Current Home Control Technologies
One the central doctrines of home automation is that everything must be connected. For the lights to know what the TV is doing and the audio system to know what the shades are doing and the DVD player to know whether the theater screen is up or down, your home will need some kind of network connecting all your technology components to a central controller and each other. There are several ways to do this, some simple enough that you can do it yourself, and others too complex for all but the most tech-savvy home owner. Some DIY systems can be customized and controlled by a computer, while other are all operated by remotes and touch panels.
On the wired side, Category 5 (Cat5) cabling is pretty much the standard for home networking. A Cat5 wire consists of four twisted pair of copper wire. It’s also the same wire used for computer Ethernet connections. If you’re getting your house prewired for automation, your installer is most likely running miles of Cat5 through the walls. Cat5 can transmit many kinds of signals, including control signals, audio and video, which makes it an ideal type of network to cover most TechHome applications.
Prewiring usually requires a professional and a good plan of where you expect your devices to go and it can be expensive. Prewiring is recommended for all new construction homes. Some home builders will prewire a home for a network as a standard feature. If you're building a new home, work with a TechHome integrator to have your home built with the TechHome Rating System. If you’re working on a pre-existing home, drilling holes and snaking wires can be very difficult.
One wired solution that some manufactures are using is called Powerline—it uses a home’s existing electrical wiring to carry data through the house. Some implementations even use it to distribute audio signals such as satellite radio. Powerline networking can be very convenient for retrofitting a home, but it’s not implemented in nearly as many products as other technologies.
Wireless signal distribution has made great advances in recent years and is now used for much more than simply spreading a broadband signal throughout a house. Wireless for home control comes in several varieties, including Z-Wave, Zigbee, Insteon, RF, Wi-fi and others. Wireless signal distribution has made great advances in recent years and is now used for much more than simply spreading a broadband signal throughout a house. Wireless for home control comes in several varieties, including Z-Wave, Zigbee, Insteon, RF, Wi-fi and others.
Some wireless technologies create what’s called a mesh network, which allows two-way communication between the controller (a remote or touch panel) and the devices being controlled. Two-way communication is important in an automation system because it allow the devices to synchronize according to their on or off state. Mesh networks take that a step further by allowing all the connected devices in a system to repeat control commends thereby increasing reliability of the network. For instance, if you press the button to turn down your lights and close the automated shades, but the shades were already closed, they’ll send back a signal to the controller saying, “hey, I’m already closed.” That way you won’t raise shades when you wanted them down. Wireless mesh network products can often be purchased individually, so you can add to it as your needs grow, but you need to be sure all your products are compatible.
Each system has its pros and cons and will suit different types of TechHome applications. Your decision will be based on a combination of functionality, expandability, ease of installation and cost.
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