Keene Electronics InfoWindow: HOME AUTOMATION What Is Home Automation? In its most basic form home automation (or home control) is the controlled, automatic switching on or off of an electrical device within your house your house, garage or garden. Why would I want to do this? For years people have dreamed of operating everything in the house by remote control. Indeed it was in the early 1970's when Stirling Moss unveiled his 'House of the Future' where even the bath could be run from the bedroom. All these facilities have been readily available to the rich and famous but until recently have remained out of the reach and pocket of most people. Depending on which system of control you decide upon (and yes, you can mix and match) then the possibilities are only limited by your imagination. Here are a just a few examples of possible applications:- Waking Up There's no need to always be woken up by an ordinary alarm, why not your Hi-Fi, or the television? You can have lights to come on throughout the house, and perhaps switch on heaters before you even set foot out of bed. In fact (as long as you remembered to fill it the night before), you can even boil the kettle before you get to the kitchen! Leaving home in the morning How many times have you left home wondering if you have turned off all the things you know you should have turned off, but can't remember if you have? One solution is to use an Easy Life Kit and a separate wireless wall switch fixed near the front door of your house. On leaving, just one press of a button can switch all your appliance modules off. Coming Home in the evening If you always get home at the same time you could pre-program lights, heaters, even music to greet you when you return. With RF remote controls you can automate your garage door to open as you pull on the drive and switch on external lights to escort you into the house. If you want to get really carried away you can even use an X10 telephone transponder, "call" your house and switch things on at whatever time suits you. In Your Absence You can pre-program lights and radios to switch on and off around your house to give the "lived in" look, and with the right equipment you can even automate curtain opening and closing. You can even hook into your burglar alarm system so that all that house lights flash on and off when an alarm is triggered. Child Control One customer has used an X10 "Free Time" kit and put an appliance module in the socket in his kids' bedroom. They have a four-way distribution panel plugged into the appliance module into which is plugged the TV, stereo and the games console. At 9 pm the appliance module turns off, and the noise ends. Interestingly, whilst the kids could unplug the distribution board from the appliance module and plug it into the socket (to which their father can retaliate by fitting a DIN-rail switch) in fact, they don't. He meanwhile, isn't faced with having to go in to their rooms and tell them to turn everything off and the nightly showdown that would ensue. What price silence? All he needed was a Free Time Kit. These are just a few examples, the possibilities really are endless. OK, What Do I Need? There are three main types of control method used in Home automation products: Timer Control Wireless (RF) control X10 Control Further explanation of each is given in the appropriate product section