A few weeks ago, the company Somfy specializing in home automation systems, sent me the new version of their product dedicated to the connected home: a TaHoma box accompanied by its security pack with surveillance camera (TaHoma Serenity Video v2).

After a few weeks of use, I will be able to present the TaHoma box to you and give you my feedback on this modern alternative to aging traditional alarms.

The different modules and accessories of the Serenity Video pack

The Serenity Video pack is the most complete basic pack in the TaHoma range. It comes with a whole series of equipment dedicated to the security of your home. So let's see what this offer consists of.

TaHoma Box

The true nerve center of your installation, the TaHoma box has a very elegant design. It is equipped with a lighting system allowing you to know its status: in operation, alarm triggered, etc. When using it for the first time, you will have to go to somfy-connect.com to activate your box and configure your user account. Getting started is very simple and you just need to follow the instructions.

Security base

The TaHoma Box is housed on a security base that has an alarm that will be triggered according to your settings during intrusions or movement detection by the box accessories. This security base is equipped with a backup battery with an autonomy of 8 hours in case there is no more power during an intrusion.

Indoor motion detector

An essential accessory for good home surveillance. The motion detector must be placed in a passage area (a corridor for example) and will alert you of any movements that occur within its field of vision.

Very convenient to install, it comes with double-sided adhesive strips that allow it to be fixed in seconds, just about anywhere.

Opening and shock detector

Another very important element of protecting your home, the opening detector will be triggered when someone tries to enter your home. Indeed, it allows you to be warned when the door is about to be opened or when it is subjected to shocks. This requires a prior calibration of the device, very simple to do when you connect the detector to your TaHoma.

Just like the motion detector, it is extremely easy to install since these 2 parts are attached using double-sided adhesives.

Remote control

Although the TaHoma box is managed in most cases using a computer or smartphone, it may be useful to have a remote control to activate or deactivate the different protection modes of your home in case the operation needs to be carried out by your children or people outside the family.

In addition to this, the remote control has an SOS button to generate alerts in case of emergency situations.

Indoor controlled outlet

A very practical and very clever accessory, this controlled socket not only allows you to be lazy by turning on your lamp without leaving your sofa, but above all, by configuring it with your box, you can use it to simulate a presence by turning on your lamp at certain times of the evening, as if you were still there!

Visidom IC100 camera

Also a very important accessory and available in the Serenity Video pack (but not in the Serenity pack alone), this WiFi or Ethernet surveillance camera will allow you to check the situation in the event of a detector being triggered in your home.

Equipped with a microphone, speaker and infrared sensor to see in the dark, this camera can handle most situations.

The camera comes with an SD card to record video footage when your security strategy is triggered.

The camera is mounted on a stand that allows you to place it wherever you want, but you can also fix it to a wall using screws and wall plugs.

Unpacking and installation

The TaHoma Serenity Video v2 pack is made up of two boxes: the first with the Tahoma Serenity pack with the TaHoma box and all the security accessories and the second box with the Visidom IC 100 surveillance camera. The TaHoma box box is a real jewel box in which all the accessories seen above are stored in perfectly fitted boxes!

The first thing to do is to attach the TaHoma box to the security base then connect everything to the mains and then to your network via an Ethernet cable.

You must then connect via your computer to the website somfy-connect.com to activate your box using your box's PIN code, available in the box and/or under the TaHoma box itself. This will allow you to create your Somfy account.

Next comes the initialization, installation and synchronization of the different modules (sensors and others) in your TaHoma space.

Synchronizing accessories with the TaHoma box

To synchronize your sensors with your TaHoma, everything is explained step by step in each of the manuals and I will therefore not go over it again. The manipulations are relatively simple and only require a few minutes for each module.

Finally, know that if you get stuck somewhere, Somfy has a Youtube channel which offers a lot of tutorials on the different stages of installing your box.

Finally, if you don't want to get your hands dirty, Somfy offers to put you in touch with a professional who will take care of the entire installation for you.

Installation of the Visidom IC100 camera

This is where things get a little complicated… installing and configuring the surveillance camera is really cumbersome!

Bad luck or poor handling on my part, I had to try three times to get my camera to work... probably because I wanted to go too fast.

To get started, you need to connect to the camera via WiFi or directly using an Ethernet cable to set it up so that it connects to your network. Then open the Visidom app on your smartphone or tablet to add the camera to your TaHoma account.

I can only advise you one thing, read the entire installation instructions first and follow them carefully to avoid any inconvenience.

