Home Automation Ideas

This page is a work in progress. Please come again later for updates.

Do you have a home automation system? Are you sure you use it to its full potential? Even the simplest systems can do a lot if you use a little imagination and know what your system is capable of!

Below you will find some scenarios, that might inspire you to tinker with your existing system or improve upon it to make it more useful.

Scenes

“Wake up at 7am, take a shower, have a light breakfast, off to work at 8am, return home at 6pm, have some dinner, play with your kids, watch a little TV and off to bed at 10pm.” Sounds like you? Well, you are not alone! Most of the households live on a schedule that they follow on a daily basis.

Scenes (also called Macro commands) are our little helpers that could ease or even eliminate routine tasks with a press of one button, or based on the presense sensors placed strategically around your house. Let’s have a look at some examples…

Wake Up Scene

Turn on bedroom lights at 6:50am to 40% of their brightness, then to 60% a few minutes later. Turn on the radio (or TV) to some news or music channel, and turn them off half hour later. Turn the light on in the bathroom.

For this scene you might need: wall switches, appliance modules, IR senders.

Watch TV/DVD Scene

Turn on all your AV equipment (receiver, cable/sat box, TV, DVD player) and set them to right inputs. Lower the lights or close drapes (ambient light sensors and timers could be helpful in choosing the right action for the time of day).

Party Night Scene

Turn ambient lighting to highlight your entertainment area. Turn on the background music.

Good Night Scene

Activate security system in “Stay” mode. Turn off all lights.

Good Bye Scene

Activate security system in “Away” mode. Turn off all lights.

“I’m Home” Scene

If executed from the car it can… Open garage door. Turn on all lights. Turn on the background music.

Guests at the Door Scene

When someone rings your doorbell you can pause DVD if it was playing. Turn TV to security camera’s channel to see who’s by the door.

Intruder/Emergency Scene

Flash porch lights to attract attention of your neighbours or guide police/fire trucks to your home.

These are just a few basic scenes you might implement with your home automation system. I’m sure you can come up with more elaborate ideas.

Do you have a favorite Scene? Share with us in the comments below.

For the ultimate in home automation check Bwired.nl. It will give you plenty of ideas.

P.S. Of course scenes would require some sort of a controller– a device or software that can store your defined routines and execute them at appropriate times or based on the environment or your actions.

HOME AUTOMATION INSTALLATIONS, IDEAS AND SOLUTIONS

  • Bwired.nl – Pieter Knuvers’ über automated home. This Dutch guy has built an amazing demonstration of what could be done with a little imagination and a lot of free time. Actually, I think it took a lot of imagination and his set-up could be used as an inspiration to all of us, Home Automation fans. On his site Pieter talks about all the hardware he is using and how it all works together to create an automation marvel.
  • MyHomeTheaterPC – Another great example of home automation at work, with parts list, software, tips, etc.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*