We sat down with new Loxone partner and CEDIA member Scott McMurray of epitome Living to talk about the reasons he chose Loxone, his advice on the best home WiFI hardware and the costs involved for a modern smart home.
Hi Scott. Can you tell us a bit about your background and what led you to the world of smart home tech.
Hi Mark, thanks for having me. Where should I start? Clichéd as it probably is, I’ve been fascinated with tech my whole life. I don’t consider myself to be the typical computer nerd type, however. I’ve been interested in property, electronics, audio, automobiles and so on for as long as I can remember. I remember pulling in Cat5e to my Mum’s house when I was about 15 as I recognised how important a structured data network would be in the future.
Nearly 10 years ago, I started out my career in the software industry. I worked on bespoke web and native mobile apps. In parallel I started a part time business with good pal doing pro audio – both event production and installation, specialising in and focussing on working with local churches. This was, and continues to be, a wonderful insight into the different audio standards, particularly newer IP network based solutions.
In addition to all that, I’ve dabbled in traditional telecoms systems & computer networking over the years. I started to realise all of these technologies were easy for me to understand, and they were becoming more and more reliant on IP, which is convenient given my background. That’s what started to point me in this direction.
You’re one of Loxone’s newest installers. Out of all the home automation systems out there, what made you decide Loxone was the one?
It took me a long time… I remember, maybe 6 years ago, spending many, many hours reading through technical documentation for various other systems. In particular, Savant. I loved the concept of Savant. I’m a big Apple fan. have been since I got my 3rd/4th generation iPod. So, the idea of a home automation system based on Apple hardware really appealed to me. I knew the software would have a stable base and I thought the UI looked great, at the time. The hardware was gorgeous and screamed quality. The modular AV matrices were right up my street, and I was constantly thinking of hypothetical complex problems that could be solved easily with the products Savant offered. This all came to an end though when I realised what the pricing was like, and thought about what the installation and programming costs would be. other systems seemed to fall into a similar category.
Some time passed, I continued with the day job, and stepped away from the idea for a while. around the middle of 2016, I felt really drawn to start looking into the smart home industry again, especially as there were bigger players starting to talk about the industry, such as Apple themselves. attending ISE 2017 was probably the biggest kickstart I had in business and gave me an opportunity to talk to a couple of other Loxone installers, which was excellent. I had come across Loxone before, but had kind of disregarded it as is didn’t seem like a “proper” solution – no big racks of equipment needed!
I had a lightbulb moment when I realised that Loxone’s form factor and system design was actually what made it so great. It’s not big and in your face. DIN rail mounted equipment that can be hidden away like your traditional electrical circuit protection. The only time you need to get racks installed is for the networking and AV side of things, which means they can be smaller. Loxone works well in small spaces like apartments just as well as it does in big houses, requiring multiple cabinets. It scales to do what the big players do, yet retrofits so much better than many of them. In fact, the “retrofitability” is a whole reason to chose Loxone in itself – you can have a fully bespoke smart home, all integrated together, when you might think you could be stuck just using WiFi connected off the shelf “smart” lightbulbs or thermostats.
What would you say are the features that are vital for anyone building a new home in the next few years?
I recently wrote a blog post on a similar topic. The concept was about how we typically specify seemingly important items for our homes when building and don’t think about the technology side of things, mostly because we don’t know the benefits it would bring us. For example, lighting control might sound unnecessary to some people, but when they realise it can change the entire feel and mood of a room at the touch of a button, without having to redecorate, they think differently. turning off all the lights in the house with one tap is pretty great, too.
However, if I had to name one thing, it would definitely be a well designed network. We rely on WiFi so much. We put things on our WiFi networks which should really be on a wired network. We already have 4K video streaming coming into our homes from Netflix and Amazon Prime, and this will only increase and become more mainstream as sky are supposedly delivering content via IP, without satellite, this year. home builders now need to be getting in fast wired networks internally where it’s needed, and rock solid WiFi everywhere.
Finally, internal fibre should not be ruled out if people are building to stay in their homes for the next 20-30+ years…
Do you get involved in lighting design or is that something home owners need to employ a separate professional for?
एक हदसम्म। I would say this is usually customer led, however. For example, I was going through the plans with one client and they had plenty of their own ideas. I just helped plan something that could make their ideas become a reality, from a technical and compatibility point of view. lighting design is an art in itself. Whilst I understand the technical side of it, I’d rather work with a professional who lives and breathes lighting design, and help that become part of a client’s home. the worst thing that can happen is a client buys lights because they look good but hasn’t involved me to see if they’re compatible.
