blog.regalhomesource.com

One of the best reasons for an orthodox Jewish home to invest in a Home Automation System is the Yom Tov (Jewish Holidays) problems that it can solve flawlessly.
For example if you have two days of Passover on Thursday and Friday followed by Shabbos (the Jewish Sabbath), a regular time clock will not help out much. The night meals, or Sedorim, of the first two nights ends very late; it can even end past 1:00 or 2:00 AM, whereas the Shabbos meal my end at 10:00 to 11:00 PM. Therefore when one programs the computer you can have different off times for Wednesday and Thursday nights as opposed to Friday night. Also our electric oven is set go go on and off at different times for Pesach and Shabbos. This is quite easy with the computer controlled switches. The crock pot, for our cholent can go on on Friday afternoon automatically even though we wouldn’t be able to turn it on on our own. For our crock pot we use the Simply Automated Receptacle URD-30.

The same problem can be solved with the second days of the Jewish Holiday Succoth. The seventh day we eat in the Succah whereas the eighth day we don’t. Therefore I program the computer to have the lights go on for the seventh day of Succoth and the lights in our dining room would go on on the eighth day of Succoth. For our Succah we use the Simply Automated Plug-In Module UML-20-W.
All of our various Yom Tov meals are set with our home automation system. Before Pesach (Passover) we eat in the basement so I automatically switch the program to Pre-Pesach. This disables the upstairs dining and dinette lights and automates the basement lights as well as the crock pot and hot plate that we use to cook there. I feel that the home Automation Systems benefit Orthodox Jews more than anyone else because of their restrictions on Shabbos and Yom Tov! Though www.regalhomesource.com carries various home automation systems, I found that the UPB systems by Simply Automated to be by far the most reliable home automation technology out there.

Simply Automated is a company determined to bring top-level lighting scene controlling to homes and offices around the world. They sell ultra-reliable, easily self-installed appliance controlling electronics. The control modules are based on Universal Powerline technology, and allow for complete control of appliances and lighting for any setting, without additional wiring in the walls.

With their products, you can easily install and control lighting and scenes at the touch of a button. When using “Controller/Switch Faceplate ZS11“, just plug the switch into a UPB to have control over the the lighting in seconds!

Want lighting customization at your fingertips? Get the “Controller US28OTP.” It controls any appliance or lighting fixture connected to a UPB device. Imagine what you could do with 8 switches and rockers to control your lights?

With the “Module/Controller UCS,” you can program this module to do all the work and lighting effects for you, any time of the day or night. Just program, and sit back and enjoy. It can program up to 250 individual appliances, and 99 lighting effects. It even goes so far as to keep track of daylight savings time, leap years, and sunrise/sunset.

If you can’t decide what to get, then buy our “Starter Package ADVKIT-W.” This start pack includes two (2) single-rocker dimmers, one (1) single-rocker dimmer with 4 button multi-scene controller plus CIM, and a phase coupler. The CIM allows for automation of your lighting and appliances all over your home; just add additional dimmers, controllers, lamps, and appliance modules.

Going Green and Saving Green meet Technology and Comfort
Going “green” used to mean sacrifice, discomfort and some inconvenience. There was too much pain for too little return. But, now companies such as Simply Automated, HAI and Z-wave are using the area of home automation to increase comfort, throw out sacrifice and extinguish inconvenience.

Solutions by the industry leaders Simply Automated, HAI and Z-wave revolve around simple, non-intrusive, but, technologically advanced systems designed to protect your home, save on utility bills and add tremendous convenience all the while turning “going green” into “saving green”.You’re probably already familiar with the benefits of digital programmable thermostats and how they can save you money by using less heat when your at work or on vacation or even asleep.

Well, Simply Automated, HAI and Zwave have applied that same brilliance and technology to do the same thing with your water heater and your lighting, the lawn and security systems,  the playroom and garage, and on and on. They’ve even brought customization into it.  Lights go out when rooms empty and come on when folks enter rooms. Televisions and stereos won’t be playing while unattended. Every facet of your home can be involved: surveillance, security, energy, telephones, irrigation, internet, etc. Going green and saving green finally welcome and embrace technology and comfort.
And the companies like Simply Automated, HAI and Zwave are leading the way. Come on and enjoy the ride.

With UPB (Universal Powerline Bus) automation products more readily available, many home owners are choosing to phase out their existing X10 systems. UPB switches and modules are self-installable, extremely reliable home automation products for home renovations as well as new construction applications. Since UPB automation is the new standard for powerline carrier (PLC) based systems, more automation manufacturers are supporting this technology. As many people in the home automation industry are already quite familiar with the X-10 protocol, learning to migrate over to the UPB protocol is quite easy to do. UPB offers a way to integrate new components into an existing X10 system piecemeal, with no interference or interoperability problems.

The Difference between UPB and X-10 Technologies

In the X-10 communication protocol, transmissions are synchronized within what is called the zero-crossings on the powerline. One bit of information will be transmitted each zero crossing on the line. A binary 1 is communicated by a 1 mS long burst of 120 KHz, at the zero crossing point of the powerline. A binary 0 is communicated by not having the 120 KHz burst.
In the UPB communication protocol, signal transmissions are synchronized with the zero-crossings on the AC powerline. However here,two bits of information can be transmitted through each zero crossing. The binary values of 00, 01, 10, are 11 are communicated by a large pulse generated in one of four different positions near the zero-crossing point of the AC powerline.

The communication methods used by both, the X-10 and UPB, are so different from each other that there will not be a problem with both systems communicating on the same powerline at the same time.

In the X-10 protocol, each device will be programmed with one of sixteen possible House Codes (“A” – “P”) and also one of sixteen possible Unit Addresses (“1” – “16”). As a result, a maximum total of 256 devices can be used on a single house powerline.

In the UPB Protocol however, each UPB device will be assigned one of 255 different Network IDs (1 – 255) as well as one of 250 possible Unit IDs (1 – 250). This gives a home or a business a total of 63,750 devices that can be addressed on a single powerline as opposed to the 256 maximum of the X-10 systems.

Home Automation installation companies as well as do-it-yourselfers are now turning to UPB technology to power their systems instead of or in addition to the older X-10 systems. Many software companiescan control various different home control technologies in one scene thus enabling using many different protocols at the same time. Among the many superior features unique to UPB over X-10 is the almost total lack of signal loss. In my own home for example I found the X-10 powerline signals to work only about 80% of the time. That was not a functional lighting control system as far as I was concerned. Now with over forty five (Simply Automated) UPB receptacles I have over a 99% effective signal control throughput thus making it a far superior home automation lighting contol system.

Since UPB automation seems to currently be the dominant protocol in the industry, it stands to reason that new products will increasingly be introduced in this highly competitive marketplace. Non-professional home automation do-it-yourselfers have typically been the last segment of the market to embrace newer product technologies. The reason for this is because newer technology tends to be more expensive, and residential consumers prefer to wait until the product prices have gone down. UPB automation modules and switches are now being offered in variety of affordable components with the ability to modify and control them in ways never seen before.