Cleveland Home Automation

A Basic Definition

To some people home automation could be as simple as a remote controller that adjusts the lighting control of room, or a controller that communicates with multiple video devices in their home. For others, home automation could be a complete security solution that protects their assets and family. By integrating different technologies together and controlling them from one central remote or station, home automation can help you manage all of your devices with one simple interface. Home automation at a basic level is anything that gives you remote or automatic control of things around the home.

You might be surprised how simple and affordable it is to add home automation to your home. Some of our products require no additional wires! Our home automation experts have years of experience in lighting control, surveillance, irrigation, whole home audio/video and more!

What Can I Control With Home Automation?

Lighting Control Automation
The most popular home automation solution is lighting control which is the ability to control the lighting throughout your house with a single remote controller.You can dim any light fixture using home automation, you can control this with a single remote from anywhere in the house! (Or anywhere in the world via internet/browser)

Security Systems & Access Control Automation
Have your home call you and/or loved ones if there is an alert situation. You can save money on security monitoring services or even monitor for non-traditional security events like water in the laundry room or basement. Additionally, Smarthome products include devices that will allow you to unlock the front door to let friends in or close the garage door from your office via the web.

Home Theater & Entertainment
Are you tired of having 3-4 or more remote controls laying around, would you like to replace all of your controller devices with one universal remote control? Just imagine being able to bypass the 10 steps it would otherwise take to start up your home theater system – just press the HBO icon and your home automation products/system will do the rest. One of the most popular solutions is in-wall and in-ceiling speakers, you can control the speakers throughout your entire house with a single remote without the clutter of a bunch of speaker equipment throughout your house!

Phone Systems Automation
A small business phone system application is surprisingly useful inside the home. With caller ID and a home automation controller you can even screen your calls for only those you wish to cause your phone to ring. If you integrate voice control software into your home automation package, then every phone in the house essentially becomes a universal remote.

Thermostat Automation
Remote-control automation allows you to easily adjust the temperature from anywhere in the house, if you are laying down in bed and get a little chill you can just turn the heat up without every having to get up. If you are on the way home and wish to warm the house up before getting there, no problem! Just hit a few buttons on your remote and your in good shape. Thermostat automation can also alert you to low temperatures or high temperatures, this can prevent pipes from bursting due to low temps, and also protect your animals and plants from temperatures that are to cold or to hot.

Irrigation Automation
Going on vacation but need the peace of mind that your garden and yard will be taken care of? With irrigation home automation you can do just that, choose the times you want your irrigation system to start and how long you want it to run. Some customers even prefer to turn their sprinklers on based on motion detection, this helps keep unwanted guests away at times that you don’t want to be bothered.

Cable & Structured Wiring Automation
Home automation can be accomplished using various types of connectivity. What’s great is that many of today’s home automation products need no new wires – so they are perfect to retrofit into an existing home. If you are building new or doing a major remodel, please consider adding networking, audio, video and control wiring while it is easy and relatively inexpensive. Later on you’ll be happy you did.

How Can I Control Them?

Remote Control
With one remote control you can easily control your lighting, appliances, security systems and consumer electronics from anywhere in your house, whether you are laying in your bed,working out in the backyard or getting ready for work in the bathroom. There are multiple “methods” of controlling your devices, Below we highlight the pluses and minuses of each.

Remote Technology	Products	Advantages	Disadvantages	Popular Applications
Infrared	Standard A/V remotes including remotes for the TV, DVD, tuner, etc	Affordable	Line-of-sight	TV / consumer electronics
Powerline	X10, UPB	Affordable + whole house	May need noise filters & phase couplers	Lighting, appliances and security
Radio-Frequency (RF)	Z-Wave	Works through walls	Long distance issues, more expensive than X10	Garage doors, computer networking
Hardwired	Cat5; Coax	Speed and reliability	Cost & difficult to retrofit	Video, networking & high-end applications

Automatic Control
To make things even more convenient, automatic control allows you to automate your smarthome processes automatically, without any effort being necessary. Examples include turning your lights on in the evening and turning your lights off in the afternoon, or having your entire home theater system turn on and tune to a particular station with the click of a single button.

What are the Benefits of Home Automation?

Convenience
We’ve all gotten used to controlling our TV from the couch; just wait until you are able to dim the lights as well. Imagine adjusting the temperature from your bed or controlling the volume of your whole-house audio system from any room. Or imagine the wall/ceiling heater in your bathroom coming on automatically on chilly mornings 5 minutes before your alarm clock goes off so that it is warm when you enter. Many Smarthome products also save energy — we’ll all agree that’s a nice convenience.

Safety
We’re all used to opening the garage door from the car, but you’ll be surprised how much safer you’ll feel coming home to a lit home and even turning on more lights from your keyfob remote upon your arrival. With a couple of basic products you can have your whole house light up like Fort Knox when there is motion detected at any corner of your house. Imagine your house sending you an email if there is motion where there shouldn’t be any. Or you can have your security system call you if there is an alarm, which might include your typical security alarm or even a low or high temperature or water in the laundry room or basement.

Fun
High-tech products for the home are fun to use and share with others. Whether viewing visitors at your front door on your TV or tuning your stereo by using voice recognition, you’ll find home automation surprisingly enjoyable. And when it comes to impressing the friends, you’ll be happy to show off your newfound applications.

With the broad selection of home automation products offered by Smarthome, you can control just about anything you wish in your home. If you have questions about a particular product please contact our expert technical support team – they’re happy to help you find exactly what you are looking for.