Eliminating wall clutter—for good
Multiple light switches and dimmers, thermostats, air conditioning, intruder alarm keypads, mains switches; all these traditional controls for the technology in our homes often led to the ugly sight of multiple wall plates of different styles on the walls of our rooms. A smart home control system goes a long way to eliminating this wall clutter of course. All those controls are integrated into a single interface, so lighting, climate control as well as security and all your audio/visual entertainment systems have a single easy-to-use control interface.
Most control systems, such as Control4 and Crestron, allow you to control everything from your smartphone; but there are times when you don’t have that to hand. The solution is therefore a touch panel control mounted in the wall or freestanding somewhere in the room. Looking similar to an iPad or other tablet, they come in various sizes and designs with bezels to suit any interior design.
Next generation user interface
Not everyone is a fan of the wall-mounted touch screen though, it can look quite ‘techie’ and although they are easy to use (when correctly programmed by a qualified installer such as Modal AV) in many cases they are offering more control than you actually need in many rooms.
So what’s the latest solution to controlling the technology in our smart homes? Modal AV are excited by the recently launched Tyba Turn 2™ control interface. This small and discrete control interface can be wall mounted in as many rooms as you wish. Its approach is similar to the popular Google Nest interface for heating control; there’s a central screen (with touch input) providing information and a rotating bezel that allows you to adjust settings.
The Turn 2™ however controls more than just heating. By integrating it into your smart home control system (it is already compatible with Control4, KNX and Crestron, with the promise of more to follow); it can be programmed to provide extremely simple control of all your systems. Adjusting the volume of the TV or multi-room audio, selecting a different media source, adjusting the temperature (of course), dimming the lights, raising and lowering the blinds. And, of course, it can also be used to select the pre-programmed scenes you have already defined for the room.
When not in use, the display turns off so as not to be a distraction; yet springs instantly back into life as you approach it. For darkened rooms (eg bedrooms or home cinemas) a tiny LED on the screen can help you find the control even in the dark.
It also has a built-in temperature sensor for the room, so you don’t need separate sensors elsewhere. Now you really can reduce ALL the wall clutter to a single, attractive, easy-to-use control interface.
If the Turn 2™ controller sounds like the ideal solution for some of the rooms in your home; speak to Modal AV about how we can integrate it into your existing smart home system.