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What is a smart home?

How a smart home works and how can they add value

Our homes need to be more to us than ever before.

They are not just a set of walls and a roof to keep the rain off. Our home's role in our lives keeps evolving - they are the perfect sanctuary that you can’t wait to get back to each day and also functional and flexible spaces to cater for modern everyday demands - the homework station, the work from home space, the area for entertaining or relaxing.

family in kitchen

So what is a 'smart home'?

A smart home is a device or a system which 'talks' to other connected devices or appliances in the home to trigger a particular event or action, or monitor a particular parameter (such as temperature/humidity). These devices are controlled using a wireless network (Bluetooth or Wi-Fi). Some smart devices run on power and others are battery operated.

Smart homes can now drop the blinds, check for water leaks, automatically adjust lighting or heating and even open and close our garage door – just the tip of the iceberg in an exciting wave of capabilities and imagining all the possibilities.

We’re effectively communicating to our home our rhythms and how we like to live, so things happen automatically or at our fingertips to make our lives easier and more enjoyable.

wiser smart home
man and son on ipad
wiser smart home
man and son on ipad

Not rocket science

Home automation has never been more affordable, accessible or simpler to use. Innovation in this space is accelerating so it is a great opportunity to add value to your home and lifestyle.

One barrier that’s been completely removed by the latest technology is complexity. Whether you want to have a few smart devices connected or deploy a complete smart home automation solution – there are a myriad of options depending on what level of technology you are comfortable with.

The latest apps for smart devices change your phone or tablet into a remote and can connect to smart devices giving you incredible control of your home. But if you’re the hands-on type, there are lots of manual methods of control such as motion sensors, or basic timers which can give you simple automation without needing app operation or connecting to the internet.

Whether it's touch screens on the wall, voice activation or smart sensors that recognise factors like proximity, temperature, time or light level - control can be tailored to your lifestyle, your preferences and your home.

Imagine what a smart home could do for you? Provided with the right information a smart home installer can create all manner of innovative possibilities to benefit your lifestyle. Armed with the devices in our pockets and smarter tech within the walls we’re able to make our homes into something that we optimise, rather than just live in.

dad and daughter on couch
family dining outside
dad and daughter on couch
family dining outside

Taking the first step

The first consideration once you’ve chosen to have some level of home automation is to decide what you want to control. The possibilities are near-infinite – basically, if it can be plugged in, it can be controlled.

For instance, a switch or socket with an in-built timer is the perfect example of passive home automation that’s both simple and inexpensive. For a few hundred dollars you can save energy by having your heated towel rail turn on and off automatically after the family has typically finished showering in the morning.

Alternatively, you may want to introduce some added safety to the use of hair straighteners, or electric blankets so that they turn off after a pre-determined time – preventing a potential fire hazard. This can be achieved with a simple PDL time delay switch that is scheduled to switch off after a certain duration and can be easily overridden at the switch.

It's worth thinking beyond the home with simple automation too. Imagine being able turn on the fridge at the holiday home a couple of hours before you arrive or tell the roomba to do a quick sweep of the downstairs as you’re heading home with unexpected guests on the way.

Even when you’re not in your home you can have it work for you.

dad and son in tent
family eating dinner
dad and son in tent
family eating dinner

Take it up a notch

Now you’re considering the breadth of applications available and how a smart home can increase your peace of mind, convenience and energy efficiency – let’s take a look at some next-level home automation opportunities.

Lighting is a particularly exciting part of the home when it comes to control and smarts. Simple and affordable automation can deliver energy efficiency and increase safety and security in the home.

A good example would be using sensors to turn your security lights on based on the detection of movement. You might like to have low-level stair or hall lights to come on when someone approaches after 10pm.

The next-level is fully automated situational lighting that can deliver lighting ‘scenes’ in certain environments. A ‘cooking’ setting in the kitchen could maximise benchtop lighting, ‘dinner party’ could provide more tabletop lighting but dim the rest of the dining room and automatically turn on some background music.

Once you’re experimenting with this level of home automation you can explore beyond just the lights and into your full entertainment experience - your ‘watching a movie’ scene could dim your lounge lights, close the blinds, turn on the television and set the appropriate volume and sound settings on your surround sound.

woman pressing c-bus
woman on couch
woman pressing c-bus
woman on couch

How does a smart home work?

Before you get to tailoring your smart home to your needs, understanding how it all works is important regardless of whether you’re building a brand-new home or renovating your existing one.

Communication is the key to any home automation – in this instance, it’s the devices that you need to talk to each other. There are currently three primary methods of communication that smart-home devices use to communicate – cables, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Cabled in devices can use communication cables like ethernet or sometimes the copper wiring in your walls to send signals between devices. PDL’s SpaceLogic C-Bus solution can deliver a totally customised option for your whole home and will require a trained installer called an EcoXpert to tailor the automation solution for you and the way you would like to live.

Bluetooth is its own communication technology that enables to you to pair devices together such as your mobile phone or tablet and a smart switch or socket when within range. Just in the same way you can connect using Bluetooth to your car, or a speaker, you can now connect to your light switches or sockets.

Bringing Bluetooth into your smart home is an extremely cost-effective approach to home automation. You will need to remember that Bluetooth has a maximum range meaning you won’t be able to manually control your home from afar, like a Wi-Fi system could.

Wi-Fi is nothing new but its use in smart home applications is an exciting development and opens up a host of opportunities as well. This is where you can start to control things remotely. Handy for the beach house, or turning on the heat pump from the office ready for you to arrive home to a toasty warm house.

kitchen

Creating a smart home

So now you’ve recognised the advantages and are looking forward to some added security, comfort and convenience – how do you see it in action or make your home smart?

PDL home automation showrooms let you get hands-on with every level of home automation. You’ll be able to go through your specific requirements and try out all the different technology to help you decide which smart home automation solution is a good fit for you and does what you want it to do.

If you can’t make it to the PDL showroom, you can book a free digital consultation with a PDL specialist or talk to a registered electrician who can discuss what you’d like your home to do, and advise on the best approach, and the expected costs.

An electrician will also be able to install the smart devices and can make sure you get the perfect setup for the unique needs of your home and your lifestyle.

c-bus in kitchen

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