Household Automation Household Automation
Est: 1999
Portfolio
Portfolio
Below are some examples of the types of projects that we get involved with.
Barn Conversion Central London Flat Riverboat Fault Finding
Barn conversion the whole package

Household Automation forms long term relationships with its customers. Below we have provided an example of an installation that demonstrates a refurbished property that is now ten years old. The cabling infrastructure still readily supports updates to existing products, and the addition of new products.

Surrey Barn conversion started in 2002 Household Automation provided all layout drawings of all service including mains electricity and low voltage cabling. The build included ALL wiring, both mains and low voltage both first second and third fix.

Lighting - CBUS and conventional
Door openers - Ditec
Patch panel - Hellerman Tyton
Security alarm - Comfort
Door camera and gate entry - Comfort
TV - conventional terrestrial with Labgear amps
Network - Vigour router, Netgear hubs and wireless extenders
Blinds and curtains - Farnborough blinds
Irrigation - Rainbird


The first phase of the project was completed during the early part of 2004. Following on from this a garage block was added which included fire and security. Over the following years Household Automation has added to and extended the system on a regular basis. SKY TV distribution to multiple locations, further zones of irrigation, telephone to remote summer house, Sonos multi-room audio to five zones (use of pre-wired ceiling speakers).

In 2009 a two storey extension was agreed and Household Automation again provided working drawings for all wiring including mains and low voltage.
Lighting - CBUS extended with LEDs and 1-10v dimmers
Door openers - Ditec
Blinds - built into window Farnborough blinds
Security alarm - Comfort extended
Multi-room - Sonos additional zone player
AV - surround sound with Amina plastered in speakers and Denon amp
Control - Philips Pronto RU980


Following commissioning of this phase of the build the customer requested the use of an iPhone app to provide universal control of all equipment within the property.



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Retrofit central London flat

A forth floor penthouse flat in central London with stunning views of the Thames. After the purchase of a high end flat in our customer decided that the existing infrastructure was at best minimum spec. Household Automation designed a system that provided the most cost effective retro-fit solution. The use of wireless lighting dimmers, blinds relays, switches and colour changing LEDs were all part of the specification. Lighting - RAKO
LEDs (colour changing) - RAKO
Blinds - RAKO control, Farnborough blinds
TVs - Samsung
HD distribution - Vision HD baluns and switch
Network - Netgear

In addition to the Rako equipment the flat was cabled for HD TV to all locations, each TV not only receives HD signals direct from the SKY box but also is connected to the Internet and can receive iPlayer and a vast array of Samsung TV apps.



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Riverboat

Refit of a 90ft Thames lighter into a floating home. This unusual project was featured on Discovery home and leisure channel. The boat was worked on during its time in dry dock (first fix). Once at its mooring the second fix of products took place. As well as the standard home automation equipment household automation included bilge sensors into the alarm and connected the existing gate and door phone (multiple use) into the house boat system. Lighting - Lutron
Security - Comfort
Network - Hellerman Tyton
Bilge - float switches
Fire alarm - Hochiki


Household Automation provided service and back up support for this customer.



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Fault Finding

Part of Household Automation's skill set is being able to fault find existing equipment. On many occasions we are called in to rectify work carried out by companies that no longer exist. Recently we had the opportunity to take over the refurbishment of a town house which had already been wired for KNX. Our expertise enabled the owner to expand the system to include solar harvesting. By adding a GIRA home server we were able to provide fully optimised control of the system with feed back.

Grafik eye - A new semi-detatched house with Grafik eye on three floors. Some one had really got themselves in a mess and the property was found with only two of the eight light switches operational. Grafik eye is ideal for scene setting and was not intended for whole house applications. Household Automation re-wired the wall switches and re-programmed the system to provide basic light switching on three floors.

Philips Dynalite systems have been around now for some while as a Dimension dealer Household Automation provides back up and support for the Dynalite range. In our experience a common short cut is for the installer not to use the correct screened cable for the bus wiring.

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Project Update: 10 years later
This article was written by a past customer who wanted to comment on a job we carried out about 10 years on… This is an article that tries to explain my experiences of going from home automation novice, working out what I was trying to achieve, working with a specialist installer, implementing and finally living […]
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Major new incentive for energy efficient lighting control
giraG1Household Automation has been vigorously campaigning over the past few years to gain 0% VAT rating for lighting control in new build properties. MD of Household Automation Ltd; Andy Ellis reports… This month HMRC have published Notice 708: Buildings and Construction – August 2014. For the first time intelligent lighting (not including remote control hand […]
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SONOS: Should we still be building music libraries?
sonos_3bigIn keeping with my recent run of posts relating to the Sonos multiroom audio system I thought I would tackle the decisions made by many digital music enthusiasts. Namely, should I build a music library and if so, how and where should I store it? In today’s world of digital content, deciding what to do […]
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