Has the Loxone Tree system really reduced installation time for you and costs for home owners?
One of the main advantages of Tree isn’t simply the reduced cable cost. Cat7 cable is cheap, relatively speaking. Although it’s possible to wire with minimal cable usage, that doesn’t sit well with me personally. I’d rather buy the extra box of cable and allow some extra “home runs” than skimp on it now and possibly regret it in the future due to a hypothetical change in system design.
Where Tree really shines for me, is termination and compatibility. It is quick to install Tree devices, whether you cable from one to the other, or each back to the board. टर्मिनेशन समय महान छ। but my favourite feature is on the software side. त्यो जहाँ तपाईं समय / पैसा बचत गर्न सक्नुहुन्छ। चीजहरू “काम”।
We typically see claims that smart home systems can save you money. are there real cost benefits from automated lighting and heating for example?
All the manufacturers give different figures. another supplier, whose products I use, claimed 37% saving in energy usage in their most recent mail out to me. I think all these figures should be taken with a pinch of salt as they’re obviously part of their marketing campaigns. However, it’s clear that there will be cost savings to an extent.
I think the mistake people typically make, is trying to reconcile those cost savings, by offsetting them directly against the installation cost of a full smart home. A full smart home is about so much more than saving a few litres of oil or saving costs by not having (already very efficient) LED lights left on. Whilst there are direct financial savings to be made, there are so many other areas which offer more value than simply financial saving.
Companies frequently talk about home ‘Automation’ when to us they merely look like ‘remote control’ or ‘connected’ systems. how much autonomy can a Loxone system provide?
लोक्टोनले “Autopillot जीवित” को सिक्का मानिन्छ। I’m a private pilot myself, and I think this is a terrific analogy, but then maybe I’m biased!
In aviation, much like in life, you have a certain workload at any one moment. एक विमानमा Autopilot अल्छी हुनु को बारे मा छैन। यो सजिलो लिनको लागि होइन। A pilot is always responsible for the aircraft, whether using autopilot or not. It’s his or her job to ensure that everything that needs to happen, happens. That it all happens at the correct time, in the correct order, with the correct level of accuracy.
Some tasks, as we know, are best done by a computer if possible. The mundane and repetitive as well the accurate and mathematically precise. Holding a certain heading, altitude and airspeed is an example of a mundane task that can easily be done more precisely by the autopilot, leaving the pilot with more mental capacity to focus on route, planning and various other cockpit tasks.
It’s the same at home. There are things we do that are repetitive and mundane – switching all the lamps on in a room and turning dimmer switches to a certain level to achieve the lighting we want. Running round checking doors and windows are closed and locked, making sure lights, TVs and music are all turned off before leaving. That’s a basic level of autonomy – where you press one button and all those things are set or checked, but you’re still in control and can do what you want when you need to.
Loxone does that well, but the real Autopilot Living comes in to play when we think about events and actions. Your readers are probably familiar with IFTTT (IF This then That), and the Autopilot designer is much like that concept. “If the sun goes down, turn on the outdoor lights” is something a lot of people probably do manually. more importantly, people typically go around their houses putting down shades to for the purposes of fabric protection, or to stop theसूर्यलाई घर तानिरहेको रूपमा सूर्य तिनीहरूलाई चिन्तित बनाउँछ। यो घर मा विन्डो विन्डो को दिन र अभिमुखीकरण को समयमा आधारित स्वचालित गर्न सकिन्छ। अन्धाले सूर्यको अनुसरण गर्न सक्छ।
के तपाईं कुन प्रणालीहरू सिफारिस गर्नुहुन्छ, उदाहरणका लागि, तपाईं कुन गृह वाइफाइ किट स्थापना गर्नुहुन्छ?
