When it comes to Smart Homes, or any other network of devices, physical wires are always the best way to go if you can use them. Even though a lot of IoT and Smart Home companies push wireless tech, most recommended only going wireless if it is too expensive or to difficult for wires.

Basically older houses or apartments can not have more wires installed without ripping out the walls, so they use WiFi or Z-Wave to connect things. Not to say that wireless tech is bad, but it often uses more power, is susceptible to signal interference, and could pose a security risk. If you are building a new house or plan to rip out all of the walls anyway, be sure to run plenty of wire to each room to make sure you can install whatever tech you will need later. So we will be running lots of wire because this is a new house.

No Soldering Options

Jumper wires come in a lot of lengths and you can get a bunch to avoid having to solder things together. Be sure to keep things color coded because it can be hard to keep track of all those wires. You will need the following types if you want to go that rout.

Premium Male/Male Jumper Wires - 20 x 12 (300mm) folded over
These Male/Male Jumper Wires are handy for making wire harnesses or jumpering between headers on PCB's. These premium jumper wires are 12" (300mm) long and come in a...
$3.95
In Stock
Top view of Premium Female/Male 'Extension' Jumper Wires - 40 x 12 (300mm) folded and fanned out.
Handy for making wire harnesses or jumpering between headers on PCB's. These premium jumper wires are 12" (300mm) long and come in a 'strip' of 40 (4 pieces of each of ten rainbow...
$7.95
In Stock

To connect any wires that need to be cut and connected, these terminal blocks should do the job.

Euro-Style Terminal block with 4 pins
Connect this to that without soldering using these quick terminal blocks. They allow connecting of two sets of four wires together using just a flat-head screwdriver. These are...
$2.50
In Stock
Cold 2-Wire Splice with two wires coming out
Kiss those days of heat-shrink, melted jacketing and clumsily-arranged third-hand tools goodbye! Go 'cold splice' with these snap-able plastic splices for fast connections. Use...
$2.95
In Stock
2-Pin Wire Joints connecting two sets of power wires
These are the easiest way possible to connect two wires - no if's, and's, or butt's! Well, actually, these are often referred to as wire butts 'cause you...
$0.95
In Stock

Soldering your own wires

I do recommend getting a set of color coded Stranded Core wire as this will make it easy to keep track of what wire is connected to what device.

Hook-up Wire Spool Set -22AWG Stranded-Core in box with 10 colorful wires coming out.
This is a box of ten 25ft spools of stranded-core wire. Stranded-core wire is best used for wiring jigs where...
$29.95
In Stock

Since some of the devices use more than just two wires to connect, like servos and NeoPixels, I like to use a small ribbon cable like the following two.

Silicone Cover Stranded-Core Ribbon Cable - 4 Wires 1 Meter Long
For those who are fans of our silicone-covered wires, but are always looking to up their wiring game. We now have Silicone Cover Ribbon cables! These may look...
$1.95
In Stock
1 x Flat Cables SPECTRA-BOND 3 COND CABLE
3 Conductor 26AWG Ribbon Cable with Red, White, and Black wires

You will also want to have some Heat Shrink tubing on hand to be sure that you do not get a short circuit.

Array of many colorful heatshrink tubes.
Heat shrink is the duct tape of electronics which I guess makes this heat shrink the colorful and exciting duct tape they sell at craft stores.  This heat shrink comes in six...
$4.95
In Stock

All the other stuff

I find it useful to have a few Break-apart Male Header strips on hand to make some quick connectors by soldering wired to the top of them.

 

2mm Pitch 40-Pin Break-apart Male Headers
Never get frustrated with 2mm-pitch modules again! Each one of these 40-pin break-apart header packs contains 5 pieces of 40-pin, 2mm pitch...
$2.95
In Stock

You will also want a good wire stripper and a good soldering iron.

So that is it and we are ready to start wiring things together.

This guide was first published on Oct 02, 2019. It was last updated on Mar 18, 2024.

This page (Wiring the Home) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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