Belkin Adds Light Switch to WeMo Home Automation Line, Android Support Coming

At the Consumer Electronics Show, Belkin has announced that it is adding a WeMo Light Switch, which replaces your home light switch and gets hardwired into your home, to add to the company’s home automation lineup. Essentially, the WiFi-capable hard-wired WeMo Light Switch will connect to your home router and allows you to turn on and off and control your home lighting via an iOS app. Belkin also promises that an Android app is forthcoming. To partake in the Android WeMo home automation experience, users would need at least Ice Cream Sandwich, or Android 4.0.

The WeMo Light Switch replaces an existing light switch and connects into your home’s existing electrical wiring. Once in place, you can turn a full bank of lights on and off from anywhere, put them on a schedule, or use other WeMo or online triggers to control them through a smartphone or tablet. The WeMo Light Switch is controlled via the same free WeMo app as the WeMo Switch and Motion, conveniently keeping track of all of your WeMo-enabled devices from one app.

The WeMo Light Switch joins the original WeMo Switch that was released at the Consumer Electronics Show last year. The original Switch was just an accessory that plugs into your wall outlet and doesn’t require direct hard-wiring. When you plug your electronics into the WeMo Switch, it allows you to control that electronics or appliance that way over WiFi via an iOS app.

One specific application for WeMo Light Switch or WeMo Switch when connected to a floor or desk lamp is for travelers who can turn on their home lights when they’re away to give the illusion that someone is home. Also, if you’re away at work and don’t particularly want to come home to a dark room, you can either program your lights to turn on at a specific time or you can log into your iPhone–and soon Android 4.0 device–to turn on the lights ahead of your arrival.

Another device in the WeMo family is a baby monitor called WeMo Baby.