Planning for Home Automation ? Get it Right First Time.
“IQ” Route To Dream Home Automation Can Save Thousands
Building your own home or managing a major refurbishment is quite naturally a lifetime’s dream come true. Equally naturally, your new dream home should be fully automated and as energy-efficient as possible, but, unless you’ve won the Lottery, you’ll be working to a budget.
However, if you fail to plan adequately for these two key elements, the dream may become a nightmare and eventually cost thousands.
Fortunately, help is at hand from the UK’s leading home automation company, IQYourHome.com, led by Tony Cheeseman, who has been involved in electrical contracting for over 30 years and has specific home automation experience gained over 20 years.
He knows that a modest outlay at the outset can save thousands later on by “getting it right first time.”
Accordingly, the company is running a series of courses throughout 2007 where delegates will be given practical demonstrations in how to plan a home automation system, avoiding changes during installation and potentially saving thousands that could be incurred by variations to the original design.
Invaluable to “self-builders” and renovators, the courses will help selection of automation features required, including home entertainment systems for a selected lifestyle and enable a home for any future automation. Delegates will also receive an IQYourHome.com homeowners’ specification and wiring diagrams pack, enabling them to brief any electrical contractor with clarity and confidence.
The courses, costing £150 + VAT per person are held at our offices near Sevenoaks, Kent, and include morning coffee, a three-course lunch and afternoon tea.
More information and course dates from Tim Wilson: 01732-763888 or tim@iqyourhome.com
Here follows an extract from a recent article in the 'INTERNATIONAL SMARTHOUSE' magazine
SMART AT HEART
A quality distribution system is the core of all good smart homes. JAKE STOW takes a look at one of the best currently available, the Cardio System...
Anyone who's been paying the slightest bit of attention to this magazine over the last few months will have gained a reasonable understanding of what lies behind the concept of the smart house (Those who haven't, stay behind at the end of this feature so we can have words). it's a term that conveniently describes the holy grail of anyone with an interest in home automation, and specifically an interest in combining home entertainment devices with the multitudinous electrical systems that can be found in the majority of homes.
Understanding what it is is one thing, but managing to implement such technology in your own property is something else completely. Whilst the majority will have in their possesion several of the home entertainment sources commonly found in a smart home long before the idea of home automation crops up, very few as of yet will have the kit to centralise and integrate this technology.
One reason for this may be the fact that, whilst source technology is often heralded in its own right, the systems that facilitate home automation don't always get the plaudits they truly deserve. They are after all, designed to be hidden out of the way, carrying out their dutoes in a fashion that means that you're unlikely to notice them unless something goes wrong. Seeing as this is a magazine that deals with every aspect of the smart revolution, it would be wrong of us not to attempt to rectify this imbalance and give some deserved coverage to tthe systems that are making comprehensive home automation more possible all the time. As such, we thought we'd introduce you to one such system right now.
Quality Control The technology in question is the Cardio Home Automation System. Created by Canadian manufaturers Secant, it has been specifically developed for tthe residential market and is able to exert control over lighting, heating, air conditioning, security and appliances amongst other things, whilst remaining at all times efficient and use-friendly. Introduced to the European market five years ago, the Cardio System is distributed over here by installers IQ your home and is one of three home automation ststems the company employ (the others bein Qbus and Vantage.
The advantages of Cardio are widespread. Installation is straightforward, requiring only a competent electrician to get things up and running and once in place, the system is flexible enough to permit whatever upgrades or alterations may be required at a later date. All of which would be irrelevant if it didn't perform to the desired level, but Cardio produces the goods. with the capacity to control 150 circuits of lighting, monitor and control alarms and security systems; control curtains and blinds, and of course, link up with audio visual components via RS232 or RJ45 (and these are just a few examples of its full capabilities), this is a system that will do pretty much anything your budget and imagination allows.
Command over security, lighting, heating, home entertainment, electrical appliances, curtians and blinds can be exercised from the dedicated touch screen
With such a scope you could be forgiven for thinking that operating such a system would border on the nightmarish, but, thanks to a full complement of touch screens, digital keys, conventional retractive push buttons, infrared remotes and the good old telephone, exploiting cardio to its limits is simplicity itself.
heart of the matter Of course it's all very well listin Cardio's capabilities, but what can all of this technology actually achieve once installed onto a home? To answer that, we can turn to a development undertaken by Laing Homes in Greenwich, London. IQ Your Home were given the responsibility of setting up a home automation system that would both convey sufficient technological benefits and be in keeping with the Georgian decor of the planned townhouse/apartment complex.
Thanks to cardio's ability to employ any manufacturer's retractive switches, and therefore not inflict conspicuois technology upon a room, it was chosen for the job.
This particular property makes use of the full range of cardio's capabilities. Command over security, lighting, heating, home entertainment, curtains and blinds can be exercised from the dedicated touch screen, positioned by the living room entrance door, through individual room switches or from a Philips Pronto remote, programmed to interact with anything in the property that requires remote operation.
One of the most impressive features of the system in this installation is the bespoke 'mood scanner', which can be created at the touch of a single button. For example, an 'entertaining scene' available in the dining area allows the user to close the curtains, dim the lights and turn on some suitably subtle background music with an absolute minimum of effort. Elsewhere a 'movie scene' automatically closes curtains, gradually dims the lights as the home cinema comes on and begins to play a DVD - it doesn't get much more impressive than that! cardio even permits the mood of a room to be set for any time of the day, and has the ability to store up to 40 scenes at any one time.
Control of appliances extends to items such as coffee percolators and toasters (starting to prepare breakfast before you leave the comfort of your bed in the morning is a benefit i,m sure everyone will be able to appreciate ) and every home entertainment source a user sees fit to install. In total the system can be made responsible for 40 devices, a figure that essentially means the entire range of a home's appliances can be brought under remote control.
master system And there's more. Cardio's capacity to manage security, and even a user's energy consumption, is perfectly highlighted by the Greenwich installation. When leaving the house, a touch of the intelligent ket reader by the front door can switch off lights, influence heating settings and tell the security system to activate a random 'lived-in' program, which gives the property the outward appearance of still being occupied. The system will even monitor water leaks, fire or burglary and will phone a designated number if any problem is detected. Similarly, a user can phone into the system and make alterations to their home's heating or lighting - they can even order sprinklers to water the garden if this system is hooked up.
The examples above make clear exactly what Cardio is capable of doing within the scope of an extensive home automation installation. At the same time user-friendly and technologically complex, it's obvious why IQ Your Home em[ployed such a system in the development in Greenwich and why it would be suitable for any number of similar projects.
Unobtrusive, effective, easily programmed and controlled, Cardio is what every smart distribution system should, and hopefully one day will be. For now, if comprehensive automation of your living space is your goal, giving IQ Your home a call and asking for the Cardio System is a pretty good start.
