Where can I learn about home automation?

I would very much like to build a custom home & have it computerized. Are their any sites you can send me to that will help me?

- David

This question was answered on December 31, 2001. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

Home automation and computerization continues to grow in popularity and many homeowners now desires what was once only a dream of the truly tech-savvy.

Whether you want to be able to answer the door via a video interface, control your lights from the office or give your house instructions via a voice recognition interface, it generally all starts with wires and a plan.

No matter what you decide to implement in your ‘smart-house’ it will likely benefit from strategically placed wires in the walls of your home.

Start by choosing an ample central location for running all your wires to and from For the most part, running Cat5 (Category 5) twisted pair and quad shielded coaxial cable to every room in a ‘home-run’ configuration would be a good start (‘Home-run means each wire goes from each room to the central location.) Virtually any data device, especially those that will connect to the Internet, will connect using Cat5 and most (but not all) video devices will require one of the many types of coaxial cables.

Even though wireless technology continues to improve, a wired system is generally more reliable and cheaper if you can get it installed during the construction of your home

Don’t forget to pre-wire your garage, bathrooms, walk-in closets, laundry rooms and all TV locations Predictions are that your kitchen appliances will all soon be ‘connected devices’ so be sure to run a Cat5 cable to each location in the kitchen that a major appliance will reside.

One of the recurring scenarios for the ‘connected kitchen’ describes an Internet enabled refrigerator with a flat panel touch display on the door that could download recipes based on the food it had in it As you remove items from the refrigerator, you would pass them in front of a built-in bar code scanner that would keep track of what you consumed and alert you when it was time to order (on-line, of course) from your connected grocer.

There is an incredible amount of information and hundreds of vendors for home automation available on the Internet (Try typing “home automation” into your favorite search engine.) Here is a short list of resources that may help you get started:

<a href="http://www.BeAtHome.com" target="_blank"><font color="#003399">www.BeAtHome.com</font></a> - Internet based automation systems

<a href="http://www.Crestron.com" target="_blank"><font color="#003399">www.Crestron.com</font></a> - Professional grade control systems

<a href="http://www.ElectronicHouse.com " target="_blank"><font color="#003399">www.ElectronicHouse.com</font></a> - Informational magazine & web site

<a href="http://www.HomeAuto.com" target="_blank"><font color="#003399">www.HomeAuto.com</font></a> - Networking, automation & security solutions

<a href="http://www.HomeAutomatedLiving.com" target="_blank"><font color="#003399">www.HomeAutomatedLiving.com</font></a> - Info and demo of the HAL system

<a href="http://www.OnQtech.com" target="_blank"><font color="#003399">www.OnQtech.com</font></a> - Home wiring information & guides

<a href="http://www.technocopia.com" target="_blank"><font color="#003399">www.technocopia.com</font></a> - A guide to the technological lifestyle

<a href="http://www.X10.com" target="_blank"><font color="#003399">www.X10.com</font></a> - low cost X10 based devices for the do-it-yourselfer

The exact types and quantities of wires needed will be determined by what you want to do in your house, so do your homework before you start running wires.

According to home entertainment specialist Kevin Upchurch of Hi Fi Sales (<a href="http://www.hifisalesaz.com" target="_blank"><font color="#003399">www.hifisalesaz.com</font></a>) “The most common mistake that people make in home automation is hiring their electrician to run the structured wiring and networking cables without any real plan Running wires without a good overall plan is a recipe for disaster.”

True home automation can be very complicated so if you really want to make sure that you have covered all your bases, you should consider hiring a professional home-automation consultant (check with your local home entertainment store) during the design stage of your home

If your home is designed from the beginning with automation logistics in mind, the results are likely to be much more effective

Need Help with this Issue?

We help people with technology! It's what we do.
Contact or Schedule an Appointment with a location for help!