4.2. All electrical equipment

Integrated home systems operate and manage electrical equipment. The integrated home system can switch a light on or off. If a light is connected to a dimmer, a certain dimming level can also be set. But an integrated home system cannot do anything more with a traditional light. Nevertheless we should make a comment here. LED’s are now beginning to be used more and more in light fittings. In certain cases the light colour can also be adjusted with RGB control.

If the chairs in the photograph below do not have sensors or motors, an integrated home system cannot do anything with them.

The light can be controlled by the integrated home system, but clearly not the chairs. (Illustration source: Niko)

Just switching certain equipment on and off does not always provide added value. The television is an example of this. When we switch off the power socket that the television is connected to, in order to completely switch it off, and then power it back up again you will not see a lot happen with this equipment. It will just go to standby mode. A better situation would be that when we press the “watch TV” button, the television is not only connected to the mains, but also zaps to the channel watched most often at a certain preferred sound volume. We cannot do this with simple switching actions. In such a case, the integrated home system will control such equipment with infrared. This technique can also be used with audio systems and air conditioning that is controlled by infrared. Its some cases radio frequency signals can also be used.

An integrated home system thus controls electrical equipment, not only electrically but also by using IR and RF.