Whether you are using X10, INSTEON, or Z-Wave technology, you’ve undoubtedly seen the term “scene control.” Scenes are home automation’s equivalent of a computer macro. Anything you can accomplish by pushing several remote control buttons, you can also accomplish by pushing just one.
What Are Scenes Used For?
Scenes can be used for setting your wakeup conditions in the morning, setting a theater environment to watch your favorite movie, locking up the house and turning on the security at bedtime, or setting a romantic setting for an intimate evening. Each scene can be initiated with a single timed event or by pushing a single controller button.
- Setting Wakeup Conditions – Set your scene controller to raise the lights to 30% brightness and your background music to low volume, fifteen minutes before you want to get up. Turn on the coffee pot on in the kitchen, warm up the towel warmer in the bathroom, and turn on the bathroom light. At your designated wakeup time, raise your lights to 60% brightness and turn your music or TV up to medium or high volume.
- Setting a Theater Environment – Select your Theater Scene button on your remote control and watch the lights dim to 25% brightness, the big screen TV come on, and the home theater speakers turn up to high volume. If someone rings the doorbell or the phone rings, the lights come back up and the movie pauses while you see who it is.
- Going to Bed – Press the Goodnight Scene on your bedside controller and all exterior doors are automatically locked, every light in the house is turned off, the thermostat is lowered to 60 degrees, and the night alarm system is enabled.
- Setting a Romantic Setting – Pushing a button on the remote control causes the window shades to close, the living room lights to dim to 20% brightness, the fireplace to ignite, and soft romantic music to begin playing over the in-ceiling speakers.
Why Use Scene Control?
Scene control is used for the same reason a computer macro is used, convenience. If you’re going to do something repetitively, why not program a single button to do it for you? Virtually anything you can do with a home automation controller, you can also program to operate in scene control.