JCL Automation - Manage Home Energy Costs with Control4

Manage Home Energy Costs

Control4's wireless product line enables homeowners to manage energy costs more effectively by replacing certain light switches or dimmers and thermostats with wireless equivalents. These wireless devices coupled with a home controller model HC-200 are the foundation for a powerful retrofit lighting/HVAC solution. Inherent are added benefits of a universal remote for the family entertainment center, a new digital music source from music loaded on a USB memory stick, and convenient one-button controls with wireless keypads.

Control4 dimmer/switch Wireless light switches and dimmers pictured at right replace standard decora switches in existing wall boxes. They are available in white, light almond, black, ivory, and brown. They look like standard switches except for the LEDs at the top and bottom of the switch paddle. The LEDs can be configured to a color matching the room decor with a complementary color displayed when the device is on. The LEDs also make for great night lights and easy recognition of the system light state. This solution allows homeowner to create lighting scenes for time of day or special occasions such as a dinner party or a backyard barbeque and launch the appropriate music playlist when the lighting scene is activated.

The home controller includes scheduler and timer agents. These allow you to control heavily-used lighting loads by time of day, important for homeowners who pay more during the week for usage during a premium time slot. The timer agent allows you to automatically turn off a light switch/dimmer after a preset duraton, which is very useful for bathroom lights/fans and closet lights.

The Control4 Outlet Dimmer is great for controlling lamps, while the Outlet Switch can control small appliances or audio/video equipment. This adds more power consuming choices when you need to reduce consumption during peak rate times. Each outlet switch can control 2 devices limited to 400 watts per device. Outlet and in-wall dimmers provide the flexibility to create lighting scenes with different lighting levels to create the desired "mood" for the scene. Optionally, you can choose to include motion sensing in this solution to ensure lights and devices are on only when someone is present in the room.

Control4 6-Button Keypad Since wireless switches/dimmers allow only one device to directly control the lighting load, if you replace one switch wired in an n-way manner the other switch(es) will no longer be able to control the load. These can be replaced with 3- or 6-Button Keypads (pictured at right) providing convenient one-button controls. One or two buttons can be configured to indirectly control the same lighting load the original switch did, but the remaining buttons can launch a lighting scene, a music playlist, control audio volume, launch TV or a movie, or any combination of these actions. Since these are programmed into the home controller the actions can be changed if more devices are added to the system or a new control is desired. Standard or custom keycaps are available to label each button for a nominal cost to make changing the button function easy and cost effective.

The Control4 Wireless Thermostat at left replaces your existing thermostat and allows the home controller to change heating/cooling setpoints, fan mode and other operating paramenters. This allows you to schedule changes to the HVAC setpoints during the premium rate period to save electricity and/or other fuel costs, and return the setpoints to more comfortable settings during off-peak hours. If the motion sensing option is included the HVAC system can be automatically turned down when the home is unoccupied for a specified period of time.

Attach a USB-connected disk drive or memory stick to the HC-200 USB port and you have a music server that will stream digital audio from your USB storage to the available speakers in one or more rooms. If you need the USB port for a WiFi adaptor, the HC-200 can stream digital music from a network drive on a home PC instead. The serial input option allows the HC-200 to monitor the zones and arm/disarm any supported security system already installed in your home.

The ultimate flexibility of this Control4 Home Energy Management Solution will complement your home entertainment experience while reducing your energy consumption!