Lighting control systems can help improve the security of your home
Maybe it’s the return of the dark nights drawing in but we’ve noticed a real increase in the number of inquiries for lighting control systems by people looking for the benefits of lighting control security integration. The ability to programme individual circuits and get them to respond to either specific button presses or other events makes a well planned lighting control system an ideal partner to a security system.
Holiday mode makes your house look occupied
Vacation mode or holiday mode is a simple but effective idea. Lighting Control systems can be set to monitor actual usage of lights under control and store them. When Holiday playback mode is activated, the lights will mimic the actual usage of light in the house. This gives a much more realistic occupancy simulation compared to simple timers or lighting linked to Passive Infrared (PIR) sensors. Lighting control systems such as Lutron Homeworks allow us to tweak what the system plays back; meaning that the system can be set up only to play back the energy efficient light sources in the scheme or those visible from the outside of the house. Lighting control systems also offer the ability to control blinds and curtains so these can be integrated in holiday playback as well.
So vacation mode is great for when you’re away from home. But when you’re in the house, lighting control systems offer security benefits over conventional lighting. This is driven by the fact that with a lighting control system any lighting circuit can be programmed to be controlled from any button on a keypad – not to mention iPhone, iPad apps etc. So a keypad in the bedroom can service all of your normal lighting needs (as well as being able to turn the bathroom on and off, but it can also be programmed to have a button for controlling house wide lighting. Having a button by the side of the bed that can bring on the ground floor lights in the house, bring on the courtyard or simply bring on the front garden lights can really aid peace of mind.
Lighting control security integration is simple to implement
The great thing about lighting control security integration is that it’s simple and cheap to do. There is little in the way of additional hardware required; simply some integration cabling and programming work. The vast majority of our projects that use a lighting control system feature integration with the security system or home automation system if one is installed.
