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This season of The Block has showcased a variety of smart home solutions that are transforming holiday houses in Phillip Island. However, for many homeowners watching, there may be uncertainty about the capabilities of smart technology, or where to start when it comes to your dream smart home set-up. At Legrand Australia, we are committed to providing simple, innovative and sustainable smart home and electrical solutions that improve lives. As a product partner for The Block in 2024, we have seen contestants incorporate our Excel Life Smart range to smarten up their spaces. We sat down with Tim Rolfe, owner of Summit Electrical Contracting in Melbourne and head electrical contractor on The Block, to gain insights on how homeowners can approach their smart home setup. View the video here
For homeowners who are considering smart switches but don’t know where to start, what advice would you have for them? Speak to your electrician first and foremost. Work out what you want to automate to make your life easier. Ask your electrician for some examples of what can be achieved if you are unsure.
For homeowners who are building or renovating, what questions should they be asking their electrician regarding having a smart electrical set up? Consider each room in the build. Do you want your blinds automated? These can be hardwired during the build, so you are ready to go. Do you want security lights to come on at a set time every night, or to stay on if you are away on holiday? Traditionally, this setup requires additional wiring for mechanical timers or sensors, which increased both labour and product costs. However, with a smart home set up like Legrand Excel Life Smart, scheduling features are embedded within the system, so no extra wiring or product is needed. Put some thought into the possible devices you want to automate and discuss this with your electrician. However as noted earlier, the standard wiring used by smart products means that in most cases automation can be done retrospectively which is a great feature - if you forget about something you can add it in later. If you have an existing electrical installation and want to upgrade to Excel Life Smart, there is no need to change the existing wiring of your home. What benefits do smart switches offer homeowners? Smart switches offer many benefits to homeowners. You can automate almost anything electrical. With different electrical or motorised applications becoming more and more prevalent in modern homes, The Home+ Control app creates a central hub to control everything more efficiently in one place. Automating different scenarios is a great way to extract the best use from your appliances. For example; you could have a “good morning” scenario triggered with the touch of a button, voice command, or even an automated timer. This could include something like having your blinds open, to music playing, turning your kitchen lights on or having a kettle start boiling. Obviously, this could be configured in many ways to a homeowner’s different requirements. All this can be done without changing the existing wiring of your home.
Tim’s expert insights emphasise the value of planning ahead and consulting with your electrician to make the most of smart home technology. With the flexibility to automate key functions and even retrofit solutions, smart switches such as Legrand’s Excel Life Smart products offer convenience and efficiency for any home.
To learn more about Legrand’s smart home solutions range or to get in touch, please fill in the form here and a member of our customer service team will contact you.
