Possible Smart Home Connections

["samvaughan_08" <samvaughan_08@xxxxxxxxx>]

There are several methods for networking your appliances in your home,
with some being a lot simpler and more practical than other. The type of
connection you choose depends partly on your budget and partly on the
strutural state of your home. The following is an overview of the
choices available:

Power line- This type of connection allows the homeowner to connect
appliances together through the homes own mains electrical line. X10 and
Insteon make use of this kind of infrastructure.

Phone lines- Just like power lines, the infrastructure is already in
place to allow for instant communication within the home and potentially
phones lines could be quite a good method of home automation... because
it could be used for entertainment networking amongst other things,
however there are few standards to allow for this type of smart home at
the moment.

Radio signals- Wireless is a much more practical solution than using any
of the wired connections because it canm be installed in any home and
can be controlled from a number of locations easily, as long as, you are
within range. Controlling appliances through radio signals is just like
controlling your television with a standard infrared remote control.
Zigbee and Z-wave are two protocols that use radio signals.

Structured wiring- This kind of connection is perhaps the most reliable,
however it ususally works out expensive because you would usually have
to call in a professional electrician to install it for you and is only
practical when designing a new home. It would not be suitable in an old
or structurally unstable home.

Please visit http://smarthomeguru.blogspot.com
<http://smarthomeguru.blogspot.com/>
 for more on smart homes.



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