The options are endless. Home automation is easy to benefit from for a wealth of reasons, as you’ve seen, but what you may not realize is that there are plenty of choices for to you to take advantage of.
What things in your home would you like to automate? There are plenty of decisions to make, and what will surprise you is just how affordable it can be to use each one of these.
In this chapter, we’ll take a look at some of the options that you have in home automation. Later, we’ll look into some of the most popular choices a bit more in depth so that you can see just how easy it can be to install them into your home.
Here’s an overview of some of the options that you can consider in home automation for your home. Remember that each company offers their one unique take on them, but that the overall function is basically the same.
Security today is one of the most important reasons to consider home automation. Your options are limited otherwise. You could purchase a system that will make a lot of noise if someone was to break in or violate it.
Or, you could spend a small fortune (maybe even a big fortune) on having a home monitoring service that will alert you directly when someone violates the home.
With home automation, you get the best of both worlds. You can easily invest in a security system that will monitor your home just like others do, even better most of the time that will also be programmed to alert you when something violates it.
For virtually a one time fee of purchasing the automation kit, you’ll be able to secure your home indefinitely with the most up to date technology. Here’s what could happen.
It did all of that and did it all without any cost. Your home can be protected from burglary or predators that could be lurking near your family.
You can also use these systems to provide protection in the way of fire, hazards and even to alert you when there is a problem such as water in your basement.
Depending on what you allow it to provide you; you can know what’s happening in your home no matter where you are, no matter what’s happening there.
In fact, as an added bonus, you can even set up these security systems to provide you with the ability to let someone into your home when you aren’t home.
Let’s say that your child forgets his code or keys to be let into the home after school. With a contact from you to the security system, you can allow them to gain access to the home as they need to. This can only happen when you okay it to do so, though.
Security is an option that you have. These kits usually provide you with countless options. Depending on the cost, the needs and the available tools to you, you can safely set up your home to deliver for your needs.
Yet another popular choice in home automation has to do with lighting. In fact, in many companies this is the most popular of all the products they offer.
Lighting is also one of the most inexpensive of products to choose from. Investing in these will cost as little as just $20 which will allow you to dim the lights in your home even if you haven’t ever been able to do that before.
Lighting home automation tools will allow you to control the amount of light, when the lights come on, go off and allow you to set up a vast number of wonderful lighted displays that you design.
Lighting automation allows for several benefits that are unique. For one, there are benefits in saving engery. You can program lights to dim gradually over several hours, or you can plan on the lights going on or off at a set time.
Lights can be shut off from any location within the home one by one or you can have a master switch which allows you to turn off all lights in the home (or those that you adjust) at one time. Going to bed at night, all the lights can be turned off.
Leaving the home, all lights can be turned off. Better yet, think you hear something downstairs in the middle of the night, turn all the lights in the house on at once.
Lighting automation can be done with the help of a remote control or you can use modules that simply screw into the lighting fixture, which makes any lighting fixture turn into a dimming unit. Or, you can purchase a more advanced lighting option such as those that work with voice recognition.
Although you may think that it will take rewiring the whole home to make that happen, that’s not the case. Instead, you will just use modules as we’ve described in the beginning to do all the work for you, requiring little if any type of rewiring.
Indeed, this helps to cut down the price of these units greatly. Anyone can afford some of these models that cost a mere ten to twenty dollars.
Lighting automation also will include options such as remote control blinds, lighting fixtures around the house and for those that are looking for the most advanced technologies, voice recognition.
While most units don’t require it, those that need a hardwired product will find that these are readily available.
Some of the most popular brands for lighting automation include Isteon, UPB, X10, and Zwave.
Both indoor and outdoor lighting fixtures can be automated with the same benefits throughout. You can even set up a display that will light up your neighborhood! Lighting displays for outdoors should always be approved for outdoor use, though.
Check out the seasonal lighting options that can help you to manage all of those decorations for the holidays. You’ll never be outdone, now.
Timers are an ideal benefit to outdoor lighting or indoor lighting. Program your lighting to turn on and off as you see fit. You should plan for a timer that will dim over the course of the night. Or, if you are going on vacation, select a timer that will come on at various times of the day and night so that it looks like someone is at home even when you are miles away.
If you have a home theater system, then you have the ability to automate it. There are many different types of theaters that can be automated to make them easier to use as well as more effective to use. Those that struggle to get their system up and running can easily benefit from automation.
Your home automation system can completely start up for you with the touch of a button. The products will load, the system will load and within a matter of seconds you’ll have your system up and running.
