Buddy is one lucky dog. He belongs to Mike Stram, president of Stram Electronics’ Home Theater Gallery in Tampa, Fla. As you might expect, Stram’s home is a technology showcase packed with the latest in audio, video and home automation. The main control panel includes a button with Buddy’s name on it.

When Stram presses this button, most lights in the house extinguish while the lights in the kitchen—Buddy’s base of operations when his master is gone—rise to a comforting glow. The kitchen TV comes on and Stram’s satellite receiver tunes to Animal Planet, Buddy’s favorite channel. The TV’s sound emerges from ceiling speakers in the kitchen, loud enough to keep Buddy amused but soft enough that he can drowse off to sleep when the mood strikes. It makes me wish my home had a button labeled “Charles.”

Vantage offers a wide variety of keypad styles and button layouts (right) to suit nearly any taste and decor. Buttons can be custom-labeled with any titles you desire. The QLink software (left) allows the installer to configure each button to trigger any lights in the house—to any brightness you prefer. It also lets the installer link any button to audiovisual, security, and heating and air-conditioning systems. (Click images to enlarge)

When Stram presses this button, most lights in the house extinguish while the lights in the kitchen—Buddy’s base of operations when his master is gone—rise to a comforting glow. The kitchen TV comes on and Stram’s satellite receiver tunes to Animal Planet, Buddy’s favorite channel. The TV’s sound emerges from ceiling speakers in the kitchen, loud enough to keep Buddy amused but soft enough that he can drowse off to sleep when the mood strikes.
It makes me wish my home had a button labeled “Charles.”Buddy’s luxurious lifestyle comes courtesy of Vantage Controls, a Utah-based company specializing in home automation. Like other lighting control companies, Vantage builds products that can make your lights do practically anything you want them to do.

So what is Vantage’s advantage? According to Stram, “Vantage offers a change in lifestyle, which is defined by the ‘welcome home’ button. People don’t get excited by the fact that one button turns all the lights in their house on and off. But if you label a ‘welcome home’ button for them, and they hit that and the lights come on, the music server starts, maybe the heat comes on … now that they find exciting.

“I create all sorts of buttons for my clients,” he continues, “and the cool thing is, all I have to do is tell you the names of them and you know what they do. For example, there’s the ‘goodbye’ button. The ‘relax’ button. Then ‘cooking,’ ‘dining,’ ‘movie,’ ‘late night’ and ‘cleaning.’ In your master suite, you can have ‘good morning,’ ‘good night’ … and even ‘great night.’”“What might that be?” I inquire, feigning innocence.

“A more romantic, intimate lighting mode,” he replies. “A candlelit ambiance. I prefer it without music, but you could have the ‘great night’ button turn on some groovy jazz album. And you want it to bring up the lights in the closet a little bit, because you know, things can happen in there….”

So that’s why this guy is so popular with his clients.

Vantage’s systems are sophisticated enough even for the high-roller suites in the Bellagio and Mirage hotels in Las Vegas. In each hotel, a Vantage system controls the lighting for all of the suites.

I mention the Buddy button to a public-relations executive whose home rivals Stram’s for technical horsepower, and he comes alive. “That Vantage system is fantastic,” he enthuses. “In fact, I’m upgrading my entire system next month.” Naturally, I invite myself to attend the upgrade session.

Insight Into Light
When I arrive, the PR exec gives me a quick primer on his existing Vantage system. It centers on a main controller into which all the lights are wired. The dimmers for the lights are built into this controller, as are the control keypads for the system. A central computer inside the controller takes input from the keypads and triggers the dimmers and switches for each light. A custom installer can program the system so that one keypad button shuts off every light in the house. Or turns on only the lights in that room. Or dims the lights in the adjacent room to half-power. Or whatever else you might want the button to do. You can even set it to tell you when a light bulb goes out.

The C5 Control Station (above left) functions as an in-wall touchscreen remote. Its screens can be programmed to suit your home’s electronics and decor. A single on-screen button can trigger even complicated lighting scenes (above center). WebPoint software (right) lets the installer or homeowner readjust the lighting system’s operation from any computer. (Click images to enlarge)

Vantage also offers a wireless system, RadioLink, in which the controller is a small box that manages the lights wirelessly. Every light has its own radio-controlled dimmer, and every keypad sends radio signals to the central controller. Both systems perform the same tasks. If you’re building a home from scratch, you will probably choose the standard control box; if you’re retrofitting an existing home, the wireless system is a more practical choice.

