Home Automation, also known as Home Integration or Smart Home Solutions, is about combining things together within the home electrical system.
Home Automation is revolutionizing home security & entertainment. If you're building a new home, installing home automation infrastructure will get you ready for the future & add value to your home.
If you've got an existing home, retrofitting cables is very expensive, but advances in wireless technology means you can now automate too. Wireless is a cost-effective means for automating an existing house, as you don't need to rip out walls to install cables.
If you are considering an Integrated Home Automation System, then be aware that expert advice is crucial. Our experienced Systems Integrator will determine the features that you need after the initial consultation in & draw up your plans to suit your budget & lifestyle.
These days there are many facets of the home electrical system. There is the basic 240V light & power, the telephone cabling, data or home network cabling, the distribution of the Free to air TV system, the PAYTV system, sending sources like DVD & PAYTV around the house, home theatre system, distributed zoned music around the house, security, intercom & air conditioning.
It is possible to interconnect some of these things together to give a specific result & streamline functions around the home. We can also programmer events to happen based on pre-set conditions or even on random events.
You could have the following events happen. When you come up your driveway you press your garage door remote button, the door lifts up & lights come on in the garage & up the hallway & into the kitchen. The door between the garage & house could automatically unlatch & the security could be programmed to disarm.
As you walk up the hallway, music could start playing through the ceiling mounted speakers in the hallway. When you come into the kitchen you could go to your wall mounted touchscreen & activate the radio to come through the kitchen speakers.
You could then go to another section of the touchscreen, & press the wording that says "relax" & the lighting levels throughout the house common areas would go to the pre-set dimmed levels. From the touchscreen you also turn on the air conditioning in that area.
You notice that it has been windy & there are leaves floating in the pool so you go to your touchscreen but this time to the pool menu & activate the pump to come on, seeing it is outside normal filter time clock settings.
You then sit down in the lounge & pick up your portable touchscreen remote control & press the button that says "Watch a Movie". The Plasma turns on, the amplifier turns on & goes straight to the DVD source — meanwhile the lights dim and the curtains close.
C-Bus is Clipsal Australia's automation system, designed for residential & commercial buildings — distributed control via a single wiring system.
Like Home Integration, C-Bus is a microprocessor-based control & management system for buildings & homes used for the control of electrical systems such as lighting and other electrical equipment. C-Bus is used not only to control lighting but other electrical loads & equipment, including pumps, audio visual devices, motors, etc.
The system is more sophisticated than a standard lighting control system since each C-Bus device has its own in-built microprocessor allowing for highly flexible programming and integration.
From a wiring perspective, all C-Bus devices are wired into & communicate via a low-voltage CAT5 unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cabling network. This network can be installed in a daisy chain, star, branch or "T" configuration. Information passes around the C-Bus network electronically, allowing any C-Bus device to "talk" to any other device on the network.
Up to 256 devices can be connected to a single C-Bus network. Multiple networks can be bridged together, allowing for sites of virtually any size — from a small apartment up to multi-storey commercial buildings.
All your electrical systems on one platform — lighting, audio, security, climate, AV. One control surface, one ecosystem, one source of truth.
Touchscreens, wall switches, your phone — control any scene from anywhere in the house, indoors or out, with one tap.
Trigger any combination of devices from a single button press. "Goodnight" scene? Lights off, security armed, music stops — done.
Change behaviour without rewiring. Add or remove devices, reprogram scenes, or expand the system at any time.
Connect Power & Cabling is a specialist in residential & commercial electrical contracting. The owner, Richard Cooke has been personally involved for 45 years in the electrical industry.