What is Smart Home Automation, Home Automation or a Smart Home? Smart Home Automation is the automatic control of electronic devices in your home. These devices maybe connected to the internet or a central hub, which allows them to be controlled remotely. With smart home automation, devices can trigger one another so you don’t have to control them manually via an app or voice assistant.
For example, you can put your lights on schedules so that they turn off when you normally go to sleep, or you can have your thermostat turn the A/C up an hour before you return to work so you don’t have to come home to a stuffy house.
Home automation makes life more convenient and can save you money on heating, cooling and electricity bills.
How does Smart Home Automation Work?
Smart home automation works via a network of devices that are connected to a hub through different communication protocols, i.e Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and others. Through electronic interfaces, devices can be managed remotely through a remote control, a voice assistant like Alexa or Google Assistant or an app.
Many devices have sensors that monitor changes in motion, temperature and light so the user gains information about the device’s surroundings and can make physical changes like turning on lights, or turning down heating.
A Smart Home means you can monitor, control and automate almost all facets of your home.
Despite there being a number of DIY solutions on the market, achieving whole home automation is difficult. Adding a NEST thermostat and perhaps linking it to an Amazon voice device is simple, however, try adding some Philips Hue lights and link it to your PIR’s, suddenly the technology has become a lot more complex.
When you add another 20 devices you are then in a world of a lot more complexity often beyond the average DIY person.
Creating scenes, or sequences of event, can often be impossible. This is where a professionally installed system comes into its own.
Control
Unprecedented control in a Smart Home means a user can control devices remotely or from a centralised control panel to give you full control of your home.
A touch Screen or mobile application allows users to control their devices in real-time, whether it’s shutting off outdoor lights or opening a garage door for a neighbour.
Voice assistants allow you to use your voice to control devices.
Automation
Automation in a Smart Home means setting up devices to trigger one another, like having a smart siren go off whenever an armed security camera detects motion.
Automated systems can vary in complexity and can include muti-room audio systems, lighting control systems, access and CCTV control and more. Combining several solutions together in a single control solution like Control4 gives you the ability to allow full automation across different systems.
Multi-Room Audio
With unprecedented control over your music, multi-room audio allows you to listen to your music, wherever you choose.
Listen to your music collection or streaming service and play any song you want, at any volume, in any room in the house.
Centralised Video
Putting all your UHD video sources together in a central location keeps your rooms clean and tidy and allows all of your different video sources to be viewed from any TV in your house, reducing the number of devices around the house.
Imagine having the audio and video equipment from your entire house in a single centralised location, allowing you to de-clutter every room in your house?
Smart ‘Mood’ Lighting
A Smart Lighting system may include high efficiency fixtures and automated controls that make adjustments to lighting levels automatically based on conditions such as occupancy or daylight availability.
Automated lighting control provides a key energy-saving opportunity and can account for a 10% saving on an average homeowner’s monthly electric bill.
Q Motion Curtains & Blinds
With Q Motion Curtains and Blinds, you can save energy, add privacy and control ambience easily, either automatically or by app or device control.
During the summer month when you might need to reduce the amount of sunlight blazing through windows or in Winter months when you require a little more privacy, you can control your curtains or blinds remotely.
Get in Touch:
We’d be delighted to visit you to discuss your Smart home automation requirements and to provide an evaluation of your multi-room audio-visual, lighting, control or security requirements. Contact us today or visit our Control4 microsite to find out more.