Whilst CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2019 is currently on in Las Vegas and has been abuzz with Smart Home new, it is predominantly a show for the USA - Europe’s closest equivalent is the ISE (Integrated Systems Europe) show held every year in Amsterdam. Smart Home supplier Control4 will be using the European show to debut their latest line for Smart Home integration with the KNX (formerly know as Instabus) home control protocol.
Personally I would recommend against using two (or more) home control systems within a residence for a number of reasons but primarily for simplicity, ease of use and long term reliability - this could prove useful for Smart Home owners who already have a KNX system and would like to use Control4’'s more user friendly Smart Home user interface.
Control4 and KNX Smart Home integration
The Control4 KNX solutions line for integrating KNX building and light control with Control4 smart home automation is making its international debut at ISE 2019 in Hall 10, having previously been seen at CEDIA in 2018.
Control4 delivers a complete offering of over 100 products enabled with KNX support, simplifying the integration of KNX lighting and comfort, with audio and video entertainment for homes around the world. The KNX line is also Amazon Alexa voice control-enabled for an even more complete connected home experience.
Primarily a software interface between the Control4 eco system and KNX the network driver introduces over 100 new products including lighting, HVAC, blinds and rollers, keypads, frames, and bus management products using the KNX standard.
Control4 Smart Home Touchscreen
The line integrates with over 12,500 third party devices within the Control4 ecosystem for control using keypads, remotes, the smartphone app, touchscreen and voice command. Homeowners also now have the ability to fine-tune their home automation using ‘When >> Then’ personalisation, a feature Control4 says is unavailable in most KNX systems.
Control4’s KNX line can be installed and programmed using existing ETS tools and also includes an automatic import into Control4 projects. This integration lets users tie programming, for example streaming audio into a single button keypress on the Control4 keypad.