Planning for home automation
| If the idea of ‘home automation' still sounds futuristic to you, think again.
Without even realising it, chances are that many aspects of your home are already automated. For example, automatic garage door openers, security systems, automatic outdoor lighting, automatic sprinkler systems, TV remotes and time-controlled heaters. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Today, the possibilities for home automation are endless. Almost anything that opens or shuts and turns on or off can be controlled automatically to give you more security, comfort, and convenience. For example, intelligent lighting systems can be designed to activate the moment you pull up in the driveway, or even as you drive home – simply activated from your mobile phone. But why stop at lighting? You could feasibly close the curtains, turn on the fire, and start the oven, so you arrive home to a warm home, with dinner ready to be served. These are just some of the ways that home automation technology is being used... Intelligent Lighting
Security and Access Control
Home Entertainment
Automation
It's a question of deciding what new home automation technology will really be useful (and affordable) right now and what you might foresee being useful in the future. Think about it. Thirty years ago few new home-builders could have foreseen the impact that home computers, the internet, and home entertainment systems have had on our lives, not to mention our living spaces. That's why many of us have such a mess of wiring in our homes and computers poked into spaces under the stairs. If you are planning a new home today, there are some simple and relatively inexpensive steps that you should take now to avoid costly work and inconvenience further down the track. Mark Affleck, of Automation Associates in Parnell, Auckland, says that the most important thing to consider when you're planning a new home is structured cabling. “In the scheme of things, it's relatively inexpensive to cable your home in a way that will give you complete flexibility in the future. For somewhere between $3000 and $7000, a new home can be cabled so that telephones, televisions, security and computers can be controlled in the future on one flexible modular system,” says Mark. “If you're aware of the possibilities right from the start, it's easy to incorporate them into your home design. Ideally we like to sit down with the home-owner and talk to them about their lifestyle and the sort of applications that could be really useful for them. It's not about selling ‘pre-packaged' products, we consult with them and their architect and electrician to design systems that can be implemented in stages, or reconfigured as their needs change. For example, if they decide that they need computer access in a bedroom, there's no need to get an electrician back in to cable it up, it's just a simple question of connecting a link cable in the home's central ‘brain' and it's done.” Designated cabinets that contain all the home's electronic entertainment equipment are a good example of the way technology is being better integrated into today's home designs. “People are tired of having their stereo, TV, video and DVD all out on display taking up space – each with their own remote,” says Mark. “What more people are opting for is concealment, with all the gear contained in one cupboard, TV screens in multiple locations, speakers in walls and ceilings and everything operated from programmable touch-screen remotes. What that means is that you can watch a DVD on a screen in the bedroom, the lounge, or even the bathroom, without duplicating the gear in each location.” Another very useful application of integrated automation technology is access control. “We can design a system that links external security cameras to every TV screen in the house; and intercom systems that, when activated, will ring each phone in the house. Each phone can then be used to open the gates or doors to let guests in,” says Mark. “Anything's possible. It's just a question of working out what's going to be useful and planning right from the start so that people have complete flexibility further down the track, to add other functions or reconfigure their options.”
Read related articles... |
