For a smart home, product selection is key

For a newly built property, in terms of windows and doors, one of the most important questions is whether prospective residents would like a building management system in the house, as all solutions need to be tailored to this in the design phase. For today’s systems, system-specific connector units and auxiliary modules must already be planned and positioned so that they can remain completely hidden.

“Virtually one of our first questions, when we get a quote for a building, is whether and what kind of building management system is planned for the house. We need to customize everything to the selected system and the compatible accessories. The goal is to make the built-in doors and windows as practical as possible for the people living in the house, and for the solutions that make the house smart to remain almost invisible, ”says Károly Lovász, Managing Director of KAV. Fortunately, today’s technologies already allow for hidden solutions. For example, if you want to move a structure, the motors built into the doors and windows will no longer have to be “shoe-box-sized” as before, so they will not be visible indoors, but will be installed in grooves and profiles in the fittings. However, here comes another important step, which is not always easy to bridge in the Hungarian market, due to the lack of appropriate specialists. “When a motorized element is installed, we also need to provide a unit that controls this and communicates with that module of the building management system. Therefore, it is important to know exactly what type of building management system we need to connect to, as this determines what control-server unit we need to install with our windows and doors. To do this, we also need to provide a low-current specialist who will also assist with the installation. In this process, we need to work closely with the specialist contractors who control and provide after-care for the building management system. We need to think a little and use our brains so that all the elements work in perfect harmony and they even need to be checked regularly,” emphasizes Károly Lovász when giving the practical details.

In building management systems that control smart homes, it is vital that they are properly designed, deployed and installed by a team of experts who also provide after-care. It may take time for a new property to develop its daily routine (up to nine months – a summer and a heating season before we set everything up to our liking), but the building management system must work in line with it to its maximum. Precise assessment and identification of needs must therefore be very accurate from the very first moment. After all, if you do not build your environment the way you really want it, you will have to face annoying problems on a daily basis. Our smart home will be a kind of extension of ourselves, as it learns our habits to perform certain tasks automatically, such as switching on the electricity, turning on music, opening doors, and operating mechanical ventilation. So consciousness, or striving for it, is paramount at every step. What’s more, professionals need to be aware of one more thing: what happens when the power supply is cut off. In this case, the uninterruptible power station must take over control and leave only those units that are vital to the day-to-day operation to operate automatically, that is, to keep the house and security equipment “alive”, and to shut down the rest or to put them on standby.

However, even more careful planning and awareness will be needed soon, as smart homes are expected to be taken to the next level. As Artificial Intelligence begins to be applied to building management systems (and may be connected to a smartphone that we know), attitudes towards building and building awareness will change. The building itself will learn how to manage people.