To the PR exec’s system, his installer will add Vantage’s new C5 Control Station, an in-wall touchscreen controller that offers a much more gratifying and versatile control interface than any mere keypad could provide. He also plans to upgrade the controller so it interfaces with Vantage’s WebPoint software, which allows control of the entire lighting system through any computer connected to the Internet.

THE COMMAND CENTER
If you have ever used a touchscreen controller from a manufacturer such as Crestron or AMX, you will understand the C5 immediately. If not, you’re in for a treat. The 5.5-inch color screen of this controller can display anything you wish to put on it, and control practically any electronic device in your home—from lights to heating and air conditioning to security to motorized draperies to audio and video. Its backlight comes on automatically when your hand comes near, so you need not fumble in the dark to turn the lights on.

In this case, lighting designer Phil Morton of Design With Light in Bethel, Conn., has created a home page that has the homeowner’s name up top. (Talk about convenience—now he need never worry about forgetting who he is or his guests forgetting where they are.) It also shows the date and time. Below that, nine buttons control specific lights—the outside lights and a few of the main indoor lights. “I didn’t want to have to go through a bunch of menu pages to turn the most-used lights on and off,” the PR exec explains. An arrow-shaped button in the lower right corner takes you to the next page, which controls the kitchen lights. Every page has a button that takes you straight back to the home page.

Most of the buttons on this C5 are square, labeled with a Helvetica-style font, but you can choose any button shapes or labeling fonts you like. This C5 does not control the home’s audio, but that may happen soon—it just takes one extra wire in the basement and a little programming. And maybe while they’re at it, they will put a C5 in the media room to control that room’s lights and audiovisual system. Or even connect the C5s to display video images from security cameras or a satellite TV channel such as CNN or Fox News.

Your installer can replace any keypad with a C5. In fact, the screen uses the same two-conductor, 18-gauge wire, so installing the C5 is as simple as enlarging the keypad’s mounting hole with a drywall saw. However, the C5 does absolutely nothing until your installer programs it, and programming it is as complex a task as programming a touchscreen remote like Philips’ Pronto.

Lighting Control Via London

With the C5 now running, Morton moves on to the next upgrade: adding an IPE1000 IP Enabler to the central controller, so we can begin controlling the system through the Internet.
“Why,” I ask Morton, “would anyone want to control their lighting system through the Internet?”

“The WebPoint software that Vantage provides is easy enough to operate that many people find they can change their lighting program themselves,” he replies. “If your lights are on timers, you can change the times they turn on and off. You can also change which lights the timers trigger, or which lights go on and off when you press a certain button. With most lighting control systems, your installer has to come out to the house to make these changes. Even if you don’t want to make them yourself, your installer can make them from his office while you’re on the phone.

Here’s one piece of software (above left) you are not supposed to see: Vantage’s QLink, the utility your installer uses to create the basic configuration of your lighting system. QLink assigns tasks to specific keypad buttons (center and above right); one button can simply flip a light on and off, or turn on every light in the house, or adjust the air conditioning, or fire up the CD player or perform any other tasks you choose. (Click images to enlarge)

Enamored of his newfound power, the PR exec begins turning lights on and off all over the house from his office computer—an amusing stunt for a few moments, perhaps. But surely, I insist, no one would want to use a computer inside their home to control their lighting. It would be so much easier just to hit a keypad button or use the C5, right? Wrong. “You’d be surprised,” Morton says. “A lot of people like to control their lights from a laptop while they’re working at a table or in their home office.” Who knew?

Besides the fact that this technology is quite a lot of fun, I’m starting to understand how essential it could be for a large home. Why run across the manse to turn off the speakers in the kitchen when you could do it from your bed? Indeed, why even walk into the next room to turn off a light? With the Vantage system, there’s no need for such effort. As Stram puts it, “This stuff works and people like it.”

Vantage Controls
www.vantagecontrols.com
800.555.9891