Smart Home Control

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Making Everything Simple

Remote monitoring and control devices let you adjust smart home systems remotely, and check on their status—entertainment systems, alarms, shades, and lighting control settings, even the name of a song. Whether you’re planning

  • a small handheld remote that controls a home theater, lighting, and/or motorized window coverings,
  • a master controller programmed to all the smart home systems in the home,
  • multiple wall-mounted touch panels located throughout the home, with screen views that can be custom-tailored to the needs and preferences of individual family members, or
  • a smartphone with apps that allows you to check up on things at home from the office or when out of town.

Smart monitoring and control is essential for easy management of all of the home electronic devices that make life convenient, enjoyable, and safe.

Most home entertainment devices today come with a dedicated remote control. But as the number of components (each with their own remote) increases, this once-essential accessory has become a nuisance, causing confusion over which remote controls what feature.

For example, does the volume control on your TV remote adjust the level on your surround sound system, or is it the remote for the surround receiver, or the one for the streaming device? This can be very frustrating—unless the control of all components is integrated into a single universal remote.

Universal Remotes

A universal remote control eliminates this confusion—and much more. Though handy throughout the home, they’re especially useful for controlling all the components in a home theater—plus room lighting and shade control, if needed. Here’s how:

All-in-One

A single universal remote can be programed to control virtually all of the functions for all of the devices and systems in your home—eliminating that basketful of individual remotes that are forever getting misplaced, or are low on battery power.

Favorites

Select from a displayed list of your “favorite” stations (NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, FOX, ESPN, etc.) so you don’t have to remember the channel numbers, hunt for them, or punch them in.

Macros

The Macro feature, properly programmed, allows a single button (a key custom-labeled “Golf,” for example) to execute a complex sequence of steps: turn on the TV, the cable box, and the surround receiver; then set the surround receiver to the “cable” input, and adjust the cable box channel selector to the Golf network. Hole in one!

End the Confusion

Rely on the universal remote “Volume” button to control your listening level—regardless of what you are watching or listening to. Then you can hide the remotes for the surround receiver, TV, and cable/satellite box—each of which contains a volume control button that is inappropriate for your system set-up. You won’t need them, and they’ll only confuse you.

RF Communication

Universal remotes provide a radio frequency (RF) link to control components that are hidden from view: in a cabinet or closet, where they cannot be controlled by the IR (Infra-Red), line-of site remotes that were supplied with the individual components.

Integrated Remote Control

Complex, multi-system installations can be controlled by a single system processor. Depending on the system size, home layout, and your needs, communication with this processor can occur via a large in-wall touch-panel display, a handheld touch-panel, handheld universal remote controls, multiple wall-mounted keypads located strategically throughout the home, or a combination of the above.

In addition, manufacturers of most smart home products provide apps which allow the homeowner to control the systems with a tablet or smartphone—when away from home, out in the back yard, or in bed.

As smart home systems become more comprehensive, the size of the universal remote’s display—and its capacity to be custom tailored to the homeowner’s needs—becomes critical. For a home that includes an alarm system, lighting control, home theater, multi-room music—and other features—a touch-panel remote may be the only control device having a display that is large (and flexible) enough to display overall status information for all systems.

Such a display is typically programmed with a Home Page that provides a single, uncluttered, overview showing all of the systems this controller is programmed to manage. The user selects an icon on the Home Page that leads to the Landing Page for the system they wish to operate—where more detailed options are shown for that system.

With a comprehensive intrusion control system, for example, creating an Alarm page that displays the on/off status of all door and window locks in the home, super-imposed on an image of the actual floor plan, will make it very simple to understand and use.

Smartphones & Tablets

Apps are now available which allow owners to monitor and control virtually any smart home system in the home using a smartphone or table. Plus, they are wonderfully convenient for checking up on things when you are on the road or at work.

But when used as the primary controller in the home, their screen size, visual clutter from non-smart home apps, short battery recharge cycles, and limited capacity for integration across systems can seriously interfere with the full and easy management of essential smart home features.

If you decide to control a multi-technology smart home with a tablet or smart phone, consider dedicating the device to that single purpose—to reduce Home Page clutter and confusion. Then develop a routine for charging it daily.

Why? If you run out of power while listening to a podcast or favorite song, it’s an inconvenience. But if your battery goes dead while managing lights and door locks in a home emergency, it could spell disaster.