No one can deny the attraction of a fully automated, integrated home to deliver top levels of efficiency and ease of living.
Installers are clamouring to acquire the skills they need to deliver real intelligence in building control, and employers are playing their part in supporting skills development with initiatives like CEDIA’s NextGen. The market is being primed!
Meanwhile, most of our homes aren’t geared up for advanced home automation. High end integrated control, where devices work in concert with each other, usually requires rewiring that involves going a bit beyond adding a neutral to the switch outlets, and adds major expense to a project. You might imagine that any new build or recent rewiring would be smart tech-ready, but don’t bank on it just yet.
So what is the appropriate technology solution for the customers who want smart control without the major expense? The answer is good Wi-Fi technology – with the emphasis on good! You need reliable products and a consistently reliable third-party control app like TuYa. (Manufacturers’ own apps are often limited and unlikely to have the development finance of a global platform like TuYa to maintain reliability and add new features).
Wi-Fi: a catch-all solution
Wi-fi has proved to be the ideal answer, giving app-based control of devices from within the home or anywhere in the world where you have an internet connection or Wi-Fi signal. Bluetooth, Zigbee etc have a role in some projects, but it is Wi-Fi that is the catch-all, covering all the bases to give users both close-quarters control and remote access.
Yes, the performance of wired systems is usually better than wireless systems, with system latency much lower. However, unless you are at the top end of the market and need to control multiple circuits and devices seamlessly to execute profiles/scenes, this is a marginal concern. The increasing reliability of both Wi-Fi connections and control apps has pretty much sorted any issues.
Popular Wi-Fi controlled devices include high quality web cams, external lighting, detectors, timers and switches and wall sockets. On/Off, time control, detection ranges etc can all be controlled remotely via a smartphone from the armchair, on the commute home or at the holiday villa. Users will get feedback on switching status on their app, so they can relax, knowing that devices at home are doing their job.
Adding other devices
Product developers are meeting the demand for interworking between devices on Wi-Fi networks. Indirect load activation, where the load is physically connected via the switched live, means that another compatible smart device can be triggered wirelessly. The new Timeguard Wi-Fi controlled twin LED floodlights offer this feature so, for instance, someone triggering the PIR detector could cause several other lights around the property, indoors and out to switch on.
Product grouping
Product grouping is a useful feature for linking lighting circuits together wirelessly if the installer wants devices, such as all lights or lighting and a room heater, to switch On/Off together at the touch of a button. This is a feature easily set up within the TuYa app by creating a group.
Yes, it’s a toe in the water compared to mansions with home cinemas and the like, but end users are loving home smart home Wi-Fi devices. More to the point, installers are having fun setting it up and in our industry there are few market forces more powerful than an enthusiastic installer!
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