Home Heartbeat By Eaton, A Wireless Home Awareness System
Cleveland - Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation has developed Home Heartbeat, a wireless home awareness system that enables homeowners to monitor and receive updates on the status of their home.
Home Heartbeat provides homeowners with an all-in-one glimpse of the status and condition of their home through a network of wireless sensors. The sensors communicate alerts around the clock via the Home Key, text messaging, and/or email messaging (accessible anywhere Internet access is available).
Home Heartbeat will be available in retail locations during the fourth quarter of 2006. A list of retail availability will be posted on the website, www.homeheartbeat.com.
The wireless sensors can monitor everything from water leaks to appliances drawing power (iron, coffee pot…etc.) to open/closed doors and windows to routine maintenance schedules. Home Heartbeat™ also features an automatic water shutoff valve to prevent costly water damage repairs. The system is entirely customizable allowing homeowners to add only the sensors that make sense for their home.
"Home Heartbeat puts Eaton on the cutting edge of the emerging category of home awareness," said Matt Lorenz, business unit manager, Residential Division, Eaton's electrical business. "Homeowners are looking for a way to keep in touch with their homes so they can avoid emergencies and problems before they get out of control. Home Heartbeat provides a simple easy-to-install and easy-to-use solution."
Eaton will introduce a Home Heartbeat Starter Pack featuring a Base Station, a Home Key, and an Open/Closed sensor. The Starter Pack includes everything needed to begin monitoring the status of the home right out-of-the-box. Additional Home Heartbeat sensors are available including open/closed, water, power, motion, attention, and more.
The Home Heartbeat sensors monitor and alert homeowners to a wide range of status updates around the home, including water leaks, open/closed doors and windows, appliances that are left on or are without power, and even reminders for routine maintenance schedules – the sensors are the backbone of the system. The water sensor has an added feature that can wirelessly communicate with an installed water shut-off valve to shut-off the main water supply to the home if a leak is detected, preventing further water damage.
Home Heartbeat installation is do-it-yourself, out-of-the-box setup. In approximately 10-15 minutes, homeowners can be monitoring the status of their home. Installation breaks down into three easy steps: activate the Base Station, train the Home Key, and use the sensors to monitor the home.
The Base Station, the heart of the system, communicates wirelessly with the Home Key and sensors alerting the homeowner to any changes in the status of the home. Alerts from the Base Station can also be relayed via a text message and/or email message.
The Home Key features an LCD display, which flashes alerts and pertinent information regarding the home. There is also a prominent scroll wheel on the Home Key that makes for easy navigation of the menus, whether adding a new sensor, receiving an alert, or changing the setup of the system or a sensor. The main purpose of the Home Key is to provide homeowners with important alert information around the house as well as act as a bridge to add news sensors to the system.
The Home Key also captures a snapshot of the current state of the home as soon as it is out of range (up to 90 ft. in open air) of the Base Station or a range extender. This feature enables the homeowner to have an update of the status of the home as they're leaving…"Is the garage door open? Did I leave the bedroom window open? Did I unplug the iron?"
Once the homeowner leaves home, the "Call Me" awareness feature can be enabled on Home Heartbeat to allow for remote monitoring updates and alerts via text message and/or email message. This feature can be setup during the initial installation process to automatically turn on "Call Me" awareness when the Home Key is out of range of the Base Station.
Home Heartbeat is ZigBee ready. With the ZigBee wireless networking standard (IEE 802.15.4), the system offers long battery life, built-in network security, and easily upgradeable components/sensors.
"A home awareness system should provide homeowners with peace-of-mind for one of the most valuable assets – their home," said Lorenz. "With simplicity, a lack of expensive third-party monitoring, and the ability to embrace future technological advances, Home Heartbeat delivers to homeowners an alternative solution."
SOURCE: Eaton Corporation