Guide To Smart Homes - Part 4

Different Types Of Control System

So now you know the different pieces of equipment and the sub-systems that make up a Smart Home, which Control Systems should you be thinking of installing to control it all effectively?

The top Control Systems and in a rough descending price order are Crestron, AMX, KNX, RTI, Control4, Elan & Savant.  With the above mentioned Control Systems, you will be in very good hands, they all require extensive training and accreditation to become an installer and are professional choices with decades of history behind each of them.

These Control Systems will be able to communicate well with all of the Sub-Systems and a huge variety of Equipment Manufacturers in almost any way you can think of, ensuring that when you want to do something, there will be a solution to make it happen.

Some people think Apple, Amazon and Google are the most popular smart home companies, however, they have only been making products a few years and can only be considered DIY solutions that lead you down technical dead ends due to a very limited range of products. This is proven by the fact they have recently agreed to team up in order to collaborate and make a ‘Standard’ they can all operate from, something that was accomplished 30 years ago with ‘KNX’ and something Control4, RTI & Crestron do already.

Apart from price, there are a few things to know about these Control Systems. The main aspect is the Graphical User Interface (GUI). Some Control Systems, give you ‘their’ design of GUI (Control4, Savant), while these GUIs are very appealing and well thought out, they may not be suitable for some commercial applications or certain peoples’ tastes. Control Systems such as Crestron, AMX, RTI, KNX and Elan have the ability to create custom GUIs, which may be a requirement for some tastes or commercial applications.

Another thing to note is the amount of ‘Controllability’. Crestron & AMX are thought of as the pinnacle of control systems as the programming behind them can go very deep, this isn’t to say that the other Control Systems aren’t any good, Control4 for example is the market leader in the Domestic Sector and as such has very good control of a vast amount of different manufacturers’ equipment with an excellent Graphical User Interface.

This brings me on to the last point, ‘Closed Control Systems’ and ‘Open Control Systems’. Crestron, AMX, RTI, Control4 and Elan for example are ‘Closed Control Systems’, in the fact that they all use their own programming languages/ methods and can make changes at any time, they also manufacture their own equipment and in effect make their own rules. ‘KNX’, however, is an ‘International Standard’ in Europe, USA, China & Australia and as such allows over 400 Manufacturers to make equipment under the ‘KNX’ badge, subject to strict ratification and testing. Using KNX gives Smart Home Designers & Clients a massive choice in equipment and solutions, also the top manufacturing companies in the world are creating unique and useful product ranges. Another benefit of KNX is reliability, as no one piece of hardware failure will stop the entire system from functioning.

With this in mind it is worth pointing out that no one solution ‘does it all’ and making sure you have consulted and used a Professional Smart Home company will ensure the correct product choices are made for your project. It is quite often tried and trusted combinations of systems like KNX for Lighting, Heating and Blind Control that are tied in with Control4 or RTI giving added Audio & Video Control to give a complete solution that does ‘Do It All’, an approach that Intelligent Installations chose for the Show Apartment.

For More Information On Smart Home Systems Please Contact Us.

Next - Part 5: ‘Wired Vs Wireless’.