluate Piper but all opinions expressed herein are my own.