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Home control, or 'home automation' as it is often called, refers to automated systems within a home that can be controlled both remotely or through the use of scenes. The most common remote controlled devices in homes, apart from televisions and other home entertainment equipment are lights, but there are many other devices that you can control. There are also many different 'flavours' of home control. This basically boils down to the kind of network that is used to pass the signals from a control unit to the devices you are controlling. Typically devices of one kind (or network) will not communicate with those of another network.

• Control Hub (control system or gateway). To control multiple devices a home control system needs a central controller. This device routes the control signals to the individual devices within the house. This can be a simple low level device, looking like a hand held remote control that allows you to control just a few devices, or a much more powerful system that allows you to setup and control many different devices. High level controllers such as the MiOS system allow the user to set complicated scenes, receive emails when certain events occur, switch devices on and off at specific times etc. These high level controllers can be software based that will run on your pc, or be installed within dedicated equipment.
• Devices.These are the things that you control. There are many kinds of devices that can be controlled. The most common are:
• Lights (on/off) - Typically lights are controlled through plug in appliance switch modules or in-wall switches.
• Switches (on/off) - These sit between the wall socket and your device and can be used to switch almost any appliance on or off.
• Dimmers - These allow you to set the brightness level of lights that are dimmable. The same kind of control (with a different power rating) can be used to control variable speed ceiling fans. These can be obtained as plug in - or in-wall modules.
• Door locks.
• Monitoring systems (video cameras).
• Sensors - These are devices that measure the environment in some way: temperature, light, moisture, humidity, smoke amd motion detectors. There are also door and window sensors which let you know if your doors and windows are open or closed.
• Shade controls - control your window covers.
• Thermostats - control your heating and cooling in the home.
• Water and irrigation systems.
• Controllers.These are the remote control units that you use to control your devices on a day to day basis. They can be handheld units that look very much like your TV remote, as well as in-wall panels with touch screens, or simple multi switch panels.
  This is where we at Square Connect have the biggest problem with Home Control. We love home control, but we hate the user experience. Why go to all the trouble of automating your lights, hot-tub, window covers, door locks, heating and lights, and then use a remote control unit that looks like a (yet another) TV remote? Or something that you have to walk accross the room (or even into another room) to control (as is the case with in wall panels). We felt that what was needed was a truly great, simple yet really flexible control unit that gave you what YOU want. Then came the iPhone and iPod touch with its great user experience. So we created SQ Remote to fill this need.
• Switches (on/off). These can be used with almost any kind of household appliance and are typically limited by the power rating of the device that is beign switched on and off. There are two basic kinds, those that can be installed in the wall as a replacement for existing light switches and those that simply fit between the power socket and the device that you want to control.
• Dimmers. These allow you to set the brightness level of lights that are dimmable. The same kind of control (with a different power rating) can be used to control variable speed ceiling fans.
• Scene Controllers.These allow you to preset the settings of one or more devices within your home, and activate these settings with one command. With these units you can program several scenes to set your controlled devices to preset settings. e.g. you might have an 'all off' setting for your lights, together with a 'reading' and 'watch a movie' setting.
• Z-Wave. This is a low power wireless mesh-network system that is incorporated into many different types of home controlled devices. Z-Wave devices have the ability to set up a network between themsleves so that control signals are passed along from device to device allowing devices that are out of range of the main Z-Wave controller to still be reached. They can be mains powered or run on batteries, as the Z-Wave system uses very little power. And Z-Wave devices can be obtained from many on-line sites as well as from major retail stores. They are very reliable, low cost, and are compatible between manufacturers. At Square Connect we prefer Z-Wave over other mesh network systems because of the range of devices that are available on the market and their high level of compatibility. Find out More.
• Zigbee. This is similar to Z-Wave. Zigbee devices are also low power mesh network devices - but use a slightly different wireless communication method. Zigbee and Z-Wave devices are not compatible with each other, although there are control hubs that can communicate with both systems. Find out More.
• X-10. This is an open industry communication standard for electronic devices used for home automation. It primarily uses power line wiring for signaling and control, where the signals involve brief radio frequency bursts representing digital information. Wireless X-10 systems and devices are also available. It was the first general purpose home control network technology and is probably still the most widely available. However it has slow response times and often suffers from commands being 'lost'. You can read more about X-10 on Wikipedia.
• Insteon. This is a system similar to X-10, but has a much higher level of reliability. It is very well established and there are many devices that use this control network. It is also backwardly compatible with X-10. Find out More.
• Infrared. Nearly all home entertainment / home theater equipment use infred remote control. Some high end home entertainment equipment have serial communication ports that allow them to be controlled via a networked system, and more modern equipment have HDMI interfaces, as well being IP enabled which opens up whole new control mechanisms. However as IR control is very cheap and until there is a fully established alternative, infra-red control will most probably remain the mainstream control for home entertainment systems.
• IP (Networked). More and more TV sets, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes are IP enabled. This means that in theory they can be controlled through your home network. IP networked devices extend to more than TV's though. There are many types of device that can be connected to your home network that can be controlled over using the IP/TCPIP protocol (the same protocol that is used to send information over the Internet). Perhaps the most common of these devices are IP Cameras. IP Cameras are available as wired (cable) and wireless (Wi-Fi) versions.
• USB / Serial Devices.There are also controllable devices that can be plugged into a networked system via a USB port. The disadvantage of these devices is that they need to be physically located near a networked system that has a USB port.
• Scenes.These are what makes home control really fun and worth having. Scenes are preset control settings that are either launched through a single button press (such as switching all the lights off and locking all the doors) or are triggered by events (a time of day, unlocking the front door, when a sensor activates etc.). With only a few lighting devices controlled through a home control system, scenes can be used to set varioius moods, or create the settings for a favourite activity - such as watching a movie or reading a book.