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Your home is your sanctuary and you should feel safe in it, but after the sun goes down there are opportunities for burglars or unwanted intruders to hide in the dark areas of your property, leaving your home at risk for a potential break-in. One way to help keep that from happening is to add motion detector lights to your property because it’s a great way to enhance your home security all while improving your home automation.

There’s never been a better time to upgrade your home into a smart home. But what smart device should I get first? We've assembled a few Wi-Fi devices to help you choose.

Let’s be honest here: buying home automation products as holiday gifts is not the first idea most people have. Buying practical gifts for a friend or family member is always a gamble. You would have to know someone well – I mean, really well – to be able to buy them a smart device that can simplify their daily life that they will even use, such as a smart plug that adds remote control to plugged in lights or appliances, or a monitor to help them remember to close their garage door. Yes, finding stocking stuffers for these elaborate automation systems can be a challenge.

Have your bills been taking bites out of your holiday savings? Did you know that with some practical holiday gifts you can save money this year and all the years that follow? Home Controls offers several energy-saving products that will not only fit into your holiday shopping budget, but also save you money for years to come!

UPDATE: INSTEON (Smartlabs) shut down their servers on April 16th, 2022, effectively discontinuing the use of the INSTEON protocol and nearly all of their devices.

We’ve spoken about Z-Wave before, but now we’re going to get into a little more detail on the usefulness and practicality of home automation. Typically you would look at a door/window sensor, or motion sensor, and expect that all it does is tell you and your automation hub when a door or window is open or when movement is detected in the room. While that is true on both counts, these sensors are capable of much more than simply telling you.

Looking for ways to save money on utility bills and make your rented home a smart home? You don’t have to own the building you're living in to start building an automated home system with smart home products.

Let’s face it: for many of us, waking up during the work week can be a struggle. Whether you sleep through your alarms or force yourself out of bed while still half asleep, it can be hard to quickly muster the energy and focus necessary to kickstart your mornings. For days like these, adding smart home automation devices to your home can potentially improve your morning routine by programing your home to wake up with you. Here at Home Controls we offer a full spread of smart home devices that can make your mornings easier to greet.

Z-Wave technology and home automation are making things a whole lot easier at home. With smart home products being popular more than ever before, smart homeowners are constantly looking for ways to simplify their day-to-day activities at home before, after, and when they’re at work. Z-Wave friendly products come in a variety of options, allowing for endless ways to integrate them into home automation scenes so that the days are less stressful, more productive, and easier to manage. Z-Wave technology is helping to change the way we live at home for the better, and having smart home automation scenes will most likely be experienced by the majority of homeowners just as much as the features used daily from smartphones and smart TVs.

I want a Smart Home as a renter, but how can I have the benefits when I am not allowed to make infrastructure changes to my rental? How can I make my front door more secure, save energy with a smart thermostat, and remotely control lights and appliances without making changes to the rental and putting my security deposit at risk?

There are many great benefits to having automatic window openers in a home or business, from improving the air quality in an indoor environment to minimizing the use of air conditioning, which could help save energy all while lowering the monthly utility bill. But there are other important reasons you can improve your life by adding automatic window openers to your property.

The Leviton Omni Security and Automation Controller series is one of the tried-and-true workhorses of the home automation world since about 1985. Along with providing rock-solid security, it allows for control of the major systems in your home such as lighting, temperature control, access control and other automation functions. It is one of the most versatile and capable automation controllers available today. Leviton has an app available that makes the entire system accessible from the palm of your hand.

In North America, one out of every three homes are victims of water damage. The extensive damage caused by leaking and/or flooding can result in insurance claims upwards of $10,000, making water damage insurance claims the most expensive and common claim filed. And those numbers only count those that make the claim, since many homeowners fear raising their rates and paying costly deductibles.

Halloween is approaching and it’s time to scare your neighbors! Luckily these days, it’s easier than ever to give house guests a fright with smart home automation. Check out the following DIY smart home Halloween decoration ideas to collect big screams and keep the Halloween fun alive.

By adding smart home automation devices to vacation properties, vacation owners and landlords could save a lot of money in utility bills, increase home security, and be able to conveniently manage various parts of the properties such as lighting, security, HVAC, and others using a smartphone.

Programming the Skylink Universal Garage Door Opener (keypad entry model 89 and remote model 39) has proven to be a challenge for a lot of our customers, and in most cases, it always has to do with 4 reasons:

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.