You’re late and in a mad rush to head out the door. Turning back, you realise a whole bunch of lights are still on around the place! Wouldn’t it be great to turn them all off from one wall switch, at the door? Discover how…

Automated Lighting
Lighting today has enhanced to be controlled by a lot more than just it’s basic wall switch. Quick & easy Home Automation can integrate with any existing light to provide you with control over it from a variety of methods – including motion sensors, remote controls, schedules, and remotely located wall switches. And being able to control several lights from one wall switch can prove incredibly helpful. Imagine being able to flick one switch and watching the whole house turn off in an instant, whether it be from your front door, or from your bed side table.

How to Automate Lights for Control
There’s many different home automation technologies available, but one of the world’s largest and most common technologies is X10 – which not only is supported by an impressive range of devices, but also has the added benefit of being able to be retrofitted to an existing home with no cabling to run. The technology utilises your home’s existing mains wiring to transmit all of its commands. X10 Controllers and X10 Receivers are simply wired into a mains feed (eg: behind a light switch) in a matter of minutes, by your local electrician.

So let’s look at an X10 project to turn off a handful of lights around the house. The two main products you’ll need are as follows:

LW12 – Light Receiver
For each light you want to automate (ie: control remotely), you’ll need an X10 Light Receiver module. One common model is the LW12, which is suitable for halogen and incandescent lights, supports dimming, and can be controlled from both the light switch and via home automation commands.

Your electrician follows the provided instructions; replacing your switch plate’s switch with a momentary type, and then wires the LW12 behind the switch, hidden into the cavity. There’s also a variety of other Light Receiver modules available, that provide various features – see the Professional Range at Future Touch.

IMX10 – Controller
The other device you’ll need is a Controller module, that can transmit home automation commands (such as ON, OFF, ALL-OFF, etc). A common model is the IMX10, which can transmit 4 different commands (allowing you to control 4 remotely located switches) – or you can configure 1 switch to transmit an “ALL-OFF” command to all Light Receiver modules.

Your electrician can take an existing wall switch and replace it with a 4-gang switch plate. Simply wire up in a similar way as the LW12, following the provided instructions. Then it can be programmed to transmit what ever commands you desire.

That’s pretty much it. You can install as many Controller modules as you want around the home, providing you with central access to all automated lights from where ever you desire. With this quick & easy project, you’ll eliminate that annoying task of running around the house flicking switches, once and for all.

Note – both the Light Receivers and Controllers require unique automation-addresses to be set. To save yourself programming issues, enquire to Future Touch what your needs are, to discover our service of pre-programming them for you.

www.futuretouch.com.au