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Today's video is about smart home systems again. As always! Today a bit more special and we just want to talk about what is a smart home and what can it do with the smart home? What makes sense with a smart home? And of course there are a wide variety of approaches, and we're going to talk about them today. Yes, we have both been working in service for many years and we find out again and again through customer discussions that many customers are not even aware of what can I do, what is Smart Home at all and we want to do a little bit of that in today's video go into more detail about how the two of us use our smart home in everyday life.

We let you participate a bit in our smart home. Conversely, it must also be said that there are customers who contact us on the phone or by e-mail, where we are surprised at what they do with the smart home system. So of course we have to talk about that too. All of this in this video today. Both of us, who deal with this topic every day, had to think about what our smart home should actually look like. What do we want to implement? How did you solve the Smart Home issue at home? I started out very simply with my Smart Home back then, so I started with the roller shutters first, like most customers who come to Radermacher and had already installed motors and then I simply made them radio-capable with an actuator. That was the first step, back then, it was 2007, there were the first actuators, but no HomePilot yet, but I could operate it directly with the remote control and it was very important to me that we also operate each motor individually locally be able.

It was a bit different for me, we didn't want any switches on the walls, so we decided on wireless tubular motors and the control with the remote control accordingly: DuoFern manual control center back then, our standard hand-held transmitter was always in use a lot at the time and today still. That 's the nice thing – you can gradually build up the system and also locally with this control. I can do that even if the tubular motors are wireless, there is the option of connecting buttons or , in my case, I could simply hide the actuators in the roller shutter box and then have smooth walls, but we wanted to have the buttons on site.

Today I have to say that manual operation on site is relatively rare and is hardly used at all. How about you? With us it actually looks like this, you have to ask yourself first, when I deal with the topic of Smart Home, I would also like to be able to control my roller shutters via smartphone and then we are basically always with our HomePilot or if I don’t have any automation need at the bridge. Of course it was very clear to us, probably to you too, of course we want to control via smartphone and that's why I use the app to operate it.

But I also use voice control via Alexa, which of course is not necessarily for everyone. So that's what we do or I mainly do at home a lot. And I also use our 1-channel wall switch, for example, where I have created a scene directly where the light is dimmed, where the shutters move into position and accordingly I press the one button on the wall switch and it's cosy and the movie night can start. Automation is of course also a huge topic with the HomePilot, because I almost never operate my roller shutters manually because the HomePilot does everything for me. I have the environmental sensor that measures dawn and dusk, the HomePilot can do that on its own, and I have my sun scenes, which of course lower my shutters appropriately, i.e. in the morning in the east, in the afternoon or midday in the south, in the afternoon from the west, depending from the temperature, from the brightness, from the position, so I don't have to worry about it at all. It really is, so it just runs.

So the house does the work, you no longer need to press a button or pick up a remote control. You can, if you want, in any case, but the house thinks along with you. And that's actually the thing, smart home, so when the house thinks for itself and does work for me. That's actually exactly what you want to achieve with it and how far you push the whole thing and what makes sense. Especially what makes sense in everyday life. What really helps you in everyday life is that and especially the sun control and then maybe coupled with an outside temperature that you say yes, the roller shutters should move to the sun position , but only when it is 25 degrees outside, depending on your preference. And that's really a huge point, once it's done, that the roller shutters move automatically, you've already achieved a lot and then there's also the topic of simulating presence, because when I'm on vacation my house does the whole thing just like that and I can of course simulate presence directly with it.

Maybe in combination with a light control, that was the next step for me. At some point you stopped at the roller shutters, you let off steam, that was done and then it's all about the light. You can do a lot there and always have a feel-good atmosphere. With the push of a button or with a sentence, depending on how one can do better. I mean everyone as they say, but that's a great thing, even if I only have a hand-held transmitter on the table and occupy a button there, for example our famous film from scene in, of course we have that at home too. I believe that almost every Rademacher employee. At least I could imagine. But it also makes sense, so I no longer have to run through the whole room in the evening or through my living/dining area and operate every switch, dim my light, I just press my button and then everything is done with the push of a button.