मैले पहिले उल्लेख गरे जस्तै, मँको आर्थिक पक्षमा अडियोसँग राम्रो अनुभव। लोक्नोन आफ्नो छत र बुकशेफ स्पिकरहरू र एम्पिडिफिकहरू मिल्दो छन् जुन ठीक छ। यद्यपि त्यहाँ प्रशस्त समयहरू छन् जहाँ उच्च प्रदर्शन वा बिभिन्न फारम कारकहरू आवश्यक छन्, र यी सँधै केस मा केस मा एक मामला मा निर्दिष्ट छन्।
तपाईंले वाइफाइको उल्लेख गर्नुभयो – म Ubiquiti नेटवर्कबाट unifiri एक दायरा प्रयोग गर्दैछु। मलाई लाग्दैन कि यो मूल्य बिन्दुमा कम हुन सक्छ। यो भरपर्दो पनि हो, राम्रो देखिन्छ, र कन्फिगर गर्न पाउँदा आनन्दित हुन्छ।
के तपाईं हामीलाई एउटा लोक्सनेन प्रणालीको लागि एउटा उदाहरण मूल्य दिन सक्नुहुन्छ – परम्परागत 3-बेड सेमीमा स्मार्ट प्रकाशको लागि भन्नुहोस्।
यो धेरै फरक हुन सक्छ। प्रणालीको फाइदा यो हो कि यो तपाईको कल्पनामा निर्मित छ। तपाईं गर्न सक्नुहुन्छ, प्राविधिक, एक अतिरिक्त उपकरणहरू बिना एक अतिरिक्त उपकरणहरू भन्दा एक ock कोठाको घर चलाउनुहोस्, 1 स्विच र प्रत्येक कोठामा 1 प्रकाश प्रदान गर्दछ। यो धेरै कम लागत हुनेछ – सम्भवत भागमा £ 600 भागहरू, हल्का फिटिंग र स्विच गरिएको छ ग्राहकले प्रदान गरेको छ। त्यहाँ सबै माथि र कार्यक्रम सेट गर्न स्पष्ट रूपमा आवश्यक छ, तर यो तराजु प्रोजेक्टको आकारको साथ।
वास्तविकतामा तपाईं केही महान् एक प्रणाली प्राप्त गर्न अनुमति दिन चाहनुहुन्छ जुन उचित स्मार्ट र त्यहाँबाट पैमाने छ।
उदाहरण को लागी, यसले तपाइँलाई प्रत्येक कोठामा गति पत्ता लगाउन अनुमति दिईन्छ, (जुन तपाईंको तटस्थतामा तापक्रम प्राप्त गर्दछ तपाईंको तापक्रमका साथै तपाईंको स्मार्ट प्रकाश स्विचमा बनाउँदछन्। तपाईंको स्मार्ट प्रकाश स्विचले मोटरलाई अन्धालाई पनि नियन्त्रण गर्न सक्दछ, र प्रत्येक कोठामा अडियो यदि तपाईं त्यो थप्न चाहानुहुन्छ भने।
त्यसैले स्मार्ट प्रकाश, स्मार्ट ब्लाइन्ड नियन्त्रण, अडियो नियन्त्रण र एक धेरै कन्फिगरयोग्य सुरक्षा प्रणाली को लागी एक स्मार्ट तट क्षेत्र, अडियो नियन्त्रण र एक धेरै कन्फिगर प्रणाली को लागत लगभग £, 000, 000 बाट लाग्न सक्छ।
एकमूष्ट गृहको स afford orgorageorgication ्गितालाई ध्यानमा राख्दै अन्य क्षेत्रमा खटाइएको बजेटलाई “स्मार्ट” बजेट ल्याउनु पर्छ भनेर मलाई याद छ। उदाहरणका लागि तपाईंको सुरक्षा अलार्म बजेट, हीटिंग नियन्त्रण बजेट र तपाईंको सामान्य विद्युत बजेटको एक राम्रो अंश। यसले ठाउँ तताउने नियन्त्रणले मात्र माथिल्लो तलामा र तल झर्दै गरेको नियन्त्रण कोठाको सामान्य संस्करणमा भारी सुधार गरेर पनि मूल्य थपेको छ।
अमेरिकी स्कटको लागि समय लिनु भएकोमा धन्यवाद। प्रतीक्षाको लागि उत्तम स्थान के हो proignome जीवित र तपाइँले प्रस्ताव गरेको सेवाहरूको बारेमा अधिक पत्ता लगाउन के हो?
वेबसाइटमा जानुहोस् – www.opitompanive.com मा। यो अझै त्यहाँ सम्पूर्ण कुरा प्राप्त भएन, तर आशापूर्वक हामी के प्रस्ताव गर्न सक्दछौं, सरल अफ-थेल-शेल्फ स्मार्टमा सल्लाहहरू सेट गर्न र सल्लाह दिँदै जस्तो हामी आजको बारेमा कुरा गर्दैछौं।
म पनि सोशल मिडियामा बढी सक्रिय हुन कोशिस गर्दैछु र केहि काम सुरू गर्न कोसिस गर्दै छु जहाँ उपयुक्त छ, त्यसैले फेसबुक, ट्विटर र इन्स्टाग्राममा नजर राख्नुहोस्।
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