Smart Home Technology: Could Your Home be Smarter?

What is a smart home?

There are countless products that can make your life easier and better, but a true smart home has a “brain” at its center. “In a true sense, a smart home allows the homeowner to control lighting, heating and air, security and audio throughout the house from off-site or through a remote when they come home,” explains Buck Curtis, owner and general manager of First Security Service Inc./Custom Audio Solutions.

The exterior of that ‘brain’ is often a panel resembling a breaker box. Within it are a lot of confusing-looking cables all bundled together. It’s called structured cabling and, as Curtis puts it, it’s the backbone of any smart home.  “From there, signals are distributed—whether telephone, television, high speed internet and audio—from that one location. In 95 percent of the new homes we do, we do structured cabling. That’s been around six or seven years now and is extremely popular.”

How does it work?

Most folks don’t want to understand the smart home as much as they want to enjoy it. Smart homes come with some kind of remote control, typically small and easy to use, says Jackie Nordan, owner of Custom Home Electronics, which installs the low voltage wiring required for smart homes.

“As a smart home feature, more and more people are going to a master control that controls most of the electronics I put in,” Nordan says. “In order to control those devices, we provide various types of touch-screen remote controls that are really simple to operate, with one-icon commands.” So, as soon as you lift up the remote, it turns itself on. Want to watch television? Press the button that says “Watch TV” and your audio, cable box and television will all come on. When it’s time to start the movie, simply push the button marked “Watch DVD,” and your cable will switch off while the DVD player is firing up. It’s enough to make any homeowner feel like George Jetson.

Lighting and more 

The same holds true with lighting, says Chad Lunsford, president of Audio Designs. Lunsford’s company does a variety of projects—from complete home theater rooms to simple installations of audio and video. These days, more consumers want to automate the lighting in their homes.

From the minute the homeowner pulls into the driveway, says Lunsford, a device similar to a garage-door opener, placed on the car’s sun visor, will turn on the garage lights and illuminate a path through the mud room to the kitchen and even to the bedroom. “You pretty much never come home to a dark house. You don’t have to fumble for light switches while you’re holding the groceries,” Lunsford says. Most houses have banks of light switches and it can be difficult to remember what the switches operate. Many of his customers dislike all the switch banks and also the fact that, with them, lights can be in only two positions: on or off.

“We can make it so that instead of all the banks, you have just one keypad on the wall. One button will set all the lights to a specific scene,” says Lunsford.

So when you wake up, you might press the button marked “Morning” and all the lights will come on. At the “Dinner” setting, maybe the lights will be programmed at thirty percent and for “Bedtime,” only the under-cabinet lights will illuminate. Smart home lighting not only offers more options and ambience, but saves energy too.

As for cost, each controlled circuit, or switch, is about $500. Lunsford sells a starter system with a keyless entry that controls eight switches that costs a few thousand. Additional switches can be added if desired.

Other smart-home features, Lunsford says, increasing in popularity are audio systems throughout the house, which are often small and hidden within the ceiling. Another big seller is Internet protocol cameras both inside and outside; you could conceivably check on your home from your computer at work,

especially helpful if you have an in-home nanny or teenager at home alone. “It’s getting a lot more common because the cameras are getting a lot more reasonable,” says Lunsford, noting inside cameras cost an average of $400. 

Small, but powerful

These days, Jackie Nordan installs a lot of central vacuuming systems, whole house audio systems, security systems and home theaters. The technology behind the remotes, he says, is amazing.

Many house remote controls are the size of a palm pilot, but are a lot more powerful than they look. “These little palm pilots actually have a 256K memory,” Nordan says. “It wasn’t that long ago that my desktop computer didn’t have that type of memory capability. You touch one button and forty or fifty commands happen at one time—the lights dim in the house, the blinds close in different rooms. Anything and everything you want to do, you can program it and put in strings of commands. It will do so many things for you at the touch of one button.”

Headed your way?

The good news for consumers is that smart home technology is becoming more affordable. Buck Curtis first started integrating home technology about 12 years ago, but it’s just been in the last few years or so that it’s really taken off.

