What is Home Automation?

Home Automation may be something as simple as a remote switch to control your external lights when you enter your driveway, or it could be as advanced as watering your garden at your house from your mobile phone from the other side of the world.

With home automation you can listen to your music collection wherever you are in your home without having to use a CD player.

You can have different moods in music and lighting in different rooms, control your heating while away, view your security cameras from the internet, get a text message sent to your mobile phone whenever your intruder or smoke alarms are activated, answer your door and open electric gates when you're not in.

What can I control?

Lighting

Lighting is probably the most popular item to control in the home, you can dim lights that you never dimmed before and control lights from anywhere in the house or over the internet.

Good, well designed lighting will completely change the look and feel of your home, in addition to providing effective task lighting – for example over kitchen surfaces - a well-conceived design has the potential to enhance interior space. Different ‘scenes’ can be stored and recalled for entertaining, cooking or watching TV.

The benefits of home automated lighting system include making your home safer, simpler and cheaper to run.

With Home Automation you can turn off all your lights TVs and audio systems just by setting your intruder alarm when you leave for work. Open your gates to your house and make a path of light from the gates to the entrance of your home when it is dark.

You can with a press of a button turn the whole house off from your bed side to put your house into sleep mode, and set low levels of pathway light between bedrooms and bathrooms so people can go to the bathroom at night without using the lights on full power or turning on the bathroom fans which keep you awake.

While cooking in the kitchen-diner you can set the scene from bright lights and music to low level lighting and soft music from cooking to dining by the touch of a switch, even though you haven’t changed rooms, this gives you the idea of a different scene.

When you choose to watch a movie in your home cinema the lights dim automatically and the scene is set as soon as the movie starts to play.

Lights can be turned on and off automatically as you enter or leave a room - therefore you save energy.

Security, Intruder Alarms, CCTV and Access Control

You can control all your security systems in your home, you can turn on your alarm while at work, even view all your CCTV while on holiday.

You can get alerts via a text message or e-mail for when a alarm is activated at your home, you then can look at your cameras and see why the alarm is activated.

Have all the lights turn on in the house when your smoke detectors are activated to provide you with escape routes. If the smoke alarms go off while you’re out you can view CCTV to see why or simply call the fire brigade to save your home.

Have your home give the appearance that it is lived in while you’re away by playing music, opening/closing curtains, turning lights on and off - all while you’re on holiday. ;

Even set off sprinkler systems at night if you think you have an intruder in your garden.

 

Home Cinema / Home Audio

By the touch of a button on one remote control you can dim the lights, lower the projector screen, shut the curtains, choose your movie and volume level, and all you do is then sit back and enjoy watching your favourite movie, sport or entertainment programme.

You can do away with DVDs and store all your favourite movies on your house server, even setting passwords to restrict children watching 18 rated movies.

Watch Sky+ HD recordings anywhere in your whole house.

We can even install TVs outside so you can watch it in the comfort from your hot tub. Or while you have a bath.

You can even program your TVs to display your favourite family photo’s throughout the house thus turning the traditional TV into big digital photo frames.

Have all your tunes stored on your server and play different tunes in different rooms with different moods, even have music playing in the garden with our range of weather proof speakers.

Put your iPod into one of the remote docking stations too so you can listen to your iPod from anywhere in your house.

Have the music played through top of the range loud speakers which can be discreetly hidden, or floor standing.

Phone Systems

Phone systems that are usually used for small business applications are surprisingly convenient in the home. With caller ID and a home automation controller you can even screen your calls for only those you wish to cause your phone to ring. Voice control software turns every phone in your home into a remote controller.

Heating / Air conditioning controls

Remote-control thermostats allow you to adjust the temperature from bed at night or even from a cell phone while on your way home so the house is warm and cozy when you get in (or get to your second home!). They can even trigger a notice to you if the temperature gets too low (to prevent pipes from freezing) or too high (to protect your pets, plants, etc.).

Irrigation

Have your sprinklers turn on only when it's not raining. Some of our customers even turn the sprinklers on when there's motion in the yard at unwanted times like when they think there is an intruder in the garden.

Cable & Structured Wiring

Home automation can be accomplished using various types of connectivity. What's great is that many of today's home automation products need no new wires - so they are perfect to retrofit into an existing home. If you are building new or doing a major remodel, please consider adding networking, audio, video and control wiring while it is easy and relatively inexpensive. Later on you'll be happy that you did.

Other

What you can control with your home automation systems is endless, but includes Garage Doors and Electric Gates. Even turning on the oven from work to cook your tea or filling the bath up at the required temperature so it is ready for when you get home.

What are the Benefits of Home Automation?

Convenience

We've all become used to controlling our TV from the couch; just wait until you are able to dim the lights as well. Imagine adjusting the temperature from your bed or controlling the volume of your whole-house audio system from any room. Or imagine the wall/ceiling heater in your bathroom coming on automatically on chilly mornings five minutes before your alarm clock goes off so that it is warm when you enter. Many of our installations also save energy; we'll all agree that's a nice convenience.

Safety

We're all used to opening the garage door from the car, but you'll be surprised how much safer you'll feel coming home to a lit home and even turning on more lights from your keyfob remote upon your arrival. With a couple of basic products you can have your whole house light up like Fort Knox when there is motion detected at any corner of your house. Imagine your house sending you an email if there is motion where there shouldn't be any. Or you can have your security system call you if there is an alarm, which might include your typical security alarm or even a low or high temperature or water in the laundry room or basement.

Fun

High-tech products for the home are fun to use and share with others. Whether viewing visitors at your front door on your TV or tuning your stereo by using voice recognition, you'll find home automation surprisingly enjoyable. And when it comes to impressing the friends, you'll be happy to show off your newfound applications. With the broad selection of home automation products offered by Thinkhouse Automation Limited, you can.

What we offer

• Lighting
• Security, Intruder Alarms, CCTV and Access Control
• Home Cinema / Home Audio
• Phone Systems
• Heating / air conditioning controls
• Irrigation
• Cable & Structured Wiring
• Others e.g. Electric Gates / Garage Doors