It’s hurricane season, and with plenty of integrators having businesses based in Florida, Texas, and just about everywhere along the Gulf Coast, it puts a very real strain on many of the smart homes they work on. Apart from hurricane force winds damaging the physical structure of the home, power outages and surges can wreak utter havoc on the sensitive electrical systems that are present.
So how can integrators safeguard their smart home systems against the pressures of hurricane systems? Let’s look to see what’s available in an integrator’s toolkit to help safeguard their projects in hurricane-prone areas.
Batteries have quickly gone from being a rare luxury to a core component in many high-end energy systems. If the customer is already interested in having solar installed, it’s worth suggesting that they add a battery to the system as well, especially if they’re in a hurricane-prone area. Back during Hurricane Ian in 2022, Babcock Ranch out in Florida became a media sensation when the town successfully weathered the worst of the storm, being able to keep the lights on in part thanks to battery back-ups and solar arrays.
However, not all batteries are built equally. Don’t assume that every battery is going to keep power running through a blackout with 0 downtime. The Tesla Powerwall for instance, doesn’t switch on instantaneously meaning there may be a little lag between the power going out and the back-up kicking in. Compare that to Rosewater’s Energy Hub, which has a near zero transfer time, as well as a bevvy of other features. Though, to call Rosewater’s Energy Hub a mere battery would be a severe understatement.
Another thing to consider when setting up a battery backup is that, unless you have a massive battery (or multiples), most batteries aren’t going to be able to run a full-fledged smart home for more than a few hours. If you’re only running mission-critical components, then you can have it last for much longer. This is why a battery is usually considered a small part of a broader system in order to keep a home running properly after a hurricane-borne outage.
Lightapalooza took place in late February, and the growth of the event has mirrored the rapid ascension lighting fixtures and controls.
If you look at a home’s energy as a car, the battery can be viewed as the gas tank, while the energy control system can be viewed as the engine. Baseline, a home’s energy distribution network is rather dumb (for lack of a better a word). It moves along whatever it’s hooked up to and if you want to differentiate circuits as “critical” you must set up entirely separate panels to do so.
Smart energy systems allow critical loads to be shifted and managed in a variety of ways, communicating with the battery or the grid to adequately distribute power throughout a home. It’s borderline a necessity to have if you’re developing a hurricane back-up system for a smart home, as it can help orchestrate power for many of the automations.
The options for how an integrator can manage this vary widely. For instance, SPAN.io puts the control into a smart panel while Savant Power uses individual modules that can be installed into most standard load centers. Leviton offers “smart breakers” as well that can plug into panels alongside traditional breakers.
It’s a lot to get into here, so go check out this article written by Orrin Charm that looks into all the specific product options and what they do.
Outdoor living is a massive business segment for integrators in Florida, it’s just a shame that hurricanes like to blow through every now and then and wreck everything. Homeowners have their favorite spaces trashed, and integrators have their expensive systems trashed.
It goes without saying that just because a product is “outdoor-rated” doesn’t mean it’s “hurricane-rated” and a lot of manufacturers will make a point on that. Coastal Source, as an example, puts their products through the ringer to make sure they’re hurricane rated, with the company being based out in Florida, and have even penned multiple articles discussing how integrators can design more climate resilient systems. Screen Innovations, as well, has plenty of outdoor products the company takes care to ensure they can stand up to hurricane force winds.
There’s another trick, too, to make sure outdoor systems remain safe, and while integrators are likely already doing this, it’s still worth stressing in hurricane-prone areas: keep your cables buried.
When dealing with hurricane-fueled power outages, a smart home is exceptionally sensitive to damage caused by the power coming back on at too high or too low a voltage. Either or can damage electrical equipment, and it’s a headache for everyone involved if after surviving a hurricane, something in your system gets fired.
It’s worth noting, however, that surge protection is not the same as power conditioning. While surge protection throttles incoming power spikes, it doesn’t do a whole lot against low-voltage events, which can still damage equipment. Power conditioning, on the other hand, covers everything from surges to sags and ‘retranslates’ power (for lack of a better word) into the healthy voltage for systems.
It’s also worth noting that power protection solutions shouldn’t be an all or nothing pick. There are multiple layers to what causes damage to systems and as such, power protection should use a multi-layered approach.
Speaking of a multi-layered approach. Remote monitoring can be the cherry on top to making sure your client’s smart home systems survived a hurricane completely unscathed. Using remote monitoring, integrators can patch into systems to see what, if anything, got damaged during a nasty weather event.
When made available, integrators can quickly identify and potentially resolve issues remotely, removing the need for a technician to be sent out. It also offers peace of mind to customers, knowing that, in the event of a hurricane, they won’t have to worry about their systems randomly going out on them following something as harrowing as a hurricane.
Unless the home is built with hurricane-rated glass, there’s a very real chance a smart home could become exposed to the weather just by windows shattering. Storm shutters help allay those fears, and when paired with an automation system, motorized storm shutters can spring into action in the event the owner is choosing to evacuate the area.
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