Smart home automation with VELUX technology
It’s a misnomer to think of VELUX as purely a window company – they’re about comfort and wellbeing within the home. Nowhere is this clearer than their new Netatmo partnership, offering smart home and automation technology.
VELUX’s foray into smart home technology and home automation means new levels of comfort and control thanks to your VELUX windows and the new Netatmo app system.
What is a smart home?
Smart homes are designed to provide optimal comfort to residents at all times. Using systems called home automation, or sometimes domotics by those within the industry, smart homes self-regulate numerous climate features.
What’s that mean in plain English? Essentially that you don’t have to go around turning lights on and off, opening windows to ventilate or deal with humidity, managing the heating within your home if it’s too hot or too cold – instead, your home will manage all of that for you through technology. In short, you simply don’t have to think about it, and just live in comfort.
But technology scares me!
Whether you’re a tech guru or not, don’t worry! Smart home technology has actually been around for over a century. If you’ve ever washed clothes in a washing machine instead of by hand, heated your water with a boiler instead of a fire, or refrigerated food with a fridge-freezer instead of a cold cellar, then you’re using home automation and smart home technology. It’s all designed to save time and effort and shouldn’t scare you!
Newer technologies are just designed to do similar things, and once set up will make your life easier and happier, as well as saving time, effort and even money in the long run.
VELUX and Netatmo
VELUX have entered the home automation and smart home game with their latest VELUX ACTIVE range, in partnership with leading tech company Netatmo.
VELUX began adding remote controlled and electronic opening systems with the VELUX INTEGRA range. They also released conversion kits for older VELUX windows too, so that you can convert them into remote controlled windows.
VELUX ACTIVE is the next evolution of VELUX INTEGRA windows. What’s great is that you don’t need to upgrade the windows themselves; you can install VELUX ACTIVE with your current INTEGRA windows.
What is VELUX ACTIVE?
VELUX ACTIVE is VELUX’s Netatmo-powered smart home system for VELUX windows. It works by scanning live weather data from national weather stations to monitor the external climate and environment.
It then combines this information with indoor climate sensors installed into your home. VELUX ACTIVE then proceeds to monitor and regulate your home environment, including temperature, CO2 levels, and humidity within the house automatically.
You get a live feed straight to a nifty smartphone app, available on both iOS and Android. If you’re already a smart home wizard, and have an Apple HomeKit or a Hey Google operated device then it integrates with them too.
The VELUX app can monitor multiple rooms and manage the light, temperature, humidity, ventilation and more in each of them, adjusting your VELUX windows accordingly.
The app not only provides info, but also allows you to operate your windows directly from its interface. Have 3 VELUX windows with VELUX blinds in your bedroom? The VELUX ACTIVE sensors will provide environmental feedback and adjust them for you, or you can choose to override this and open and close the windows and their blinds straight from the app.
The system also allows for scheduling features, so you can turn it on and off as and when you’re in the house. You can change your home environment at the touch of a button… well, actually, it’s also voice controlled, so you don’t even need to touch a button.
VELUX ACTIVE with Netatmo also has full data security built in, so it’s locked to your device(s) and no one can control your system from outside your home.
Live life freely
So, smart home technology sounds like something from the future, but it’s here today… and it’s nothing to be scared of! VELUX ACTIVE simply monitors your internal and external environment and adjusts your VELUX windows accordingly to ensure optimal comfort through adequate ventilation, temperature, light, humidity, and CO2.
Unique Build can provide this technology for your home now, either by installing VELUX INTEGRA windows in your home, replacing older VELUX windows, or adding VELUX ACTIVE to current VELUX INTEGRA windows.
Simply get in contact, and we’ll do the rest.