One thing to consider is adding built in speakers to your home automation system. Simply installing the proper kit for the process allows you to enjoy the best sound that you’ve ever heard. There’s no clutter or difficult rewiring needed.
What makes home automation for the home theater so important is that it allows you to put the entire system together easily. While just a decade or so ago a home “theater” would encompass no more than a projection style television and the use of a few portable speakers, today’s units are quite complex.
Today’s home theater is likely to have many different components and what makes them difficult is that each offers its one method of controlling it. In addition, most have all of the connections visible, readily making an organized area near impossible.
Yet, when you use home automation, you can completely improve this. You can easily set up a system that controls every aspect of your theater system with just one, wireless device. You can even do this over your cabling system.
In addition to making using these home theater elements easy, it also helps to allow you to control all of these functions for any area of the home. You may even set them up to access them from your laptop or your personal computer!
All types of audio, high definition products, home theater lighting, cable and organizers, IR signal distribution, and media servers can be purchased. From your wireless audio and video to your television and media players, its easy to control each aspect.
What makes it even better is the fact that most of these elements are quite affordable, even in the high tech and usually high priced world of electronics and digital products, you’ll save!
Although the phone may seem like a pretty standard piece of equipment that doesn’t need much automation, there are still things that can be done to enhance it to make it even better.
For example, automating your phone service could mean only allowing specific phone numbers to get through, or even cause your phone to ring at all. You can program the phone service to do a number of things, even better than this.
Along with phone systems, you can also control several aspects in regards to intercoms. Intercoms work very uniquely when it comes to the home. For example, with a wireless (or hardwired option if you prefer) you can communicate with anyone that’s in your home, no matter where they are located.
If you install video options, you can even see who it is that it at the door, making it even easier for you to make decisions about your home. When a visitor arrives, your phone system can alert you. Even before the doorbell has been rung, you’ll be alerted to someone being at the door or approaching it.
Consider an automatic dialer. Or, monitor the calls coming into your home. Door phones are a great choice to talk to the delivery person without having to open the door. You can even purchase remote monitoring units to allow you to monitor your phone usage, calls and even those that are using your phone when you are not there.
As you can see, phone systems can completely be automated. Most of these products are inexpensive and easy to install as well. You’ll find that they take the simple phone system and turn it into a communication tool that you can’t live without.
Much of what happens with phone systems in automation happens in the small business world. Yet, that doesn’t mean that you can find use for it in the home either.
Consider the number of different options you have. Caller identification, voicemail, email notifications and the list goes on, each of which is offering just one more need for communication. By automated these things, you improve your likelihood of making it truly work for you and not against you.
Consider a cordless phone system. While you may already have this, with automation, you don’t need a phone jack set up for hand set that you have.
These are just a few of the options that you have in phone automation. If there is a need that you have, more than likely you have the ability to make it happen with just a small investment in home automation!
Yet another popular choice in home automation is that of the thermostat. It seems so easy, though. You simply set it up to reach a certain temperature and forget about it. But, there’s much more to it than that.
For example, consider energy savings. With the use of automation, your home can be the right temperature anytime that you need and want it to be. But, when you program your home’s thermostats with the information that’s required, you get even energy savings that will reflect on your heating and cooling bills.
Here are some ways that thermostation automation can improve your home’s function.
Even with all of this control, automating your heating and cool systems doesn’t have to be difficult to do. There are plenty of things that you need to take care of if you are to find these benefits available to you, and it all happens with the simplicity that the home automation systems provide to you.
Connect to anything with home automation. Networking used to be something for only businesses, but walk into any average American home and the need for networking has grown, substantially. Whether it’s connecting your computer systems to the internet or connecting them to each other, the need has grown considerably and probably will continue.
Connect your television needs to your laptop to watch your favorite shows. Or, watch one movie in several rooms all at once. As you can see, there’s plenty that can be put together to allow for communication to flow from one to the next.
In fact, connectivity is one of the best features that can be done within the home. Home automation is a must today with all of this connectivity need that the average person needs.
We’ve gone through many of the best features that home automation can provide for. Although there are countless other options and opportunities for you to consider, it makes sense to consider what in your home you would like to make a change with.
The good news is that there is probably a type of automation that you can install into your home, that won’t cost you very much that will fulfill that need that you have. Even if there isn’t something out there that can make your task more automated, it’s probably something that can and should be developed.
What can you automate in your home? What system would really impress you?
Herb Gardening
Prevent Stuttering
Get Lean
Heart Disease
Work From Home
Irritable Bowel