Light Up Your World
When I look at a request to come up with a solution to do some simple automation in a new home I like to put myself in the shoes of the average consumer. What would I do if it were my home? Of course you won’t get past the show pony who wants all the bells and whistles. They will tell you they want voice control over every device and they never want to get out of their seat to operate any of them. Once they get past showing off to all of their friends, most of the control they paid for will never be used again. Why? Because most of the features they requested were never used, or required, in their old home.
Now every supplier has the latest and greatest solution out there now days. And new ones just keep on rolling through. For such a small country we have every man and his dog out there importing devices, from plug and play to wireless to wired solutions with a variety of protocols. How confident will you be that when it comes to local support or technical expertise they will be able to fix any issues that arise?
Now if you want to keep it relatively simple, or go all out then this is where the likes of Nero fits into the market. It is reasonably easy to set up and has some great functionality and is upgradable as your lifestyle changes. The biggest cost to the system is the Nero-Gateway but once you have installed this, you can connect up to 60 devices via the Nexus mesh network.
So in terms of an add-on solution this is a very cost effective way to automate your house. It is designed for the retrofit market as the modules fit neatly behind your existing light switches and sockets. But it also has its place in the new home build market as well.
Some of the key features are really useful. Like being able to schedule when certain lights turn on is great for security. Imagine being able to go away on holiday and having different lights come on at irregular times to make it look like you are at home.
If you are lucky enough to have electric blinds and curtains then you can schedule these to close as the light level decreases and open again as the light level increases.
This is all controlled via the Nero-Multi. This is a multi-purpose battery or USB powered sensor that can monitor temperature, light level, motion, humidity, UV and vibration. With a five meter range and a 120-degree field of view, the Nero-Multi is a versatile device that can be wall mounted or discretely recessed with the optional recessor. Geo-fencing is another great feature. Imagine heading home at night, and once you get within a pre-set distance of your house, certain lights come on. Never arrive home in the dark again.
Qestions for homeowners
Some questions to ask homeowners could be: What is their lifestyle like? Are they Voice Control people? Would they use an App? Do they want things to be scheduled to come on and off automatically? Are they energy conscious? What would I do if it were my home? Not all the automation functions will suit everyone and some homeowners simply won’t use all the features available within a home control solution.
In summary
Nero is designed to welcome you home. If you have an existing home and are looking to add home automation it’s easy with Nero. This means you can trigger actions based on your arrival home. It is an affordable, scalable, retrofit and wireless automation solution that allows you to build a dream smart home, one switch at a time. It is very easy to set up and program off your laptop or PC. Your customer’s smart phone or tablet becomes the control interface for all connected devices, seamlessly merging lifestyle and technology into one. If you need more information contact your local Powerbase branch.