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Converting your home into a smart home is a wonderful investment because it will not only make home life easier for the entire family, but also increase your property value. Nowadays, there are so many home automation products available with endless options to choose from. Whether you want to control your lighting at home using a smartphone or add smart locks to your property, new products are being introduced to the market each and every day, and by the looks of it, the future is only going to bring more smart devices to our doorstep.

Convert your workplace into a smart workplace using smart automation products. There are many advantages in using smart devices at work because businesses can utilize them to simplify the office environment all while reducing utility costs.

When it comes to outdoor entertainment, using home automation devices to control lighting and music distribution is a great way to easily set the perfect ambiance when entertaining guests in your outdoor living spaces.

Wired connections provide a faster and more reliable connection than Wi-Fi. Ethernet cables have gone through various upgrades to keep up with faster and more commonly available data speeds. So the question is, what is the difference between Cat5e, Cat6, or Cat6a Ethernet cablesa?

Turning your home into a smart home using inexpensive devices is a wonderful way to help simplify your life. Nowadays, there are more DIY home automation systems available than there were in the past that are affordable, easy to install, and simple to monitor. Just about any tech-savvy homeowner can convert their home into a place where lights, thermostats, security, and other home systems can be controlled with a wide range of devices that can cost no more than a few hundred dollars.

Home automation technology has changed the way lights are being used at home and with the use of a good lighting control system you’ll be able to manage your lights in ways that will make life at home easier, more secure, and a lot more enjoyable. Smart lighting can be integrated into homes and controlled in a variety of different ways, primarily with the creation of lighting scenes. For those who are unfamiliar with the concept of scenes, think of scenes as automatic tasks that your smart home system performs. These automatic tasks, or scenes, are created by you with the use of a home controller. So basically, you can create lighting scenes to follow recurring schedules that will automatically turn on or off certain lights of your home. Besides having scenes automatically turn on by your home automation system, you can also activate them with devices that are compatible with your home controller such as wall-mounted touchscreens, smartphones, tablets, handheld remotes or smart switches.

Reduce energy consumption at home and and lower your monthly utility bill with the help of home automation technology. Forgetting to turn things off such as lights, televisions, and other various electronic devices is something we do everyday. As humans, we’re not perfect. In fact, we’re forgetful. Whether we’re trying to get our children ready for school in the mornings to being preoccupied with our smartphones as we leave for the day, it has become really easy for us to leave home with devices left on.

Imagine being able to vacuum your entire home without having to carry around a heavy and bulky vacuum unit. Let’s face it, cleaning your home can be an annoying chore as it is and having to deal with a standard, mobile vacuum unit doesn’t make it easier since they can be really loud all while leaving dirt and debris behind due to their weak motors. Then there’s the hassle of dealing with tangled cords that never seem to be long enough to cover the entire room.

Water damage at home can be a big hassle to repair and extremely costly, especially if you’re unaware that it’s happening. When pipes burst due to old age or someone accidentally leaves the water running, such as in a clogged bathtub or sink, our reaction time is often slow, leaving the home vulnerable for flooding. In fact, water damage at home happens so frequently that it actually ranks as one of the top home insurance claims year in and year out.

When the ABB Welcome Door Entry System was introduced to the United States earlier this year, Home Controls and installers-in-the-know could already feel that U.S homeowners were in for a real treat. Now that months have passed, we know this feeling wasn’t just wishful thinking. ABB Welcome has changed the U.S. market for home intercoms and security.

Smart thermostats sell like hotcakes, and they are in fact the most popular “smart home” devices purchased by renovating homeowners. This is according to the recently released September 2016 Houzz study on smart home trends in the United States: “Among all the devices with smart capabilities installed by renovating homeowners, smart thermostats are the most popular, installed by 12% of renovating homeowners.”

Surveillance systems made up of IP cameras and networked recording equipment are rapidly growing in popularity over analog surveillance systems for numerous reasons. As such, homeowners who have traditional analog systems are wondering how they can make the upgrade from analog to IP.

That’s right, the do-it-yourself SkylinkNet wireless alarm system just got a lot cooler — it now works with IFTTT. Anyone who has the SkylinkNet Internet Hub can automate connected devices using custom IFTTT recipes, so not only do you get expanded automation options for your Skylink devices, you can also integrate third-party devices into your system. Check out the video for a quick synopsis, or scroll down for more info.

Expanding our selection of top-quality electronic door locks, Home Controls is proud to announce that we now offer the latest Z-Wave deadbolts and leversets from Yale Security. As part of the Yale Real Living product line, these residential locks bring over a century of innovation to the modern, connected home.

Smoke alarms save lives. Nearly two-thirds of home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms. When there is a fire, smoke spreads fast and you need smoke alarms to tell you when to get to safety.

Home Controls has expanded our collection of First Alert products with the First Alert Z-Wave Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detector. Now you can receive notifications for smoke and CO alarms through your Z-Wave system.

NuTone has released a major improvement to their collection of central vacuum systems with three new PurePower series motors. If you have been considering equipping your home with the convenience of a central vac, then one of these new motors should be on the top of your shopping list.

Is your NuTone or M&S home intercom system old and out of date? Is it time to upgrade your system with a contemporary and stylish new home intercom, complete with modern features and the latest technology? The great news is that you don’t need to completely replace everything; you can still use the wires from your existing system. This means you don’t have to run new wires which saves you the need to call an electrician. A great money and time saver!