Cedia 2011 – Affordable Motorized Blinds from Lutron
While I have yet to delve into the realm of home automation, the concept has always intrigued me. The downside to getting started is–of course–the cost. In my mind, one of the coolest things in any home theater is the automatic lowering of blinds over the windows. Lowering the lights may be cool, but you get the same effect from a dimmer and have seen it many times in movie theaters, as well. Automatic blinds? Not quite so common. Lutron has heard this desire in the marketplace and attempted to bring it to the masses with battery operated blinds. They looks just like most ordinary blinds. I could actually see myself installing these.
I’ve always envied the rich guys who could afford to have motorized shades in their media rooms, converting the whole space from a sunny living area to a dark entertainment space at the touch of a button. But at prices starting around $1,200 per shade — plus another few zillion for the control system and installation — I never thought I’d enjoy that luxury myself…
I would never bother with
I would never bother with this. Give me electrochromic windows or give me death. OK not really, but it is a shame it really hasn’t penetrated the new home builder market yet.
When I lived in Singapore (1994) I was working as an intern for a transportation company building the Light Rail Transit (LRT) system. It is a fully automated (aka unmanned people mover) train system going through high population areas in Bukit Panjang. At the time it was the first LRT in Singapore.
Back to my point…because the trains run on dedicated elevated guide-ways they would pass by government subsidized affordable public housing (aka HDB). In Singapore that means ~12 story apartment buildings.
The trains would pass by the HDB windows and get sneak peaks into their homes. What we did was replace the train standard windows with electrochromic windows that would turn nearly pitch black when a voltage was applied (or possibly removed…I don’t remember).
Anyways, I thought that was a great solution and I’ve wanted electrochromic windows all over my house since.
mikinho wrote:
Anyways, I
[quote=mikinho]
Anyways, I thought that was a great solution and I’ve wanted electrochromic windows all over my house since.
[/quote]
I want some sunglasses made out of that. Preferably activated whenever something dangerous is around me.
I could be wrong, but I
I could be wrong, but I suspect your choice of windows would be be even more expensive than the motorized shades the author was saying these are good alternatives for! I’m looking for things I can actually afford. Not all of us drive Enzo Ferraris and have a beach house in Malibu. 😉
I just want to be able to
I just want to be able to sell my Townhouse and get a house big enough for a dedicated theater room big enough for holding more than 4 people at a time. I like the idea of affordable automated blinds, kind of fits in with my DIY home automation mentality.