In this segment from RoseWater Energy’s The Role of the Energy Integrator podcast, Joe Piccirilli raises critical questions about home automation systems and power quality. He highlights the vulnerability of homes relying on sophisticated keypads to control everything, where a system failure or microprocessor malfunction could leave you with no control over your home. Piccirilli underlines the importance of ensuring uninterrupted power in regions like California, where brownouts are a frequent concern, causing voltage drops that microprocessors dislike. He also mentions power challenges in New York and Florida. The primary question he poses is, “How can you safeguard your significant investment in home automation and lifestyle customization by ensuring that power quality won’t disrupt its performance?” In this era, it’s not just about the equipment; it’s about the quality of the power supply.

Transcript

Joe Piccirilli:
Well, imagine, you walk into houses with these keypads that control everything in the house.

Bobby Brill:
True.

Joe Piccirilli:
What happens if that system goes down?

Bobby Brill:
Yeah.

Joe Piccirilli:
What happens if one of those microprocessors in that system goes down and now you can control nothing in your house?

Bobby Brill:
Right.

Joe Piccirilli:
So the question is, how do I ensure, in my everyday living based on what’s going on with power, if in California brownouts are the bane of all microprocessors,

Bobby Brill:
Sure, yeah.

Joe Piccirilli:
Because they drop voltage and microprocessors hate voltage sags. And the same is true in New York. In Florida, we have different problems because our population has virtually quadrupled in the last 40 years and we have not built a power plant in this state in 40 years, so our power’s a little on the weak side, to say the least. So it really is the question of, “I have this. I’ve invested a lot of money in making my house reflect the lifestyle that I want. How do I ensure this is going to work? How do I ensure that the power quality coming in will not interfere with the performance?” And that’s the key issue. “How do I ensure that the power quality coming in will not interfere with the performance?” Because it’s not about the gear anymore, it’s about the gasoline, what’s coming in.?