And let's face it, we really have the television set in such a way that the sun is always dazzling at times, you only see half of it and then I press my wall button or use the app accordingly and I trigger the film scene accordingly, shutters are upright Positions, light is dimmed, is great. Of course you can do different things with the light, so I started with the normal switch actuators, just make sure to have a switchable socket or make lighting switchable, it's very easy to switch out, actuator behind it, switch again before that, to put it very roughly, and I already made my switches radio-capable . Dimming was definitely the next step I took, especially in the living/dining area, I controlled all my lighting with a dimmer, our universal dimmer, and I can use it to dim the main light.

And then there are those accents. With the colors accordingly now Philips Hue was added at some point and then we integrated that, you too, and accordingly you could also regulate the whole thing a bit in terms of color if you wanted to change it, now recently in combination with the addz stick our addz Lights are also a great thing. I mean, at the beginning, when the whole light control came out, dimmer, Phillips hue, addz, you also let off steam a lot in the house, but now it is also the case that you also control the garden lighting outside with it.

Huge topic, garden that's definitely the point where the most has happened for me, because after the shutters have been controlled the light in the house, then you look in the garden what you can do and there is really, really, really many applications and we hear this again and again from our customers that the fountains in the garden are switched on, any streams, any pumps are switched on and of course the lighting and especially in the outdoor area, also there with color from time to time to work to create certain scenes . Or the smart lawn irrigation, our promotional package. Exactly, that is definitely also very interesting and obvious. Obviously, not only did you cover the lighting in the garden, but also the irrigation, so then quite a lot is possible. I also think the outside area is a great story, because you can of course combine it very nicely with certain sensors.

I always do that at home, which means I installed a door contact from us and when I open the terrace door, certain automations happen, which means I can say that when I open the door, the shutters on the terrace door should not go down , because nobody wants to lock themselves out of their smart home, if it is well programmed , the shutters will go up again the next morning, or it can be a long night.

At the same time, I do the same thing when the door is opened and it's dark outside, my HomePilot knows that, then it immediately turns on the light in my garden and I immediately have sensible lighting. It's all these possible combinations and that's what makes the whole thing so interesting, it's smart home and I don't have to worry about it, I do n't have to turn on the light outside beforehand, it just comes on when it makes sense and that 's cool. Now that we've just taken up the topic coldly. That was a great transition, that's a very good transition for us, because there's a lot going on in the area of ​​heating control with us, important point, the underfloor heating, radiator actuators. How is it at home and do you use it? We have underfloor heating throughout the house and have individual room controls via our room thermostat. That's great, of course, I don't have to turn the dial at home, I have an overview in my app, I know exactly how warm a room is and can regulate it at any time and of course I can also turn down the rooms if they are not being used at all , like my office, when I'm working from home I naturally need a temperature, and when I'm here in the company I don't need a temperature there, which means I can regulate it to suit and of course save money and energy.

It's the same with us, so we also regulated the underfloor heating on the ground floor just like you, but on the upper floor, bathrooms, bedrooms, we still have normal radiators and that's where our radiator actuator is used. I always need a certain comfortable temperature in the bathroom in the morning when it's cold in winter. Accordingly, of course, I also created the right scene so that the temperature also suits me in the morning. But even since everything is automated, I don't have to worry about anything, that means you go to the bathroom in the morning, probably two hours later at the weekend and I can regulate everything via the HomePilot.

That's exactly what happens in the morning, then heated up at a certain time and two hours later heated down again and yes, as I said, you simply don't have to worry about anything anymore. The nice thing about the smart home is that we have all the wireless actuators and all the programming or configuration, I can do it all myself, so I don't have to get a craftsman to reprogram or reprogram everything every time programmer, but I do it myself on the smartphone or on the computer I create my scenes as I need them. And why do you really have to say it like that, it's not like we can program it ourselves because we deal with this topic every day through our job.

