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KENT SMART HOME INSTALLATION
This project was one of our favourite jobs to date as we were invited to work and collaborate alongside the client’s architect, building contractor and interior designer, yet submit our own concepts and designs for the house that we felt were of great value to its size and location. Using our in-house electrical contractor for all the first fixing of our infrastructure helped the project move along swiftly for all parties involved. Plans were designed and additional 3D renders were made for the project once a few key services and home automation sub-systems were agreed upon with the client;
- Smart Lighting
- Integrated Security, including CCTV and Intruder Alarm perimeter protection
- HVAC including Shading and underfloor heating control
- Access Control for the front and rear gates
- Multi-room Audio System
- Business Grade Internet and Wi-Fi distribution throughout the house and annexe
- Home Cinema / Media Room for family movie time and sporting events
- Remote Access to the house and utilities within it
- Aftercare and maintenance package including remote updates and programming changes
Being a home technology company the brief was an easy one for our team, most of our client’s homes are becoming smarter and more connected than ever before. Our experience alongside the advancement of home automation systems like Control4, the homeowner was left with the power to control and manage various aspects of the house effortlessly.
From lighting and HVAC control to security and entertainment systems, using a handful of wall-mounted touch screens, wireless remote controls and mobile phone app control, they have a comprehensive solution for the whole family to enjoy.
Read on and we can explore the exciting world of home automation, home networking, and security, and how it can transform the way you live.
Smart Lighting
Using Rako Controls Lighting we had control of the whole house in almost every room, with attention paid to some of the lighting zones where we created customised lighting scenes & settings for various activities or moods. Whether it's a cosy ambience for a movie night or bright task lighting for work, simply put the client was able to effortlessly switch between different lighting scenes with just a touch of a button.
We are now also seeing the benefit of smart lighting becoming far more energy efficient which is another significant aspect of a centralised smart lighting system paired with Control4 lighting. Lighting Zones within the system were programmed to automatically adjust the lighting levels based on natural daylight and paired with occupancy sensors. This helps to save energy by ensuring that lights are only on when needed. Additionally, smart lighting offers dimming capabilities, to set the desired brightness level and reduce energy consumption.
HVAC & Underfloor Heating
Heatmiser was used for the thermostats to the underfloor heating system and the hot water system, we used a number of Control4 touchscreens to offer an interface to the available heating zones system to check room temperatures and configure heating schedules. Air conditioning zones were also controlled from our touch screens for each of the bedrooms.
Unfortunately We had to use a stock image as we didn't take any photos of the interface.
Integrated Security
The brief was simple and effective here, to implement a Smart CCTV system consisting of ultra high-definition cameras to capture video footage of the house and surrounding areas. These cameras are equipped with various features such as motion detection, coloured night time images with audio and smart analytics to send alerts to the family if any potential intruders were coming near the property during scheduled times. Finally, easy playback facilities to be accessed remotely through a smartphone, tablet, or computer from anywhere in the world
Using a Texecom intruder alarm system, we were able to provide enhanced security again for any unauthorised access or intrusions. Installed internal and external sensors placed at various entry points such as doors and windows, as well as motion sensors that detect movement within the monitored area. When the sensors are triggered, the system activates a loud alarm siren and also sends notifications to the user's device via the Control4 App as well as a professional monitoring service.
Using some advanced programming the alarm system was configured to automatically turn on some lights and activate a live view feed to the CCTV Network Video Recorder when an intrusion is detected, providing an additional layer and deterrent effect in identifying potential intruders.
A Control4 DS2 external gate module was fitted to the front and rear gate offering a video and audio service to both the house and mobile phones which allowed end users to see, view and answer the gates both in and out of the house from anywhere in the house.
Home Cinema Installation
Video
We fitted a drop down Projection Screen offering ultra high definition display with the added bonus to be completely hidden at the touch of a button. Next used a Sony VPL-XW5000 Native 4K Laser Projector, Carried within flush mounted Future Automation PD1 projector drop mechanism again recesses into the ceiling once the room has been switch off.
The rooms media was driven by Sky Q TV, Roku Media player, Apple TV and a Blu-ray player connected to the AV receiver which was hidden away in the AV Rack.
Audio
Our speaker configuration was a 5.4.1 Dolby Atmos home cinema package using rear projection fitted out with the following components;
DENON AVR Receiver - Dolby Atmos channel with enough outputs for a 9.2 speaker setup.
KEF T105 Speakers, including wall mounted front left, right & centre channels. KEF left & right surrounds & 4x KEF over head ceiling speakers.
1x KEF high powered subwoofer
Seating
7x Front Row Cinema seats finished in luxury brown leather complete with cooling cup holders within the armrest, USB charging points and full electronically controlled reclining functions.
We built a small staging area was built for the rear seats giving a clear view of the screen. the staging was trimmed with matching carpet to the room and finished with smart controlled LED lighting giving great low level ambient lighting programmed in conjunction with the rest of the rooms lighting and lighting scenes.
Lighting, Shading & Room Control
Our lighting package here was fairly simple but extremely effective. A large section of the ceiling was covered with Starscape ceiling tiles giving a beautiful night sky feeling which can be left on whilst viewing without any distractions from the feature being played. Surrounded by a Kofer ceiling box with a full RGBW LED strip. with different colours programmed for various lighting scenes paired with the staging trim mentioned earlier. All spot lights are fully controlled by Rako system as per the rest of the home.
For window treatments we used 7 Q motion Motorised Blinds all fully programmed to run in sync with each other.
Finally the sub systems of room like much of the rest of the house is full integrated into Control4's interface giving simple control of the room and many options of automation like our "Movie Time" button which is a 1 command room set up button turning on all room functions shuts the blinds sets the lights to the perfect scene and selecting the right sound settings for the film, in reverse to that a simple room off command will slowing re introduce the lights and shut down all un-needed systems.
Business Grade Wi-Fi and Network
Multiple Ubiquiti indoor wireless access points were installed throughout the house to guarantee whole home Wi-Fi coverage for all wireless devices, we also fitted a 48-Port Network switch at the headend rack to offer hard-wired ethernet connections for the home office and smart TVs etc. For the Annex we had hard-wired armoured data cabling installed and for the terrace and patio area we used an external access point which we had custom painted in black so we were able to mount this onto a black drainage pipe at a high level, this will also act a wireless point to point link for a potential pool area which may be built at a later date.
After discussing the incoming line to the house and with the internet being one of the most important utilities to the homeowners with two working-from-home parents, and two children who are both at university and the son is a keen gamer, we offered the client a fixed fibre line into the home and fitted a ‘Starlink’ system as a back up to the house, with both lines being connected into our business grade router we were able to offer a fall over on the system so that if one line into the house fell over the other system would automatically take the lead and maintain a live internet connection without having to swap any cables or reboot the system.
Maintenance & Aftercare
Offering a handful of different package types to cover all aspects of our services, the maintenance package for this project consisted of our silver care package allowing us the flexibility to make firmware updates remotely, change programming to audio-visual components and make necessary changes to gate access controls and network security without entering the home.
This all followed up with a physical annual visit to inspect all hardware fitted, clean the AV equipment and test automation and service the cinema room.
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