Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Smart Home
  3. Products

Belkin’s WeMo gets smarter with four new sensors announced at CES

AJ Dellinger
By

Image used with permission by copyright holder
Belkin isn’t saying that your home is dumb, it’s just saying it could be smarter. The WeMo line from Belkin is quickly becoming one of the most complete lines of connected smart home products, and Belkin bolstered the brand further during CES 2015 with the announcement of new sensors.

WeMo is upping security with a new Door & Window Sensor that can tell the home owner when someone has entered the door or when a window has been left open. And beyond just serving as an extra pair of eyes on your house, the door and window sensors can act as a convenience as well. They can relay to the rest of your system – your lights, thermostat, etc. – that you’re home and make your home feel more welcoming when you walk in the door.

The new keychain sensor Keychain Sensor makes it easier for the rest of the house to know where you are. It’s essentially a person tracker, made to be worn on your own keychain to communicate with the home when you leave and arrive, or on the keychain of a loved one so you know when they’re home. If you’re a parent who wants to know when your child arrives home from school, the keychain sensor will let you know. If you’re a rebellious kid who doesn’t want to go home, life just got tougher.

Belkin WeMo Keychain Sensor
Belkin WeMo Keychain Sensor Image used with permission by copyright holder

WeMo also has a new Alarm Sensor that will bring your current alarm systems up to speed. It picks up on the frequencies set out by existing alarms and uses that information to signal you via smartphone if you’re away.

Related

Perhaps the most interesting part of the new lineup is the WeMo Water with Echo Technology. It’s designed to be attached to a pipe to monitor changes in pressure and vibrations that occur. Belkin claims that the sensor is capable of capturing information ranging from the time of use to the individual cost of any water-using system in the house. It can calculate water consumption and give alerts should, in a worst case scenario, a pipe were to burst or being leaking. While the sensor can’t shut off the water itself, it can give enough of a heads up to prevent major damages.

Finally, there’s a new Room Motion Sensor that ditches the previous iteration’s need for AC power. The new WeMo motion sensor runs on batteries and has been improved to detect heat signatures, thus eliminating false alarms caused by your pet pacing back and forth during the day.

Belkin WeMo Room Motion Sensor
Belkin WeMo Room Motion Sensor Image used with permission by copyright holder

These new WeMo sensors use ZigBee chipsets as opposed to Wi-Fi, as a way to preserve the battery power of the devices. To bridge the gap to your home network, Belkin has also rolled out a Wi-Fi to ZigBee Bridge that can translate the language and relay it to your existing Wi-Fi router.

Though no price has been announced, Belkin stated the new sensors and accompanying bridge will be available in the second quarter of 2015. The lone exception is the water sensor, which is still in the testing phase.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
AJ Dellinger
AJ Dellinger
Contributor
AJ Dellinger is a freelance reporter from Madison, Wisconsin with an affinity for all things tech. He has been published by…
How to add a new sensor to an existing SimpliSafe system
The Hearth package by SimpliSafe.

If you’re looking to upgrade your SimpliSafe home security system, you’ll be glad to know that most setups allow you to easily add new sensors. In fact, there are two different methods you can use – one that adds a single new sensor, or one that adds multiple new sensors.

You can also carry out the process using your SimpliSafe Keypad or through the SimpliSafe app. Here’s how to add a new sensor to an existing SimpliSafe system.

Read more
New Ikea air quality sensor arrives just in time for spring
The Ikea air quality sensor on a stack of books.

Ikea might be best-known as the place to buy affordable furniture, but the company also has a surprisingly robust lineup of smart home products. The newest addition to the Ikea smart home family is the Vindstyrka smart indoor air quality sensor -- a tiny device that measures particulate matter (PM2.5) -- and it's slated to arrive this April.

The upcoming Vindstyrka air quality sensor features a minimalist, rectangular design that offers nothing more than a few buttons and a simple display highlighting PM2.5 levels, temperature, humidity, and total volatile organic compounds (TVOC). The sensor is built to work all on its own, although you’ll get more mileage out of the device by pairing it to the Ikea smartphone app. Doing this will allow you to activate other devices based on the current air quality, including Ikea's own Starkvind air purifier.

Read more
Yale Assure Lock 2 is getting a bold new color later this year
The Yale Assure Lock 2 with a swirl of Viva Magenta on a black background.

The Yale Assure Lock 2 launched in September 2022, offering a sleek design and bringing impressive functionality to your front door. Several different styles are currently available, and Yale is looking to add one more later this year with the Viva Magenta color option.

Yale is teaming up with Pantone, a company dedicated to all things color and design, to bring the Pantone Color of the Year 2023 to a limited-edition model of the Assure Lock 2. The overall design of the smart lock is unchanged, meaning you’ll benefit from a compact footprint and the ability to use your Yale app to remotely control the device. In other words, it’s the same device we loved back in 2022, but with a vibrant new color scheme.

Read more