“We first started to integrate not only security systems, but also television and telephone cable, and this was way before satellite television, as we know it, was around,” Curtis says. “It’s become very popular with high-end builders in the past five to six years. Homeowners have found they can incorporate it into their mortgages. Over a 30-year period, they can afford to purchase the larger TVs, home theaters and security systems they’ve always wanted.”

Curtis says consumers have gotten a lot more tech-savvy and that means they often price-shop and buy the equipment themselves. “What has really made it more available is that the cost of the actual equipment has gotten cheaper,” he says. Six years ago, the first 42-inch Plasma TV Curtis purchased cost more than $7,000, with a retail value of $10,000. “Those TVs now, same size but much better quality, you can buy in the $2,000 to $3,000 range retail.”

Whether you understand it or not, smart home technology is headed your way. Nordan says: “What we’re seeing now more and more is that the technology is being demanded by homeowners in the $250,000- to $300,000-home price range. It’s something that is more consumer-driven than builder-driven.” Even if you can’t afford a whole-house integrated system, which is a considerable expense, you can still indulge in smart technology on a smaller scale, perhaps with lighting or just an upgraded TV.  A little technology can make life a lot better.

Christa Gala is a Freelance Writer

Smart Cable

Time Warner Cable has a lot of integrated services and products. If you’re hooked up properly, you could see caller id pop up both on the TV and the telephone handset. Or you could receive your Road Runner email on your cell phone. Soon, you’ll be able to program your DVR from your cell phone.

What is DVR, you ask?  

The letters stand for “Digital Video Recorder.” The service is great for folks who can’t remember how to record on the VCR and, quite frankly, who ever did?

“With a DVR, you can record what you want and watch when it’s convenient for you,” says Melissa Buscher, public affairs manager for Time Warner Cable. “There are no tapes or timers to worry about. You simply set the DVR to record a show or series and it will record it for you.”

Time Warner has offered the service since 2003, and it costs $7.95 monthly in addition to any DigiPic package. More than half of Time Warner’s 500,000 Raleigh customers subscribe to DVR, says Buscher. Time Warner’s DVR holds up to 50 hours of programming; programs can be erased to make room or saved indefinitely.

Buscher points out other special features: “With a DVR, you can record an entire series. In the guide, you simply go to the show, press ‘select’ and a screen will pop up. You select ‘record the entire series’ and you’re done. From that point on, the DVR will record the show. You can toggle with the options to record new episodes, repeats or all episodes.” Amazingly, you can record two programs at the same time and even pause a show you’re watching.

Long live technology!

Aerial Photography - a smart way to market your home

Prospective homebuyers can easily research the specs on their dream house.  They can find out how many bedrooms, bathrooms, square feet, and dollars of value comprise the property.

But when you need some upper-crust information, something of a higher quality, a perspective that lets you rise above the basic profile, why not check out the property from a helicopter? Todd Henrikson of N.C. Rotor and Wing is in the business of providing aerial photography of properties, usually for real estate agents and land developers.  Though the vast majority of the company’s business is in flight instruction, the aerial photography and videography segment is growing rapidly.

“It gives real estate agents and prospective homebuyers a much better perspective than they might otherwise have,” said Henrikson.  “You can grasp the size of the land, what’s around the property, and the distance to nearby landmarks.”  The use of helicopters is a great fit for this purpose because they are able to fly low to the ground, go relatively slowly, and cover a lot of territory in a short amount of time.”

The photos are provided digitally and, depending on the real estate broker or agent, are often made available online to buyers. Aerial photography is also used by builders that want to assess the construction progress of their properties. But the uses of aerial photography do not end there.  Henrikson added, “We have one client who uses the helicopters for something very creative. When he sells a higher-end home to a family, he includes a paid flight above the neighborhood so they can see nearby shopping areas and schools.”

Now that’s what you call a three-dimensional image!

North Carolina Rotor and Wing offers helicopter flight instruction for career and recreational students, aerial photography, Wilmington beach tours, and more. For information, call 919- 497-5511 or visit www.ncrotorandwing.com.