There are many reasons to have an electronic home control system, but one home owner in Sydney's
Palm Beach area had a particularly unusual request: He wanted something that would make him exercise every day. Now even with today's advanced technologies, an electronic home control system can't actually force someone to work out, but this home owner has the next best thing. When he arrives home each evening, an inviting pathway lights the way to the fitness room, where his favorite music automatically plays and the climate is set to his liking. If that's not inspiration enough, he can't operate other home controls for about 15 minutes. And so he gets some exercise.
Home control systems today can be designed to be this personal. And they're simple to use. You can touch a screen and an eye-popping colour graphic comes on. It's not littered with a confusing array of buttons such as we're used to seeing from remote controllers. The beautiful graphic sports just a few simple buttons, making it easy and intuitive for nearly anyone to navigate. In addition, graphics and button styles can be fully customised to the owner's wishes.
Welcome to a new era in home control, where believe it or not, the needs of the homeowners actually do come first. Too often in the steady progression of electronic home control systems, the technology making these systems possible has interfered with providing simple and intuitive home control.
Not any more. Today when home control systems are installed and programmed correctly, the homeowner is the winner, not some nerdy engineer with a slide rule and an extremely warped sense of cool.
Home control systems today are the ultimate in convenience, providing one easily controllable package that ties together several systems in a home, including security, lighting, audio and video, heating and ventilation, computers, telephones and intercoms, pool and sprinkler systems, possibly even your washer and dryer.
But Why?
Let's face it: In some cases, technology hasn't always made our lives easier. In many ways, it has made our lives more complex. And with more demands on our time, from work to family to the two-step we constantly do between the two, complexity is about the last thing we need.
Nevertheless, we buy the DVD player to watch the latest movies with better video and sound, and we want audio and video to be distributed throughout the house, we need that security system and we want to be more efficient in using our heating and ventilation and lighting systems.
And before we know it, we have more control devices than things we know how to control. The coffee table is littered with remotes, the security system requires some mind-numbing sequence to be punched in so we don't even use it, and after years of living in the house we can't remember what the middle two light switches do on that four-switch panel at the front door. Lights are constantly flashing on and off whether we're coming or going. Sometimes we don't know whether we're coming or going.
A good home control system can solve a lot of that confusion, while allowing you to enjoy the benefits of today's technology. Instead of that four-gang switch and intimidating security keypad at the front door, imagine a nice little device the size of one light switch panel, containing a few buttons, to turn on the lights needed, turn the security system on and off, place the house in the climate you want it set at, whatever you need. The buttons are engraved for these functions so you know at a glance which one does what.
If you want to go a little more high-tech, the panel can be a small in-wall touchscreen, say 6 inches diagonally, with custom-designed buttons for only the functions you require. You come in the house, press a couple of buttons, and the lights are lit, the security system is disarmed, the climate control comes on to your comfort level, even your favorite music plays. You could even have the system heat up the hot tub or pool to the temperature you desire.
Home control systems also make it possible to control several systems at once. You can raise the lights as music comes on as the house heats or cools to your desired temperature. You can have several lights come on at various levels for bright party modes or dimmer romantic scenes, light the exterior of your house in a pleasing way, or light pathways to the kids' rooms or kitchen or bath during the night. If an intruder enters, the lights can flash while the alarm sounds. When you're ready to watch the latest DVD in the family room, the lights can dim as the TV or projector comes on and the DVD player and speakers fire up.
Can't wait for the hot tub to heat up once you're home? Many systems today allow you to ‘call in' on a mobile phone and activate any of your home modes, so you can dial up the house from the road and hit the appropriate button for your hot tub to ensure happy soaking as soon as you open the door. You may also be able to hit the garage-door opener in your car and automatically de-activate the security system, light a pathway to the back door, play your favorite music, whatever else you want. And of course, the garage door should open as well.
Sensors and clocks can also be used to activate certain home control scenes or modes. Say you want to light a room whenever it's dark. Many home control systems have astronomical clocks that can be used to turn lights on at dusk, which is great for landscape lighting. Or you may want the lights turned on in a room whenever it's dark, so a light sensor can trigger the lights whenever the outside light is too dim. Motorised blinds or drapes can be drawn at certain times to cool a room or protect valuable furnishings from harmful ultraviolet rays, motorised windows can close when it rains, sprinkler systems can water the lawn at specified times or when it becomes too dry.
And now you can control all of this over the Internet, with the right control system. If you're at work and you want to turn on the hot tub, put on lights or shut them off, arm or disarm the security system, check on your kids via security cameras or just monitor the property, you can log onto a secure Web site and, well, it's almost like you're right there at home.
