Home Control Assistant (HCA) is a Windows based home automation program that works with a variety of automation interfaces to control lights, appliances, irrigation, HVAC and more. With HCA's Programming, Scheduling, Checkbox control and Power Track, you can easily save money, reduce electrical usage, conserve water and improve safety by automating your home.
The Home Control Assistant runs on any computer that uses the Windows XP, Vista or Win7 operating system. It works with automation interfaces to control lights and appliances in your home using X10, INSTEON, UPB, Wireless and IR technology.
HCA can be installed in a home with existing automation hardware. HCA can "spider" through or Multi-Add all your installed INSTEON network and find all the devices and add them to your home design file. If you are using UPB, HCA can import the network from the UPB setup program. A new automation solution is easy to create using the built-in Wizards for creating a new file, adding devices, creating new schedules, and new programs. Once you have defined all the hardware, adding schedules and programs is simple using the Visual Tools provided. Setting up remote access is very quick as the HCA Web Server is included when you install HCA Plus. An Android client is available from the Google Play store. A Windows Phone7 application also available.
The Home Control Assistant can be operated in stand-alone mode, where a single computer runs HCA and has the attached automation interfaces, or in Client-Server mode. In Client-Server mode one computer runs the HCA server and has the attached automation interfaces. One or more clients run on other networked computers and can simultaneously access the server. These clients see the standard HCA User Interface and can control the automation design as well as make changes to it. A Control Interface is also available to create a user-friendly simple method of controlling a selected set of devices, programs, and groups in your design. In addition to all this, a native Android application is available to act as a client to the HCA Server.
Additional Features:
Supports text based scripts in any scripting language that can utilize the extensive HCA object model
Multiple Schedules created by a visual scheduling tool
Unlimited # of programs to respond to events, setup in a graphical manner from over 60 different actions
Control interface creates a simplified control oriented user interface
Integrate into the HCA user Interface views of other applications: security, power management, and cameras
Send email and SMS messages as part of a program action
Create and view INSTEON scenes and remotely program those scenes into INSTEON devices
Bridge power line technologies by using multiple power line interfaces simultaneously.
Integrates weather data from web based or weather station sources
Powerful "whole house modes" and "checkbox control" for quick power saving programming
Background design checker quickly locate design problems
Configurable Alert Mechanism for handling exceptional conditions
Many tools for creating, viewing, modifying, and documenting the design
HCA is well documented in an extensive User GuideProduct Comparison Chart - Standard vs. Plus
