My Belfast Test Drive in a Tesla Model S P90D Ludicrous
If you’re a regular Automated Home reader you’ll have noticed a few electric car stories creeping in over the last couple of years along with…
Carbon Footprint
Eco-Heating Systems with a Twist
After working for many years as a production engineer, Patrick Littlehales started to creating his own eco-heating systems. He claims many of the installations he has designed and installed…
SMA Sunny Home Manager Maximises Self Consumption for Solar PV Owners
Exporting the unused energy produced on domestic Solar PV systems is a bad idea. The current rate in our area is only around £0.03 per kWh…
Efergy Engage Hub Monitors Home Energy Consumption & PV Solar Generation Online
We all know the story, you need to be able to measure something before you can set about implementing changes. It’s no different for your home’s power…
Useful Gadget of the Week: Energenie 30 Minute Run Down Timer Plug
Over complicating stuff can be something of a habit with some home automators but sometimes the KISS principal is best observed. Here’s a gadget that should be…
Video: First Tesla Powerwall System Installation on TV
This Ozzy TV Show claims to have the first televised Tesla Powerwall installation. Walt & Dani from Channel 10’s Healthy Homes recently paid a visit…
Opinion: Is the Tesla Model 3 the Tipping Point for the EV
Last year Tesla announced the Powerwall, a smart home battery mainly aimed at storing the energy from your renewables to use when the sun isn’t…
BMW i & Loxone Team Up for Solar Powered Smart Home Charging
I went on a day trip to the Geneva Motor Show last weekend. There was some fab metal on display (here are some photos of my favs). Unsurprisingly…
Loxone Integrates Your Electric Car With Your Home Automation System
From today Loxone are offering the KEBA KeContact P20 electric car charger. The wall box can be integrated with the Loxone system (including a PV system) to…
Tesla Launch Powerwall Home Battery [Updated with Video]
Elon Musk, what a guy, you gotta love him for this alone. The modern day tech hero has confirmed Tesla’s worst kept secret of recent times…
Competition: Win the Efergy Ego Smart Wi-Fi Socket
The Efergy Ego Smart Wi-Fi Socket can remotely control appliances from your smartphone whilst monitoring and logging the energy they use. Here’s your chance to win one of…
Exclusive: The ‘Flow Energy’ Boiler That Heats & Makes Electricity Too
When the guys from Flow Energy got in touch we were intrigued by their patented MicroCHP (combined heat and power) central heating boiler that makes electricity while…
The WiSPP Wi-Fi Smart Plug Controls Appliances from iOS and Android
Here’s a new Wi-Fi controlled smart home socket called the WiSPP (WiFi Smart Point Plug). The plugin remote controllable socket allows you to turn electrical devices On and…
Useful Gadget of the Week: Belkin Energy Saving Socket with Timer
Yes, the home automator in you is going to look at this and protest. Yes you could do this with a Z-Wave socket or whatever and…
My Automated Home: Heat Genius Smart Home Heating Controls
This months ‘My Automated Home’ feature follows Johannes Jensson’s compressive review of his Heat Genius installation… Nobody has escaped the rapid rise of gas and electricity prices…
Review: Plugwise Home Stretch 2.0 ZigBee Appliance Control & Energy Monitoring
Automated Home’s favourite contributing reviewer, Ant Skelton, has spent the last few week putting the Plugwise Home Stretch 2.0 kit through its paces. Here’s what he…
energyEGG Turns Off Lights and Appliances Automatically in an Empty Room
On last nights episode of the BBC’s Dragon’s Den, business angel Piers Linney invested £50,000 in smart home company energyEGG. The energyEGG system relies on…
OpenTRV: Better Heating and Saving the Planet
OpenTRV project leader Damon Hart-Davis started in electronics when his dad got him interested early on in life. He has dabbled in computing in finance and with…
ZigBee Alliance Debuts Battery-Free Option With New Green Power Feature
This morning the ZigBee Alliance have announced GreenPower, a new optional feature of the ZigBee PRO standard. The new technology will allow wireless products, including switches and dimmers, to now…
SMS Text Message Control of Your Heating and Other Devices
We recently discovered another GSM controlled switch for remote control of your central heating. This is one of the most affordable units we’ve come across…