HAI Home Automation & Whole-House Audio Solutions

Learning Center: Lighting Control

Elegant scene lighting can transform a room into a work of art. With the push of a single button, every light in the room will be dimmed to the right level. We can help you create scenes that highlight artwork, portraits, reading chairs, the dining table, and many other areas.

In addition to elegance, automated lighting adds convenience to your life. When you leave the home or go to bed every light you want to will automatically be shut off. How long does it take you now to run around the home shutting off lights?

Automated lighting can also save you money. How much energy do you waste by leaving unused lights on when you are in other areas of the home? Studies conducted by the Home Lighting Control Alliance show that dimming a light by just 10% can save 10% of electricity and double the life of the bulb. Dimming your lights by 25% saves 20% of the energy used and extends bulb life by 10 times!

UPB Lighting Our lighting products take advantage of UPB technology. This robust communications protocol embeds its signal on the powerline and as a result of this powerful technology requires no additional wiring.

Many of our customers will opt to upgrade to automated lighting after their home is complete and their wallets have recovered from the cost of building a home. Installation could not be easier; you simply replace the old switch with the new smart switch and with our lifetime programming adding it to the automation system is simple!

UPB Dimmer Switch


This unit communicates over the existing powerline and requires no additional wires. This makes adding additional switches very easy. This switches features a soft-on/soft-off feature which adds elegance and extends bulb life.

3-Way Switch


When a light is controlled by 2 switches it's called a 3-way switch. For our systems to control a 3-way switch we need one Dimmer switch and 1 slave switch. If the light is controlled by 3 switches, we would use 1 dimmer and 2 slave switches.

Scene Controller


These scene controllers bring your automated lights to life. Each button triggers a unique lighting scene. To set a scene, simply set the lights in the room to the desired setting and press the scene button 5 times. That's it!

Real-World Applications:

Path Illumination – When getting up at night to use the bathroom or to get a drink, sometimes it's difficult to see where I’m going or find the doorknob. With the help of a motion detector and a little programming, a hallway light dimmed to 25% illuminates my path. Both the hallway lighting and the bathroom lighting do not blind me (and consequently wake me up) but instead, give me just enough light to maneuver to my destination and back without the need to fumble for light switches or door knobs.

Another popular lighting function is triggering the mudroom and the kitchen lights to turn on when the garage door is opened. This comes especially handy when arriving home from the grocery store; now there’s no need to fumble for light switches as you attempt to carry things from the garage into your home.

Outdoor lighting - Having the lights actually react to the astronomical clock is very beneficial in that there is no resetting timers or worrying about daylight savings time. Our system allows for the lighting to respond to the sunrise or sunset and adjusts itself.

Security - Cients who opt to have their homes fully autoamted and integrated can also tie the lighting control system to the security. If the alarm system is triggered at nigh or while you are away the entire house can be lit up inside. The program can also make the outdoor lights flash, this will make your home more obvious to the approaching police or fire vehicles. You can also have the lights turned on remotely before you arrive with the use of a wireless keyfob, simply get in range(approximately 300ft) of the home and press the lighting button to activate your welcome home scene before you arrive. This makes homeowners feel very secure.

Should I automate all the lights in my home?

If budget is not an issue, sure! However most times if is not cost effective or beneficial to automate certain lights.

Which lights should be automated and which should not?

Lights that should: entry/exit lights, outdoor lights, garage lights, stairs/hallways, rooms with 3 or more lights in them.

Lights that should not: closest's, storage rooms, areas that will not be used often.

Lights that can go either way: children's bedrooms,

What wires do I need for the lights?

None, the lights use the existing power wires.

Are the lights reliable?

Extremely, the communication signals will travel up to 2.5 miles to find their target.

In all the homes we have automated we have only seen one where the UPB signals were not reliable. This was later discovered that the clients well-pump motor was causing the interference. If you have a well pump please consult us.

What about ceiling fans?

Unfortunately we cannot fully control ceiling fans. We are able to turn them on/off, but don't have any control over their speed.