Heres a list of our most popular Ecomation
functions.
Auto Off
Specify occupancy sensors to shut off lights that are not needed.
The sensors can be motion based like PIR's or pressure based like
carpet sensors. Locate them in areas like games rooms, bedrooms,
garages & laundries. An Ecomation sensor will detect the
ambient light level and not activate the lights if there is
sufficient ambient light.
Dim it Down
Dimming an incandesent or halogen bulb by 50% saves 50% of the
energy, apply this over a whole house and the savings are
significant. Dimming is very easily achieved with both Tungsten and
Halogen style fittings. Dimming fluorescent lamps requires readily
available dimmable ballasts. Dimming Led fittings requires a
controllable PWM LED dimming power supply.
Goodnight
The goodnight button can turn off things you forgot you left on -
that light under the house, the flouro strip under the stairs. Put
a few goodnight buttons around the house and you will find yourself
regularly pressing it to kill all those unwanted lights and
loads.
Goodbye
Where the Goodnight button is great when you go to bed, the Goodbye
button will shut off loads you don't need while the house is
unoccupied during the day or weekend. Activated by the alarm being
set, the Goodbye will turn off any lights, towel rails, fans,
mirror demisters etc.
Warm Welcome
The opposite of the Goodbye, the warm button will detect your
arrival and depending on the time of day turn on the bare minimum
of loads / open doors to get you from the garage to the kitchen.
Coming home in the dark, rather than flick a switch that floods the
halls with 1000w of inefficent tungsten light, the system may
illuminate a row of ankle level LED fittings to provide plenty of
light to carry the shopping in. 10 LEDs would use less power in a
year than one tungsten bulb for an hour.
Vacation
Pressing the vacation button when heading away for a week or month
will kill all underfloor heating, hot water cylinders, everything
in the house but the clock radios and fridges. Heading to the
airport - you never have to wonder if you left the oven on or the
hair straighteners on - IT's OFF!
Timers
Putting the towel rails and underfloor heating on timers means that
they are only on as required. commonly the underfloor heating in an
ensuite would only be required between 6am and 8am and then only in
winter. Timers provide a massive saving for these types of devices
that we simply forget about but which make a massive impact on our
homes quiescent consumption.
Sensor Switch
Adding a sensor to the light in the cupboard means the light is
only on for the time it is required, adding a Daylight Detect as
above will further reduce energy consumption
Controlled Power points
Most devices still use power even when switched off. The average NZ
house uses approximately 500w of power with nothing turned on! This
is the power used to keep the indicator lights on, the cellphone
chargers warm, the forgotten heated towel rail. A controlled
powerpoint kills the socket dead and puts an end to wasted
power.
Screen Savers
A typical 17" CRT computer monitor will use around 5 amps of
current when running, where the same size LCD screen will use
around half an amp! If you have been looking for a good time to
swap your old monitor or TV for a LCD screen - now is the time.
What does this have to do with Ecomation? It's the structured
wiring side of an Ecomation system that will enable you to pass
your HiDef 1080p content from the source equipment to all the LCD's
in the house over the Cat5 or Cat6 structure.
232 PWM LCD
LED lighting is the future of illumination, but has always been
hard to dim, with a DMX or 232 controlled PWM Dimmer - the ability
to dim LED is now in your hands.
Online Order
One Woolworths truck delivering 20 peoples groceries is far more
efficient that 20 people driving their cars. Using a structured
cabling system and shared internet connection to the kitchen
laptop, order your groceries online and save both time and fuel.
You can save common shopping lists and take the hassle out of
shopping forever.
ExoFridge
Now you have ordered your groceries online - install an ExoFridge,
your delivery company can put your groceries in the fridge or
heater compartment at your front fence so you don't even have to be
home. Afraid of ordering boxes of wine online because your
neighbours kids are the pinot type? An ExoFridge eliminates the
worry.
Electric Louvres
Reduce the need for airconditioning in the home by the use of
Electric Louvres. If the temperature gets too hot, the louvres can
open allowing a breeze to reduce the temperature.
In a smart system you can use the wind direction to open the
louvres on different sides of the house to make the most of the
breeze. If the wind gusts or it rains the system can close the
louvres again.
Auto Awning
The Electric awning has been around for a long time, but connect it
to a thermostat inside the house and the home can extend
awnings automatically to reduce the heat load through the windows
and hence the amount of cooling or airconditioning required.
Remember to ask for a wind speed detector as well, you might not
want to donate your awnings to your neighbours on the next gusty
day.
Alternative Energies
Solar and Wind generation are becoming more popular on grid homes.
Reducing the homes energy consumption is the first step in planning
any solar, wind or hydro system and Ecomation is a great way to
achieve that. Reducing your consumption will reduce the amount
generation capacity required and if you are looking at battery
backup - reduce the amount of battery capacity required as
well.
Solar hot water
The majority of energy used in a home is in hot water heating,
solar hot water heaters will make a huge impact on your
consumption. Now connect your solar hot water system to Ecomation
system and divert the energy wasted while you are away to the
generation of electricity or heating of a pool. Most solar hot
water systems are dumb in that they are plumbed to the houses hot
water system only, and when they reach the setpoint they simply
waste any additional energy from the sun.
Generators
Many people are installing backup generators in areas with fickle
power. The cost of a generator to run your entire house is many
times greater than the cost of a generator to run the essential
services. An Ecomation system will shed the non essential loads in
a powercut so your generator can start under a reduced loading,
meaning a smaller generator is required for backup.
Soil Sensors
Soil humidity probes connected to your Ecomation system can ensure
the correct amount of water is delivered to your garden via your
watering system and no more.
Water Watchdog
Adding a solenoid to the incoming supply at the batch will mean
when you set the alarm, no matter what may have been left dripping,
running or ready to burst, no water is going to be wasted (or flood
the house)
Gas Watchdog
Adding a solenoid to either mains gas or bottled gas means you can
be sure that when the house is unoccupied the gas supply is
deactivated.
HVAC Setback
Many homes have central heating or air conditioning. Take the
example of gas heating during winter, you may desire a setpoint of
21 degrees during the day, but overnight it is perfectly acceptable
to drop the temperature back to 17 - 18 degrees. This overnight
temperature is known as a setback point, and automation systems
thermostats can be programmed to initiate setbacks at the
appropriate times.
HVAC Kill
An Ecomation system will sense that the alarm has been set and shut
off the HVAC system, even if the owner has forgotten to turn it
off.
Smart Kill
Most automation systems can detect that the house alarm has been
set and take actions based on that, for example shutting off lights
or other loads. This is not always the best course of action, for
example there is no point shutting off the hot water if you are
just heading down to the dairy.
A system with Ecomation programming can move a step further and
use the amount of time the alarm is set to make decisions
on what to shut off. For example, alarm set, shut off lights, music
etc immediately. If the alarm is still set after 10 hours (a
standard working day) then also kill any underfloor heating, towel
rails etc overriding any automatic timers that may be in place. If
the alarm is still set after 48 hours (a standard weekend) then
it's time to put the house into Hibernation, turning off everything
but essential loads, refrigeration, alarm systems, clocks etc.
Next»
[] To speak to someone
about home technology call us now
on 09 3773778
[] Order home technology hardware online now: sales@techstyle.co.nz
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