Smart Home IO

When attempting to control and integrate the Amazon Fire TV with the use of a universal control you will need the help from the Flirc USB Dongle to accomplish the task which is readily available on Amazon's Online Store .  The Amazon Fire TV comes with a Bluetooth remote which is great if you do not have an involved TV setup and would like to hide the Fire TV away out of viewing site but it does not help if you are trying to have one system and remote control to work all your devices seamlessly. This is where integrating the Fire TV using the Flirc USB comes into play. When setting up the Flirc adapter you are able to configure the USB dongle and learn the IR codes that you would like to use to control your Fire TV with the downloadable Flirc configuration software. The Flirc dongle and software together learn the IR codes from any remote and allow them to control the functions of the Fire TV which are set one at a time.  Once the setup has been com

The new driver from MyDevice  is now available on their website to integrate Amazon Alexa voice commands with system macros on an RTI smart home control system. The new driver allows you to use the Amazon Echo, Dot, Tap and Fire TV product to trigger events based on your voice commands. The voice actions that can be integrated with this driver are on, off, up, down, raise, lower, brighten and dim. Each voice trigger is given a unique name usually room location based to trigger the macros that are specified within your RTI system programming. The driver is purchased and downloaded for $100 but a free demo driver is available for download to test out this great new control driver from  MyDevice . "Alexa, turn on the bedroom lights" My Device RTI Amazon Alexa Driver Download

When creating a Smart Home it is very important to pay attention to the small details of your system. The difference between a "good" system and a "great" system are those little details when bringing all the elements of your home together. As you can see in the picture above even a small detail like the color choice of a keypad, volume control and  Lutron Pico remote can have a negative effect on the appearance outcome of the controls on your walls. The correct color choice in this situation could have helped blend all the wall controls together more harmoniously helping the aesthetics of the space in the house.  Paying attention to the little details when creating and installing a smart home or even simply installing a smart home device like the Nest device is very important and is what separates the great from the good.

If you are looking to update the firmware version of your Crestron MC3 processor the first step is to download the corresponding .puf file from the Crestron website. This can be found under the MC3 processor product page under the resources tab and scroll down to software and firmware title. Once the latest version of firmware has been downloaded to your computer simply double click the above icon to open up the package update tool. Upon launching the tool it will immediately take you to the Crestron address book utility where you will either reference the address entry for the processor you are wanting to update or you can create a new entry entering in the IP address of the processor on the local area network. After you have connected to the processor from the address book entry page the updater tool will search and suggest what updates are available for your processor. Put a check mark next to all elements that you would like to updat

When building a smart home you will definitely need a space to fit the necessary equipment for your integrated system. A rack enclosure is the best possible way to achieve an organized space to bring your components together. Including a rack into your project allows for orderly wiring to and from your electronics and also allows the equipment to be serviceable down the road when issues/problems arise or you decide to make changes to your system. Equipment racks come in many forms to fit many different spaces and applications.  There are racks that can go inside of built cabinetry that have pull out rails built in, racks on casters that stand on the floor that can be wheeled around and racks that are built up from the ground that have external stand and rails to be able to pull the equipment rack out for access. When designing a smart home it is imperative to plan for where your equipment will reside and to take the necessary steps to house your equipment in a p

Smart home wiring management is a very important part of your smart home system especially if you have contracted a company to do this for your home. The wiring of your home is the back bone of your system and if it is done incorrectly it can lead to issues down the road including communication and reliability issues of your system. A good general rule of thumb when assessing the wiring quality of your home is if the wires look messy and unorganized then you can bet that they are and the quality of work is not where is should be to deliver a great system which is why you ultimately hired a professional. The quality of your smart home is only as good as your wiring permits.  A quality and organized wiring job can significantly reduce your service costs maintaining the system and especially important if changes are made to your system down the road. Labeling of your smart home wires are equally important to reduce time spent determining where and what various wires are for.

