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Learn More | How It Works

One of HouseLogix’ core values is to avoid burdening clients with confusing industry jargon and irrelevant technical details. We prefer to focus each discussion on understanding your family’s needs, wants, worries and living patterns. If we understand the way you live, we can fine tune our smarthome technology for your lifestyle and you will enjoy incredible convenience, energy savings, security and effortless entertainment every day. You can relax and enjoy the lifestyle-improving process while we worry about the technology details.

Nonetheless, some of our clients are curious about how the technology works and how we are able to do so much without opening your walls and pulling wires everywhere. The key is advanced wireless networking. We set up two types of wireless networks in your house – a high-speed Wi-Fi network and a ZigBee mesh network. The Wi-Fi network we create is very fast and we use business grade equipment to ensure that it is extremely reliable. This is a traditional, secure Wi-Fi network so with a password you can connect laptop computers to it anywhere in your house to browse the internet, check email and connect to other computers. We use your home’s Wi-Fi network to send music, surveillance video and other data between various "network aware" components.

We also create a "ZigBee mesh network" in your house. ZigBee is a relatively new type of network that is designed to relay home automation instructions from the brain of the system (called the "controller") to various automated devices such as light switches, dimmers, thermostats, garage door controls, motion sensors, television remotes and touch panels. Any ZigBee-compatible device can be placed on your home’s ZigBee network. Any ZigBee device can relay a command to any other ZigBee device that is within its radio range. So even if the controller cannot communicate directly with a particular light switch, it can control that light switch by relaying the command through other ZigBee devices within its radio range. By installing ZigBee-compatible light switches, thermostats and other devices around your house, we can ensure reliable central control of each device. And ZigBee devices use very little power, so they can operate on tiny batteries that last for years.

ZigBee is an industry standard specification that is growing rapidly in popularity around the world. Every month, new ZigBee-compatible devices are announced from a variety of high quality suppliers. Each of these devices can be easily added to your smarthome solution to further enhance your home’s capabilities. For example, this summer new ZipBee compatible door locks will be available that allow you to touch a button to lock and unlock doors from anywhere without a key. Other ZigBee devices include:

Motion sensors

Door and window sensors

Water sensors (for detecting pipe leaks and basement flooding)

Garage door controllers and openers

Thermostats

Light switches and dimmers

Lamp switches and dimmers

Hot water heater controllers

Key fabs with buttons

Couch and bed occupancy sensors

Remote controls and color touchpanels

We install specialized controllers (small computers the size of a CD player) that manage the ZigBee devices and control your house. We use special software tools to configure the controller software to meet your lifestyle needs. All of our tools are hooked to the web, so we can even provide technical support services and upgrades without the need to send someone to your house.

If you like technology and want more information, there are many more fascinating technical details we can share with you when you visit our experience center. But we promise to stay focused on what's important – delivering a terrific smarthome lifestyle for your family.