automation studio, hai, home automation, custom, graphics, touch screen, omnitouch

Posted in HAI

omnitouch, 5.7e, 10p, custom, design, touch screen, kid, children, simple

Posted in Custom Interfaces

I would love to get some feedback on these, post your comments below!

omnitouch, 5.7e, 10p, custom, design, touch screen, floor plan, sleek, simple

Posted in Custom Interfaces

omnitouch, 5.7e, 10p, custom, design, touch screen, carbon, fiber, cameras

Posted in Custom Interfaces

Our newest work van courtesy of the good people at Qantas!

So the Australia training came up and while the trip was a great success, it taught me a great deal about travel. It is not easy to go halfway around the world and back in just 6 days!

Meeting with the builders and electricians that will now be wiring, using and installing our systems was a pleasure. As you can see above, getting the product to the homes was a little tricky! These folks know there business and now they know a good bit more about ours. I believe the trip was a positive for all involved and will lead to a prosperous relationship between our companies.


The homes they build there are quite different from ours in construction and design. Also interesting was the voltage changeover and implementing the lighting control products, they use a 240 volt system which led us to use a Centralite lighting system. These are excellent and worked like a charm. The systems that were installed when I arrived were done perfectly by the electricians and this was very reassuring for the future.

This beauty is perched about 100ft above the water and if you look hard enough, I think you can see the South Pole. The home is getting a amazing system and we are looking forward to the owner seeing our gear in action. We are supplying the home with HDTV distribution, Audio, Security, CCTV, Lighting control and Air conditioning control. Everything will be controlled via touchscreens (in-wall and wi-fi), remote access will be possible from around the world and that matters a lot to a home owner who does ALOT of traveling. As you can see from the view though, they probably don't want to leave very often.I look forward now to going back "Down Under" when I get the chance, I just hope to be able to do it for more than 3 days!

Australia, mile high automation, installation, travel, global, home automation, install

Posted in Installations

Home automation systems have already started appearing in most of the corporate offices in India. However, most of the people in India don't consider it as a good investment, when it comes to installing these systems at home. This could be due to following reasons:

1) Cost: As of now, it takes around Rs. 540,000 to install a basic usable home automation system at home.

2) Need: In India, some families are still joint families. Also, the cost of hiring maids is lot cheaper compared to the cost of devices and gadgets.

Although, the reasons given above are valid for some people, they don't seem to apply for equally larger population where people are living in nuclear and independent families. For such families, home automation systems provide great amount of value. To understand it better, lets consider few situations where home automation systems could be used:

1) Security: Security is a concern for most of the independent families which are living away from their home town. Home automation system can help in this situation by providing a reliable security solution.

2) Energy savings: To save electricity, it is important that lighting and other electrical devices like air conditioners etc. are used only when they are required. This could be achieved easily via home automation systems.

3) Remote management: Some people need to stay away from their home due to work assignments for considerable amount of time. Home automation system can help them by allowing remote monitoring of their houses using Internet interface.

Considering these points, an investment of Rs. 540,000 feels like a good investment for your home.

If you are interested in purchasing a home automation system for your home in India please fill out our Free Home Automation Quote Request form.

home automation, india, cost, security, energy savings, remote management

Posted in General

By now you have setup port fowarding in your router and implemented a DDNS system. Now we are going to configure your HAI Snaplink software to allow you to log into your home automation system from anywhere in the world.

Step 1: Open Snaplink and EDIT the controller file. If you are prompted for a password, enter "password" (and then change it!).

Step 2: Enter you account settings.

1. IP Address or Domain Name: This is your DDNS domain name (ex: myhome.homeip.net).
2. Port Number: Always 4369
3. Encryption Keys 1 & 2: If you purchased the system from us this will automatically be filled in. If not, go to your touch screen and hit System, Setup, System Setup, Enter Code, 6 (Misc), and scroll down to the encryption keys.
4. User Code: The 4-digit code you use to arm/disarm the system.
5. Click Save.

remote access, hai, snaplink, home, automation, system

Posted in How-To

In order to enable us to interface with home automation systems devices like the OmniPro II and Omni IIe we need to know the external IP address of your home. While this can be done by typing in the actual IP address (EX 64.234.182.24), that number is difficult to remember. Even if you can remember it, the bigger problem is that your ISP will change that number from time to time.

The solution is DDNS. Dynamic DNS allows your IP address to be translated to a domain name such as myhome.homeip.net. This is both easier to remember and always stays up to date with your changing IP address.

In this blog post, we will walk you through setting up DDNS.

To use DynDNS service, you will first need to register with them.

Step 1: Go to DynDNS.com. You will be presented with screen that looks like this:


Step 2: Notice the highlighted part in the above screenshot. Enter the subdomain of your choice and select the domain name from the dropdown given. In the screenshot shown below, we have entered "myhome" as our subdomain and selected "homeip.net" as domain name. We typically will use the naming convention familyname.homeip.net. Once done, press "Add" button.



Step 3: After this, you will be presented with a simple form like the one shown below. Here you will need to enter the username and password that will be used to access your DynDNS account. You would also need to enter your email address. Before clicking on "Create Account" button, make sure you have entered the text shown in image captcha and agree with AUP and privacy policy of DynDNS.com.


Step 4: Now you will receive an email from DynDNS.com. Click on the link given to confirm your account.


Step 5: Clicking on the confirmation link will take you to the page that looks like the one shown below. To start using dynamic DNS service, click on "Activate Services" button.



Step 6: Your dynamic dns service is now be activated. You will be shown your hostname with IP address in details field.


Step 7: The final step is to add our DDNS account information to our router. This will be slightly different on each router. Below is a screen shot of a Linksys router. Follow the steps in Part I of this guide to log into your router. Then click on the DDNS option under the SETUP menu. Select DynDNS.org as the DDNS service and enter your DDNS account information. When done click on SAVE SETTINGS. After a minute or two the status should save “Update Success” or similar.

remote access, hai, snaplink, home, automation, system, ddns, setup

Posted in How-To

The following guide will show you how to set up port fowarding on your router. This will allow us to connect to your system to make changes, as well as allow you to access your system over the internet.

Step 1: Login to Router
Open Internet Explorer and type 192.168.1.1 into your address bar. A login window will pop up. Enter your user name and password. By default the user name and password are "admin" and "admin". If 192.168.1.1 does not work, try 192.168.0.1. Some routers default to the .0.1 subnet.

Step 2: Set up Port Forwarding

Click on the "Applications & Gaming" Tab. Under Port Range enter the following values:

• Application: HAI
• Start: 4369
• End: 4369
• Protocol: Both
• IP Address: 155
• Enabled: Checked

remote access, hai, snaplink, home, automation, system, port, forward

Posted in How-To

Home Automation Inc (HAI) is going to increase it's presence in foreign market this year. As per this expansion plan, HAI would be releasing home automation products with support for Spanish, Catalan and French languages. The products that would start shipping in the second quarter of this year would include:

• OmniPro II
• Omni IIe
• Omni LT
• PC Access software
• OmniTouch series

With this expansion, HAI is trying to ensure that their customers in the new markets would get to enjoy all the benefits and functionalities of their home automation systems. This would also lead to improvement in local home automation market by creating more competition with other home automation system manufacturers.

HAI, home automation, language, spanish, catalan, french

Posted in HAI