A new series of pre-assembled home automation kits is opening up the world of home automation to builders everywhere. Paul Skelton reports.

Australia is at a technological tipping point. For so long, home automation’s largest problem has been that very few people knew exactly what it was; but technology is changing – and with it so is the nature of the home automation market.
More and more systems are becoming available to the mass market that are making people talk about (and think about) what home automation actually is, and how they can get it. Interest in the market by global tech players like Apple and Google has only added to the intrigue too.

This puts builders in an interesting (and fairly important) position where home automation’s concerned.

It’s no secret that one of the most confronting aspects of home automation is the level of programming prowess required for many of the systems currently available in today’s market. Installation and configuration can be time consuming and relatively expensive – and only a handful of people can install these systems properly. Contrast this the increasing number of systems that are adopting the ‘iPhone’ mentality of sleek simplicity, and you could easily be forgiven for questioning the long-term viability of programming-intensive devices.

To address this growing demand for simplicity, multi-national wiring devices and control system manufacturer Legrand (the parent company of HPM) has released a series of pre-programmed  home automation ‘kits’, which are suitable for contractors of all types. Builders have been one of the largest consumers of the product to date.

Kits of this kind offer a very easy and affordable way for builders to enter the connected home market.

The four MyHOME lighting control and energy monitoring kits from Legrand include a predetermined number of devices including switches, relays, an enclosure, power supply, dimmers and a colour touch screen – everything the company believes is required for a basic home.

The kit also includes an energy measuring device, which allows you to see a home’s energy consumption in terms of price or usage.

“Technology is becoming more and more prevalent in homes, and people are becoming much more comfortable with it,” HPM Legrand national category manager Eduardo Yudowski says.

“Legrand has been selling home automation systems for many years and we always keep in mind not only functionality and design but the need to simplify installation of such systems.

“Some systems are complex and labour intensive requiring significant programming time, which makes it difficult for home owners to justify the cost of the installation.

“This difficulty also becomes evident once a system is installed. If the user would like to change the function of a switch or dimmer, the cost of bringing in a technician to do a very basic change is often prohibitive.
“Our new MyHOME kits fix this. We identified the four most common configurations used and we developed appropriate kits for those applications.

“The kits come pre-programmed; devices are pre-labelled and the documentation explains very simply how everything is put together.”

Eduardo explains one of the other benefits of installing a pre-programmed kit is undoubtedly the labour cost savings.
“These days, everybody is conscious of labour costs. In fact, labour costs in some systems could be a significant portion of the whole system,” he says.

“We are quite conscious of this so we tried to minimise the labour time needed to install these kits, making it more appealing to end users and installers alike.”

The MyHOME automation kits are designed to automate specific areas such as kitchens, bedrooms and living areas.
“The system can be monitored and controlled remotely via a mobile phone, and can be expanded at any time,” Eduardo says.

“With these kits we have tried hard to lower the entry barriers to the home automation market. The word ‘programming’ scares a lot of people, but now that we removed this element from the equation this type of technology becomes much more accessible.

“Instead of using complex software, our MyHOME kits are based on a system of configurators, which define the identity and functionality of a device. So, if you want to change, say, a switch, you simply need to find the configurator number and set the same number to the new one. Then the new switch will work automatically without any additional programming.

“This as a tremendous advantage for the installer, as well as the home owner, because it simplifies the installation and maintenance process enormously.”

The beauty of these kits, Eduardo says, is that in addition to making installation simple, they can be built upon in the future should the needs of the home owner change.

“In the kits, we provide three subsystems – lighting control, energy monitoring and IP control – but these systems can easily be expanded to control AV, HVAC, door entry systems, etc.

“MyHOME kit switches come from our Arteor range. The cover plates provided are white but the home owner can replace them with any of the 17 colours and finishes to suit the home’s decor.”

For contractors, this means you can still offer a customisable solution by working smarter, not harder.

“This is the future. And it is the easiest way for electrical contractors to get into automation.”

The four MyHOME kits are available from electrical wholesalers. Each kit features a different configuration, which allows the contractor to pick the kit that’s most suitable for their application.