Published October 18, 2000
Future Home at Disney’s Tomorrow Land hadn’t conceived of the Internet in 1957, but did include labor-saving gadgets, some abundantly available today. What button-pusher homeowner would overlook energy-saving and family protection electronic gizmos, the same employed in government buildings, universities and Fortune 500 companies?
Remote control your entire home with or without rewiring. Install perimeter video surveillance and automatic silent alarms. The combinations of these and many more tools and toys are available to us, should we entertain a justification for the purchase.
One California company, Smarthome.com, markets these and other home automation solutions. They claim to be the largest supplier with an impressive interactive Web site. Take their 17-room online tour, clicking on possible uses for the busy homeowner or home business. Christmas is coming.
Some of this is unquestionably frivolous. Who really needs to dim the lights in a separate room of the house from a switch in the bedroom, or have the coffee aroma awaken us for breakfast the next morning?
The experts, years ago, were certain that infrared remote controls for televisions were also silly. No one would be so lazy, they reasoned, as not to be able to rise from their easy chair and switch a channel or adjust the volume. Feel embarrassed yet? Automation is where we’re going. Who among us would give up the most cherished automation button of all time, to “mute” TV commercials?
What if an intruder were to enter your home? Wouldn’t a bedside master-all-lights-on switch be valuable? Better yet, a perimeter detector would alert the occupants of an approaching vehicle in the driveway or someone entering through a window.
Interior and exterior detectors send their special signals over the same 120V electrical wiring that power these sensors and controllers. It’s called X10. As many as 256 different devices are individually or collectively activated in this way, even across each phase of the 240V line entering the structure.
A motion detector, for instance, can be preset to activate any single or multiple X10 device, such as flood lights, silent 911-emergency telephone announcement, or entertainment for Halloween.
Smarthome.com offers many how-to projects for this holiday. Startle the costumed trick-or-treaters before they ring the doorbell with spooky music and a motorized scary display. Turn your jack-o'-lanterns on at dusk and off at midnight.
Property and personal protection is an obvious security issue worthy of safeguarding. Something as simple as randomly turning room lights on or off by automation looks, from outside, that the structure is occupied when in fact you are residing overnight elsewhere. Heat and smoke alarms assure your survival of a fire.
Other systems monitor flooding, freezing and power surges. Of course Uninterrupted Power Supplies protect all sensitive electronics, and battery-powered inverters maintain all essential circuits during those durations of irregular power or outages.
Video cameras monitor a front door or can be set to activate a VCR if someone or something passes over the perimeter. These need not be conspicuous; video cameras are now smaller than a 9-volt battery, the size of your thumb. View and listen into the baby’s room from elsewhere in the house.
Electronic controllers can moderate temperature to the presence of room occupants. Or, day/night timers adjust temperatures up and down automatically, maximizing energy efficiency of heating and air conditioning. With one phone call from the office or cellular phone, adjust any environmental setting for your home.
A wireless sensor activates a pleasant sounding signal inside when the postman arrives and opens/closes the mailbox. Wish him/her a “good day” through an invisible intercom at that location.
Do your pets leave home without permission? Keep them on your property with a special collar. Find their hiding places with a hand-held directional radio receiver. And allow only them to reenter through the pet door. Other wildlife can stay out.
If the master should be away for a weekend, automatically feed the pets, up to five fresh meals a day at specified times. Fish feeders do the job for up to 21 days and flash a warning light if the pellet receptacle needs refilling.
Trees, plants and grass are automatically watered the required amounts by moisture sensors, not timers. This avoids sprinkler activation during rains or freezing conditions.
Motorized drapes open to the sunlight in the morning and close for privacy and insulation after dusk. They also open and close manually with the press of a button or by hearing a specific voice command.
A centralized stereo system pipes music through the home, and any TV in the house can view a video-disc, tape, cable channel, satellite or surveillance camera. Multiple computers throughout the house can be networked together and to the Internet by a centralize radio transceiver; no wires are needed.
Multiple-line telephones for home business can be setup to auto-connect to any single line extension. Pestering telemarketing calls can be blocked. Communicate with others in your home from any phone to other speaker phones or to room intercoms. Checkin to your home’s system status by a phone call, or listen to the ambient noises and voices.
The home automation options are limitless. The challenge is deciding just where to start. Smarthome.com recommends that new home construction automation systems be designed and installed by professionals. But do-it-yourself kits are easy for novices and install in minutes.
You could begin with something simple like a keyless garage entry system? Now, what was that entry security code?