Home Automation For All

This guest post comes to us from Dave Dryland of Gibson Sound & Vision.

For many years, the idea of home automation has been regarded as a playground for only the wealthiest, or a work of science fiction. The reality is that, up until recently, the cost of these systems did indeed make them unattainable to most.

Enter Control4, automation for the rest of us!

A Control4 system is a cost effective way to enter into the world of home automation, also allowing you to build a system at whatever pace you want. Many Control4 accessories can be added with no wiring, meaning that adding to your project is possible in many homes where existing construction would not permit wired installations.

But what is home automation you ask?

Most of us are familiar with universal remote controls, which make it easy to control all of our home audio and video equipment with one remote. You can think of home automation as a "universal remote" that controls things like lights, blinds, garage doors, thermostats, locks, and of course, your A/V equipment! These systems can be controlled by as little as a single remote, or any combination and number of handheld remotes, personal computers, tablets, smart phones, in-wall touch screens or tabletop keypads.

Home automation can also mean instant control and monitoring from anywhere you are able to connect to the internet. With Control4, you can use your smartphone to turn off that light you forgot about when you left for work, or turn down the air conditioning that you left going. A Control4 system can even email or text you to let you know the kids got home from school on time!

The other big part of a Control4 system—and where the term "automation" actually comes from—is the system’s ability to do things on a schedule, or triggered by specific "events." Triggers can be things like a door unlocking, the phone ringing, or a light switch being tapped twice or three times. At my house, when you triple-tap a light switch by the front door, all the lights and TVs turn off. This means that when my wife is leaving the house, with our two kids in tow, she has an easy way to turn everything off all at once.

Home automation is about making life easier and allowing your home to work for you, in exactly the way you want it to. If you’d like me to answer any questions you have about this technology, feel free to email me at daved@shopgibson.com, or follow me on Twitter: @GibsonDaveD.