kind of security and convenience you deserve in the 21st century.
HA is like interior decorations; they're a very personal thing. What may seem like a silly gadget to some may be a serious
security enhancing device to others. What may seem a waste of money to one person may be state-of-the-art elegance to
another. So don't stop reading this if I mention something that you feel is useless, chances are that I'll eventually get to
something that you think is terrific.
Good HA addresses the specific needs of the user, without making him pay for lots of things he doesn't find useful. It also
must be flexible enough to be adapted as the user's needs change over time.
The needs that HA addresses today can be divided into two (often overlapping) categories: Security and convenience.
Security
On the security side, HA picks up where traditional alarm systems leave off. Some new alarm systems have HA features
built-in.
Traditional alarm systems have two major deficiencies. The first is that they trigger after someone has broken into your home
(often giving the burglar a "grace period" before sounding).
Studies show that the average response time of the authorities is far longer than the time it takes for a burglar to ransack a
home and get away.
If you're home (and you remembered to set the alarm), what do you do when the alarm rings in the middle of the night?
Stumble half-naked through a dark house looking for the burglar, right? Brilliant. For a trivial cost HA can at least let you
press a bedside button to turn on the lights. Better, the alarm can flash the lights. The best thing would be to make the alarm
system the last line of defense, not the first (and only).
HA augments the security of traditional alarms by adding a layer of deterrence, outside your home. Police departments
unanimously agree that good lighting is a great deterrent to crime, and that motion detector lighting is even better. El-cheapo
motion detectors are available for under $30 and are well worth the price. But what if you actually like your present porch
light? Or what if a single light wouldn't cover the whole yard? Or what if you want some inside lights (or a barking dog tape) to
come on too? HA can do it.
Add another layer of protection that will light up the prowler, let you know that he's there, and make him think that you're up
and about. (Even if you're not home.)
Its amazing how many people have problems with transients on their property. Not prowlers, just trespassers and vandals. An
alarm system can't help here. Our customers have successfully used motion sensors, lighting, and (in extreme cases) video
cameras to help control this kind of problem. (Or at least identify the culprits.)
Will your alarm system remind you that the garage door was left open? Maybe, if the garage is wired to the alarm and you
remembered to arm it before going to bed. Even then, the garage has been open for hours. HA can solve this problem.
Traditional alarm systems are primarily designed to protect property, not people. Most alarms wouldn't care if someone stood
outside a window firing a machine gun into the house.
Personal security means that you can press a button to turn on all the lights. It means that you can press a panic button to
trigger the alarm (and automatically call for help on the telephone). In both cases, its best if the button is portable (radio).
Simply put, personal security means having more control over the situation than an intruder does, no matter where you are or
what time it is.
Personal safety is a closely related issue. How many injuries occur from falling down stairs and tripping over furniture in a
dark room? How many broken bones and stubbed toes could have been avoided with something as simple as a stick-on
remote switch or a motion detector light switch.
Silly? Perhaps, but I have it on good authority that your granite coffee table has been eyeing your little toe!
Convenience
The convenience benefits of HA are even more varied than the security benefits.
Some people really like the remote control aspect. This doesn't portend some impending couch-potato-bug infestation. It may
simply mean that they like to turn off the light in the detached garage without getting dressed, or frozen. Or maybe they're just
tired of arguing about who's going to get up to turn out the lights before going to sleep.
It doesn't take much time to go around the house turning off lights and appliances before you leave or go to bed. It doesn't
take much time to get up early to start the coffee and turn up the heat in the morning. You don't spend that much time walking
to and from light switches, or checking the garage door one last time, or searching for the stereo's remote control among all
the others. But most would admit that, over the years, these things add up. The convenience of HA really does save time.
Some people simply like the elegance of HA. The ability to press a single button to configure a lighting scene, turn on the TV,
and start the VCR is appealing to many. Call it "sexy," call it "showing off," but it is neat.
Architects spend much time planning lighting for main living areas. They are well aware of the dramatic effect of lighting on a
room. But when the builder finishes, at best you are left with a row of dimmer switches to control the lights. For a while you
may fiddle with the dimmers to get the room just right, but soon you just crank them all full on, spoiling the intended effect. HA
can give you a single small clean panel, from which you can select one of several lighting scenes with the press of a button.
HA can save energy, and money. I'll be honest here, the payback period for HA is very long if all you are doing is turning out
lights in unoccupied rooms. Outdoor motion detector lighting saves more because the lights tend to be bigger, and they will
be on a small fraction of the time they would have been otherwise. The real savings come when you sign up for the power
companies "dual metering" program. This is where you pay less for energy during the evening than during the day. By using
HA to defer high demand items like water heaters, driers, dish-washers, and pool and spa equipment until off-peak hours, you
can save a significant amount of money.
I've been discussing the convenience of HA. But what may be a simple convenience to one person, may translate into
independence for those with disabilities. For example; It may be a minor inconvenience for you to get up and open the
drapes, but to someone that is bedridden, it may be impossible without HA. Through remote controls of various types, even
specially challenged individuals can control virtually every light and appliance in their home, including the telephone!
How can I get Automated?
As you can see, HA can be set up to do thousands of things. Not that there are that many devices on the market, merely a
few hundred. Most of these are "pieces" designed to be used with other, compatible, pieces. In the same way that a pile of
lumber can be used to build many things, these pieces can be put together in many different ways, to solve vastly different
problems.
Many of these products are not new. The biggest "family" of compatible products is from X-10 Powerhouse. They have been
around for more than fourteen years and are in over 3.6 million American homes. The X-10 family is augmented by
compatible products from Leviton, a company with a 100 year tradition of serving America's household electrical needs.
These products work well, are easy to install, and are affordable. Millions have used them to improve security and
convenience in their homes.
So, how can you use HA to improve your life? There are several possibilities:
You can learn about all the products, and how to apply them, from books, application notes, and WEB pages. Then buy the
devices and install them yourself.
You can simply decide what you want HA to do for you. Then call and let trained salespeople tell you which devices you need,
and how to install them.
Or you could describe to a dealer/installer what you want HA to do for you, let their trained salespeople quote the devices,
and let their licensed associates install them for you.
Here are the two most important things I can tell you about Home Automation:
You don't have to be an electronic genius, that's our job. You do need to have an idea of what you want HA to do for you.
We'll give you ideas and demonstrate the possibilities, but you are the only one that can decide what is right for your family.
