Welcome to Our Smart Home Technology Blog

In 1959, Joel Spira invented the rotary dimmer switch, Lutron’s initial claim to fame. Lutron’s popularity soared through consequent decades as they created customized lighting automation systems, motorized shades and controls for homes and businesses, perfecting their product offering along the way. Now one of the most significant names in the smart home industry, they’re innovating LED lighting, tunable lighting and motorized shades for Dallas, TX, offices like yours.

But with the other automated lighting systems out there, why do we consistently choose Lutron for business applications? You’ll discover a few of those reasons below!

SEE ALSO: Is Your Conference Room Design Ready for the Next Decade?

Streamlined Connection

Lutron uses custom repeaters that employ radio frequency technology to communicate, ensuring the smoothest connection and minimal network interference. This system, called Clear Connect RF, means that you never have to compromise the bandwidth needs of your AV system with your lighting and shading requirements, which pays off if you’re controlling many devices throughout a large, tech-heavy office. And whether you have two lights or two hundred, you can control dimming and color temperature, monitor energy usage or power down your whole office from anywhere by using your Lutron app.

Human-Centric Setup

Static lighting - illumination that doesn’t change temperature or brightness throughout the day - occupies most commercial centers: The American Society of Interior Design reports that 68 percent of employees complain about the lighting in their offices. We can blame this trend on the ubiquitous fluorescent light that raises many staff complaints - ranging from unshakable midday lethargy to early-morning jitters.

We recommend Lutron’s lighting control for businesses aiming to implement the lighting that humans need to thrive. Its brilliance and tone shift imperceptibly throughout the day but impact our productivity, alertness and well-being in noticeable ways. You might notice that your staff seems more focused and alert, even during that late-afternoon meeting.

How your business appears to the new customer is a critical part of their return rate. That’s why a commercial lighting automation system from Lutron is an essential component for your Dallas, TX business’ success.

But if your lighting control isn’t easy to use, then how can you expect your employees to optimize it to best benefit you and your company or store on a daily basis? Panelized lighting from Lutron is the key, as well as the ability to use a handheld smart device when needed. With Lutron – you can have it both ways, and never with any hassle or fuss.

In this blog, we’ll dive into the benefits of a commercial Lutron system for your business. Want to learn more? Keep reading on below.

SEE ALSO: Why Lutron is Our Favorite Commercial Lighting Automation System

Set the Mood: Highlight and Brighten Up

As mentioned above, lighting has a significant impact on a space’s appearance – and how it makes people feel when they’re in said space. How you adjust lighting in your business or store needs to reflect the mood you want to set there.

If there’s one space in your business that absolutely needs to shine, it’s your conference room. As a central location for meetings, presentations and more, your conference space needs powerful technology that works whenever you need it. This includes everything from your A/V system to your lights.

Yes, your lights. The lighting in your conference room impacts your productivity, energy efficiency and more. Commercial automation systems can lead to significant improvements in all these areas. Here’s why you should install conference room lighting control in your Irving, TX, business.

SEE ALSO: 5 Must-Have Technologies for Your Boardroom Automation System

LESS WASTE, GREATER CONTROL

Commercial lighting control not only reduces the amount of energy your business uses, but also helps you use that energy more efficiently. Automated lighting control uses motion sensors and other devices to make sure only occupied rooms – including your conference room – are using power. Lights and other electronics being used in empty rooms is one of the major inefficiencies businesses face, but it’s easy to address with lighting control.

Another way to improve efficiency is to use preset schedules. By setting your lights or certain fixtures turn on or off automatically at certain hours, you’ll conserve energy by not leaving lights on overnight unnecessarily. Over time these small gains add up to significant savings.

No matter how large or complex the project, a media room is a significant investment for any homeowner. Top-notch A/V equipment costs thousands of dollars, and there’s the time and effort required to design the room and install the various components. If you want a media room in your Dallas, TX, home, you want the best home theater systems and other features you can afford. Here are four guidelines to follow as you begin your media room project.

SEE ALSO: Does Your Home Have the Proper Wiring for Smart Tech?

USE A 4K DISPLAY

4K video content is much more readily available than in years past, and the price of 4K projectors and TVs has dropped significantly. With these facts in mind, a 4K display of some type is the logical choice for your home theater. We work with only the best brands to meet your display needs.