myCrestron cloud power in a new service offered by the smart home automation company Crestron to accompany their recent IP based control system. The idea behind myCrestron  cloud power is for the smart home company to pair all their existing Crestron Pyng systems together in one space to monitor and effectively show them in the cloud with a centralized dashboard. The system dashboard will be able to alert you if a system is having an issue and with the automatic logs the Pyng system sends to the cloud. The Crestron true blue support team will also be able to help you that much easier compared to a traditional Crestron control system. Crestron also poses the idea to generate recurring revenue with the new myCrestron system. This could be in the form of a monthly system monitoring service that you could now offer to your client if you did not have an existing system in place for this service feature.  This new service will be a benefit to the clients you serve allowin

The Nest 3rd Generation thermostat is the must have smart home item that increasingly is integrate-able with many of the leading smart home control systems out in the market these days. Even if you are not running a control system to manage all your devices at your home, you can greatly benefit from this device with their stand alone app that will get you up to speed controlling your climate from your phone at home or when away from your residence. Nest can be integrated with your Control 4 system, Crestron system or even your RTI remote control system very easily. Nest is also recently controllable with your Amazon Alexa Hub via voice control. Savant systems is even soon to release their update to be able to manage your smart learning thermostat.

Smart Home wall clutter can happen very easily to a home when an automation system design has failed to take into account the ascetics of the home. This wall clutter phenomenon especially happens when you have too many different contractors implementing electronics within your household. Most of the time when this happens the electronic elements within your home do not play well together and for many create unnecessary devices and switches and thermostats and touch panels that clog up your wall space and look with drywall acne throughout your home. With the advent of the iPad and pairing this with a well designed and implemented home automation control system, placing the tablet on an inductive charging dock it is a nice way to prevent wall clutter for your smart home. Keep your walls clean and free of electronic clutter by consulting and talking with your contractor or builder and demanding that you have one cohesive system that can limit the dials and switches on your w

Protected wiring is a must when running wires outside. There are many reasons why running outdoor wiring in PVC or metal conduit is the best practice to protect the wiring and improve the longevity of the wires.  The outdoor elements can wreak havoc on any type of wiring from animals chewing on your wires to the sun beating down on the wire breaking down the protective layer for which all wiring needs to operate and work correctly. If you have gardeners or you are a DIY yard specialist you may at some point in time run into your outdoor wiring with a shovel or a set of shears trimming your hedges. Outdoor conduit can provide that added protection for your wiring to make it last for years to come. If you see a technician not protecting the wiring they are running you can be sure they are going the lazy route and you should be weary of their craftsmanship.

Planning for a smart home these days is not easy to do as more and more connected devices enter your living space each year. The earlier you have a plan together for your electronics system the better off you will be in the long run with technology rapidly speeding along. What electronic planning ultimately means is getting the correct amount of wires necessary for your needs in the correct quantity and in the correct locations. This is especially important when building a new house as your home is open and free to run these wires without the hindrance of finishing home materials such as insulation and drywall. Another important part when planning for a smart home is the design of your system which is ultimately your wants and needs. Discovering your wants and needs is done with discussions with a qualified home technology/integration specialists. They can help guide, suggest and plan for your future system and even go as far as creating engineered documents to follow when

Works with Nest connectivity service was popularized with the learning thermostat and Google's purchased line of connectable devices which now has opened up some of the possibilities for integrating the Nest devices to a larger managed system. Control 4, Crestron, RTI and Amazon's Alexa are just a few of the systems that are now able to be paired and integrated with your Nest thermostat. This is great news for those who love the look and feel of the Nest thermostat but prefer to have your home managed with one system or app interface. (Less is More!) Below is a list of the current devices and services that can Work with Nest. Wemo - Switch Lifx - Light Bulb Rachio - Smart Sprinkler Controller Skybell - Video Doorbell Phillips Hue - Smart Lights Misfit - Sleep Tracker August Home Haiku - Ceiling Fan Amazon - Echo & Alexa Chamberlain - MyQ Home Control Hayward