Power Under Pressure

To Safeguard the Modern Smart Home, Start Conversations with Power Quality

- Chad Russell, Surgex

The connected home market is expected to continue growing over the next five years, with the evolution of both existing home technologies and new market entrants alike. Smart home technology isn’t going anywhere, and as it continues to permeate new spaces in the home, the infrastructure will need to adapt to support it.

Consider this: Whether a home is five years old or 50 years old, chances are its electrical infrastructure wasn’t built to support the massive and ever-changing demands that modern home technology brings. This presents a major prospect for the custom integration channel in the next few years.

New Tech Puts Power Infrastructure Under Pressure

CEDIA’s latest Integrated Home Market Analysis reveals that home technology’s growth has increased consumers’ willingness to invest in properly designed and installed home networks, as well as whole-home control systems. As integrators embrace more projects, they must be prepared to evaluate, discuss, and protect clients’ tech at its foundation with a stable, clean power supply.

While life at home has been largely dependent on electricity for nearly a century, the average home has become more connected and welcomes more high-draw and power-dependent devices than ever. Home control, for example, grew in popularity during the pandemic and has since been a beacon of convenience for homeowners, equipping home theaters, gyms, multipurpose media rooms, and more with top-of-the-line automation, performance, entertainment, and comfort. But the complexity of power distribution for these systems, especially during high-draw seasons where HVAC and air conditioning are working at max, can put even the newest technology at risk for damage and degradation from poor power quality.