Imagine being able to switch your house lights on from your office, and warm your house up from your cell phone while on the way home. Well, it’s possible, and so is sending an SMS to your spa bath to switch itself on and activating your alarm remotely.
The definition of Home Automation, or Smart Homes, is given to anything that gives you remote or automatic control of things around your home. For some it may be as simple as remote control of a few lights and for others it may be as advanced as voice recognition technology. It’s all down to making life more convenient and safe around the home and having some fun with all the gadgets.
Remote Control
Remote control technology gives you the convenience of controlling lighting, appliances, security systems and consumer electronics anytime anywhere. Yes, anywhere, whether it be the lounge couch or you car on the way back from Durban you can access these devises via remote control.
Automatic Control
Automatic control adds even more convenience by making things happen automatically, without any effort. Examples include; having all lights turn on at dusk and off at your programmed time and having your whole home theatre turn on and the heater in your bathroom turn on automatically 5 minutes before your alarm goes off in the morning.
Let There Be Light
Probably the most popular and affordable control category in home automation, controlling lights automatically has many advantages including, setting the right mood in an entertainment area, to remotely switching lights on before you get home for added safety.
Security Systems & Access Control
Someone at the door? You can see exactly who it is on liquid-crystal touch screens conveniently located around the house. While you’re on holiday, you can pretend that you’re home by turning on televisions, lights and sound systems at times you would normally be home, giving opportunistic burglars the impression that you’re home. Motion sensors can pick up intruders and automatically turns all the lights on and sounding an alarm, oh, and then the house sends you an email to say it has done all of this. It could also sound the alarm and send you an SMS when, for example, the geyser has burst.
Snug as a Bug
Remote control thermostats allow you to adjust the temperature of your under-floor heating from your cell phone on the way home or even switch the air-conditioning system on from the pool area to be cool when the party moves indoors. An SMS could also be sent to you if the temperature is too cold and pipes may freeze or too hot for indoor plants and pets.
Innovative Irrigation
Home automation is not just for your home’s interior, it can be used outdoors for your irrigation. Having remote control of your irrigation will allow you to turn your sprinklers on only when you need to, saving water.
Many Smart Home products save electricity, by switching all non-essentials, such as; pool pump, geyser, lights etc. off at a specified time. Home automation products are fun to use and have huge show-off value.
All the automated components can be controlled from one or many touch screen/s conveniently locate in your house. With your finger tips you can effortlessly control all the ambient settings in the home from the music or television channels in any room, to different lighting moods ranging from romantic to party themes. The touch screen also acts as a television, allowing you to watch TV in your bathroom or monitor your baby from the study.
So, whatever you can think of controlling remotely or automatically in your home you can with home automation.
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