Maybe a little faster, maybe we have a few advantages there, but we also talk to a lot of customers and we also know that a lot of customers who work in a completely different way, that is, normal consumers really just make their minds up, of course everyone has to make their own decisions first deal with the topic a bit that is very clear, you have to take a look at it first , how does it work with the HomePilot smart home system, but you can really see through it very quickly and we know many, many customers who do that just program it yourself and that's the great thing about it because you're flexible.

That's also the nice thing, I can really start small, so a lot of customers start with the roller shutter control, which is classic for Rademacher and say simply open in the morning, closes at dusk in the evening. That's the basic setting and that's basically two scenes I need, I need two triggers and that 's it , it's very simple and then the whole thing becomes more and more complex and what I said at the beginning, you're surprised that some customers do everything with the HomePilot, when I think of all the connections, conditions, then of course there is one thing, you can take it extremely far. We're always amazed at the feedback we get from customers about what they control at home. A point we just had, this whole voice control thing is of course not for everyone.

The good thing is I don't have to do that and the issue of security is also very important, the data is completely on the HomePilot, so I don't have to release any data, if I don't need voice control now, the data is completely on the HomePilot. So I don't have to have a constant connection to our cloud server because the data is on the HomePilot, that's very important again, we had it that way from the start and it will stay that way. That no data is outsourced somewhere on a cloud. What you actually have to say again is this topic, what is smart for whom? Of course, there are also many customers who say that I don't necessarily have to have control via smartphone, because maybe they've reached a certain age where they can simply say to you: No, I come from a different generation and I don't want to deal with this topic anymore explain, I really only prefer a hand-held transmitter where I can operate my roller shutters via the hand-held transmitter.

That can also be smart, so you really have to ask yourself: What do I want at the moment and what do I want to implement and actually it's always like that with us, I think one of the first questions is always you want to control your roller shutters via smartphone . And then you already know in which direction you have to go. But the good thing is, no matter how I want to control the whole thing, the receiver, i.e.

The wireless tubular motor or the actuator that is not used at home, is always the same and I can start with the hand-held transmitter, but I still have the option to further expand the whole thing with the HomePilot and that is an advantage. Start small, grow big. With the HomePilot , all doors really open, there are no restrictions, everything about DuoFern products can be combined with the HomePilot and the HomePilot app is free. You can really operate your devices from anywhere in the world or see where my roller shutters are, is the garage door open or closed, because the topic of garage control is also covered. I do it at home too, great story, SX-5 installed. The advantage is, of course, that I can use it normally like a normal operator, but at 11 p.m. in the evening it’s my end of work scene and the gate will definitely close if someone at home has let it open. If it was already closed, everything was fine, but the lights in the garden are switched off after work and the gate is lowered, then it's just over in the evening.

At some point it's good. Come to our closing remarks. So conclusion: you can start very small, in the end I only need a receiver and I can control it with a transmitter or I can take the HomePilot with me. Can I control it remotely with my smartphone, so of course there are a lot of variants. Build the smart home the way you want it to be and you decide what smart home means for you . Whether it is the transmitter or the HomePilot is up to you. We will make more videos, also on this topic, how do I actually start and which products do I need exactly, we didn't talk much about that today. How do I install motors or a RolloTron. We'll do something there too. We will then link them to you accordingly at the bottom of this video.

Exactly, as soon as they're ready, we'll present them. I think there is a lot going on and it was such a small insight into our smart home, how we use the whole thing, it's definitely fun and should n't be a burden. So I don't want to worry about my smart home all day, but as we said at the beginning, if the house or smart home organizes itself, then everything is fine. When the house thinks along with you. I'd say that's it for today, more videos to come. Thank you for watching and see you next time. So that you don't miss any of our videos , please click on the subscribe button here. Bye Bye..