Smart Homes - Equipment Needed

The equipment available in market for home automation is so wide ranging that if you were to install each one of them (we are assuming there are no financial constraints here!), probably the only things remaining would be cooking and cleaning! In fact, even cleaning is automated with central vacuuming. Central vacuuming around your smart home does away with all the dirt. The only work you will have to do is whisk away the dirt to the outlets to which vacuum is connected. Now, that is some cleaning!

Individual automation systems:
For a smart home, the equipment needed will undoubtedly depend upon your budget and the needs of the occupants. Automation systems range from 'Light and Appliance Control' to 'Environment Controls'. The first one comes with equipments such as lighting controller and bulbs, timers and wall plates. Environment control system includes equipments such as door, window and drapery control for converting your home to a tech home. A 'Home Health' control takes care of the elderly, disabled or impaired persons at home for healthy living. This system comes with its own set of equipment such as Fire Prevention control and Wanderer Alerts and personal health devices. For these systems, you do not buy the equipments individually. Rather, the complete sets for these home control systems are available from many vendors.

Integrated home control systems:
Individual automation systems used in home technology are used for proper systems and work on their own. Integrated home control systems, however, have the potential to control the whole home. They include wireless transmitters, touch screens and keypads so that you can control lighting and temperature with one click of the remote.

Home appliances controlled through PC:
 Through this home technology, individual devices can be linked up to a PC and the PC can be programmed to launch devices at preset times. The PC can also be tuned to launch a series of chronological actions or multiple actions occurring at the same time. For this system, the controllers for the devices will need to be linked to computer via a serial or USB port. Some controllers such as 'ActiveHome CM11'A' and 'SmartHome PowerLinc Controller 1132CU' have the capacity of retaining their memory so that they can control devices around your home even if they have been disconnected from the PC. These controllers are a must have as they not only work in accordance with the PC for an automated home but can also carry out the functions without disruption in case of disconnection from the PC.