Interface and software

Web interface

The web interface and the nerve center of your installation. Accessible from any computer, it is on TaHomaLink that you will be able to manage your TaHoma box and all its accessories.

First of all, this interface will allow you to have a quick view of the status of your installation: alerts, status of your protection, status of the power supply, status of the Internet connection, etc.

Quite cleverly, the interface will organize your devices within your home. Define the rooms of your home and virtually place the accessories that are physically there. This makes it very easy to find your way around, especially if you have a lot of accessories.

It is in this interface that you will be able to manage the entire security environment of your home. And there are several possibilities.

The first possibility allows you to edit up to 3 protection modes that you can activate and deactivate manually like a traditional alarm. You can configure a “Total”, “Partial 1” and “Partial 2” mode. For each of these modes you can determine, when they are activated:

• which detectors are used
• the alerts you will receive (notification by phone, email or SMS if you have the option)
• active protection measures (triggering the camera, switching on the controlled socket, etc.)

At the same time, the security base alarm will go off to scare off a potential intruder and possibly warn your neighbors.

Small complaint, every time you activate or deactivate one of these modes, the alarm beeps. The neighbors will love it!

In addition to this, to avoid forgetting to activate your monitoring, you have a calendar. For each day of the week, you will be able to determine at what times of the day to activate which protection modes. This solution is ideal if you have a very regular schedule.

Last very practical tool, the SMART programming. This tool goes beyond protecting your home by allowing you to program a set of actions on your equipment based on various factors. For example, in my case, I used SMART programming to be notified of intrusions, without triggering the alarm. So, I asked it that on defined time zones, the surveillance camera turns on and records a video and that I receive a notification on my iPhone each time the front door opens… I can thus make sure that everything is fine before calling the police or the neighbors if necessary.

In the same spirit, if you have other Somfy accessories, these programs will allow you to lower your roller shutters if the sun is shining and the temperature in your home exceeds a certain level.

Finally, if you opt for a TaHoma Premium subscription, you will have additional tools such as scenario creation, an annual (rather than weekly) calendar, the use of several sensors in your SMART programming, etc.

Application for smartphone or tablet

I tested the iOS application on my iPhone 6. Finally, to be more precise, I tested the 2 Somfy applications that work with this pack: the TaHoma application for the box and the Visidom application dedicated to the camera.

One thing is for sure, it is really practical to have your home surveillance in your pocket... but it has become an obligation today for any self-respecting home automation system.

The TaHoma application is very easy to use, but does not 100% replace the web interface since some advanced tasks cannot be performed on the app. In fact, it will allow you to:

• to activate or deactivate the different security modes (but not to configure them)
• to activate or deactivate your different SMART programs (but not to create new ones)
• to see the status of your different equipment
• to turn on/off your controlled outlet
• to track and be alerted of intrusions by notification
• to manage your programming schedule

The Visidom application allows you to access your camera in order to watch the live stream or access the videos saved on the camera's memory card. You can also use your smartphone's microphone to speak through the camera's speaker.

Both applications are well designed, but we regret having to use two applications rather than a single one that groups all the features.

Conclusion

With the TaHoma Serenity v2 box, Somfy offers a very complete solution for protecting your home. However, this very complete solution comes at a high price (€899 for the pack tested here) and we regret that for this price you still have to add €149 to access all the possibilities offered by the TaHoma Premium pack.

Among the major advantages of this solution, we will note the possibility of adding a large number of home automation accessories supplied by Somfy but also other compatible brands (Hitachi, Velux, Philips, etc.): roller shutters, thermometer, smoke detector, water leak detector, etc.

If you are looking to get started in the world of home automation, TaHoma is certainly a very good entry point. The TaHoma Serenity pack is not an end in itself, it is only the beginning of your home automation adventure! However, you will need to devote a little time to it to get to grips with all the settings and options it offers you.

Good points

• Installation and user guides available online, quite well done
• User community
• Availability of video tutorials (TaHoma Coach)
• Ideal starter pack to start equipping your home
• Many accessories available
• Elegant and modern design of the TaHoma Box

Negative points

• TaHoma box power cable really very short
• It is not possible to deactivate the sound signal when activating the box.
• Unable to connect the camera to WiFi if your network key has a special character (eg: !@#$%,)
• Once an intrusion has been detected, the system stops and no longer communicates new intrusions unless the alarm is stopped and reactivated… which again makes the box ring for nothing.
• Ridiculous camera view window size on web interface (better on app)
• 2 mobile applications where one would have been enough
• Its exorbitant price