Elan Smart Home System Upgrade Wows Jackson Hole Family

How a Hartford Integrator Successfully Renovated an ELAN Smart Home

 

About four years ago, the Hartford-based integrator C&T Systems installed an ELAN smart home automation system at a large home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The smart home, complete with Lutron lighting and shading, home entertainment controls, and surveillance, won awards from Lutron for its amazing installation and performance. But when the tides of technology changed, it was time for an upgrade. The client was interested in an upgrade and wanted new controls since the old ELAN interface was somewhat limited.

 

 Instead of replacing all of the equipment, C&T Systems did their best to keep as much of the existing technology and infrastructure in place, but still bring the system into the 21st Century.

The complete overhaul started with the network and Wi-Fi setup, re-wiring all necessary network components, then they replaced the processor and took out old keypads and touchscreens and replaced them with new and better equipment. Once that was finished, they gutted the old equipment and replaced the new items in the rack.

“The takeaway from this whole project is that since we originally installed it years ago and we never had any problems, we were able to take the client’s old program and seamlessly transfer it and upgrade it to the new program,” Colangelo said. “ELAN is a great product to work with. We had help with their tech support to complete the job.”

The project took one week to complete, but C&T Systems also did some work remotely. The smart home includes controls for the security system, surveillance cameras, intercom, doorbell with video camera, climate, lighting and shading, audio and video. In addition to these complete whole home controls, the owner also has a dedicated theater in the basement and controls for the pool and hut tub outside.

Colangelo said, “Sometimes an upgrade can scare a customer because they imagine us ripping out walls and making a mess, but we didn’t interrupt their lives. We were able to live there and work there for the week without disturbing them.”

“After we finished, the client was like a little kid on Christmas, walking around with his iPad tweaking things,” Colangelo added. “We got instant feedback from him on how much he loved the system.”

This was C&T Systems’ first major upgrade project in the sense that it went from an old communication style to a completely new one. The renovation involved taking an older, soon-to-be-obsolete form of technology and bringing it into the 21st century while using the same infrastructure. The team repurposed the wiring and equipment in the rack so that not all of the hardware was lost but still brought in new elements. They were able to take a lot of the items the homeowner already had and get it to work with the new communication so they didn’t have to gut out a lot of wires.

“ELAN has been around since 1989 and we’ve been working with them from the start,” Colangelo said. “They make a good, reliable product and have won awards for best human interface. The user can create custom scenes and pages.  The fact that we have been working with that program for nearly 30 years says something of itself.”

If you are interested in having us install an ELAN smart home system in your residence, please contact us online!