To give you the best possible viewing experience, it’s important to choose a display that’s the right size for your room. One tried-and-true guideline is that the distance between the screen and the viewer should be 1.5 to 3 times the size of the screen. In practical terms, this means that if you have about 10 feet (120 inches) between your display and the audience, you shouldn’t buy a display bigger than 6-7 feet (72-84 inches).

SURROUND SOUND IS CRUCIAL

Obviously, image quality is important when it comes to your media room, but quality sound matters just as much. To ensure you get quality sound, you’ll want surround sound for your space. At the very least, a 5.1 speaker setup is crucial. This speaker setup includes 5 main speaker channels (front, left, center, and two other channels placed somewhere behind or to the side) and one subwoofer to amplify the bass channel. These speakers can be placed on stands throughout the room, mounted in the walls or ceilings, or stand freely on the floor; go with the options that best suits your home’s aesthetic.

If the idea of living in a “smart house” is appealing to you, then you’re in luck. In recent years, more and more smart devices have been developed that make it super simple for you to manage every aspect of your home, from the lights to the television to even the window shades! Below, we cover some of the most common ways to upgrade regular parts of your Keller, Texas house to a full smart home control system. 

Thermostat

Thermostats are one of the most popular and common types of smart home technologies. A smart thermostat allows you to manage the temperature throughout your home anywhere, anytime. Just pull out your smartphone and select the temperature you want. Many of these thermostats learn your preferences over time, so they adjust automatically to keep your home at just the right temperature for comfort.

Lighting

Go beyond basic light switches with a lighting control system that lets you create the perfect lighting environment in every room at the push of a button. Every fixture, from the ceiling fan to the accent lamps, can be managed by your smartphone, a tablet, or handheld remote. Each fixture’s brightness is adjustable, which is useful for energy efficiency—you don’t have to waste energy blasting the lights in rooms that have plenty of natural sunlight, for example.

SEE ALSO: How to Get Started with Lighting and Shading Control

Blind and shade control

With motorized shades, you never have to manually open or close the blinds or drapes again. Instead, you can have your smart home control system automatically adjust the shades throughout the day. And when you’re relaxing on the couch and the setting sun causes a glare, you don’t have to break out of the comfort zone to close the shades—instead, tap that option on your smartphone and go back to relaxing.

The modern boardroom is about more than just conducting meetings. It’s about collaborating with people all over the world, closing deals with key clients, and making strategic plans that could impact the company for years to come. If you’re relying on outdated or insufficient technology, you’re hindering your company’s ability to operate at peak efficiency and effectiveness.

Below, we cover the five technologies that are absolutely essential if you want a boardroom automation system that is reliable and capable of meeting all the needs of your Dallas, Texas area business.

SEE ALSO: 5 Commercial Audio Video Trends for 2017

1. High-End Sound System

Stop struggling to hear remote team members through weak, poorly placed speakers. A boardroom should utilize sound equipment that provides crisp, pure audio throughout the room. Brands such as Mark Levinson and Revel are a safe bet. These hi-fi audio systems are the product of decades of superior design and engineering. Your boardroom automation installer can strategically place the sound equipment and speakers so that you get perfect sound without any cords or devices cluttering up the room.

2. Lighting and Shading Control

Window shades or overhead lights aren’t typically what you might think about for boardroom technologies, but they should be. After all, the lighting in a room ties directly into the quality of your visual displays—too much lighting can wash out the imagery, but you still need a well-lit room to conduct meetings.

Whether you’re building a new home or renovating, we’re sure you’ve seen the deluge of DIY products that keep popping up everywhere. Maybe you’ve investigated some of these big-box products yourself and weighed the pros and cons of going it alone versus enlisting expert help. We suggest leaving those packaged “solutions” on the shelf.

Instead, we at DeVance Electronic Lifestyle highly recommend a pro smart home automation installation for several reasons, three of which we’ll cover today. Curious to see why? We’ll reveal more in this article.

SEE ALSO: Interior Design Trends for the Smart Home

Everything’s Customized

Before we start your installation project, we sit down with you and discuss any individual preferences you might have. That conversation feels open ended and leads us to dozens of possibilities informing everything from your design preferences to your family’s control needs.