The home of the future has arrived! Home automation is now easier to find and more advanced than ever before. With home automation, various electrical and security components in your home are at your fingertips—even if you are on vacation several states away!

An application on your smartphone allows you to control the temperature, the garage door, your lights, some appliances, and even your locks. Find out how this can save you time and money below.

Has this ever happened to you? You’re running late for work, but as you’re pulling out of the driveway, you remember that you’ve forgotten to lock the doors. Or, you get all the way into the parking lot when you remember you left the garage door open.

These are both things you can monitor and correct using the home automation system’s application on your smartphone or tablet. As long as you have internet access, you can check on the locks, the garage door, and the lights to see if you forgot any of the basics. You will, however, need to install compatible home automation products for your home.

You’ve just arrived home from vacation, and you left the heat off or at a very low setting while you were away. When you walk into the door, you’re freezing! You have to run the heating system for a long time to feel comfortable again, and that’s certainly not the greeting you would like.

With home automation, you can adjust the thermostat from your smartphone. That way, when the plane lands, you can set the thermostat so that a warm home is waiting for you. And you can monitor energy usage while you’re gone to make sure the heater is working efficiently.

Finally, a home automation system helps you to monitor your energy usage throughout the day. You can find out when you use up the most energy, in order to make energy-smart choices about your lights and appliances.

Aluminum LED profile housings allow you to create customized light fixtures with LED strip lights. Our Klus brand LED channels are available in many different styles, including recessed-, or flexible, O-shaped, and more. Available in 1- and 2-meter lengths, the channels can be easily cut for any application from under-cabinet lighting and bookshelf lighting to showcase lighting and transition strip lighting. They’re available with a variety of lens options, such as clear, frosted, and etched that complete the profiles. We’ve put together a step-by-step guide for using these channels to create your own light fixtures. Please note that your specific channel might vary from the one used in this tutorial.

Materials needed:

1. With a pair of clippers, carefully clip through the clear plastic heat shrink as shown in figures A-C. You will want to take your time and be careful not to cut the strip’s wires while removing it.

2. Lay the LED strip into the channel, and position it along the bottom so that the ends of the strip and the channel are lined up (fig. A). Now, remove the paper from the strip’s adhesive backing (fig. B), and adhere the strip to the LED channel—starting at the lined end and working your way to the other end of the strip. Be sure to leave roughly 1/4-inch free at the end of the channel so that you can install the end cap as shown in figure C.

3. If one of your end caps doesn’t come with a pre-drilled hole, you will need to drill your own to allow the wires of the LED strip light to come through. In this case, we used a Dremel tool, but other options are viable as well. Regardless of the tool you choose, it is helpful to mark the end cap where you would like the wires to come through. Start the hole small, and increase the size as necessary.

4. Place the end cap on the wired side of the strip by threading the wires through the end cap as shown in figure A. Insert the end cap into the end of the light bar, and push firmly until it is fully in place (fig. B).

5. On the open end of the bar, slightly peel up the end of the LED strip (fig. A); this is necessary to install the end cap. Now measure your channel lens, and trim off the excess with clippers (fig. B). Be careful when trimming to avoid cracking the plastic. Excess material can be lightly sanded off. Once the lens has been cut to the proper length, slide it into the channel, and install the end cap as shown in figures C and D.

6. That’s it! Your customized LED light fixture is complete and ready for installation, which we will cover in the next step.

7. Mounting this LED profile is as easy as applying double-sided tape to the back of it and sticking it to your intended surface. Be sure to cut the tape to fit the back of the LED profile and to leave the tape backing on the side not attached to the channel until you are ready to mount it.

For most LED profiles, mounting clips are available for a more permanent installation.

If you have questions, don’t hesitate to call us toll free at 866-590-3533. Our customer service and technical support teams are available from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. CDT Monday-Thursday and 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. CDT on Friday.

What is Valentine’s Day –  Valentine’s Day is named after Saint Valentine, but the legend of St. Valentine is shrouded in mystery.    One legend is that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome.  The Romans were at war, and the Roman Emperor at the time decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families.  The Emperor forbade men to marry.  Valentine realized this was an injustice and continued to perform marriages.  Another legend states an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first “Valentine” greeting to a young girl from a jail cell.  A common thread is that most St. Valentine stories suggest he was a heroic and romantic figure.

Why Valentine’s Day?At the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day, but it was not until the Middle Ages, that it was considered a day for romance.  Sending Valentine greetings was made popular in the Middle Ages as well, although written Valentine’s didn’t begin to appear until after 1400.

Valentine’s Day cardsValentine’s Day is celebrated in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia.   By the early 1900’s printed Valentine’s Day cards began to replace hand written romantic Valentine’s notes.

Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, is known as the “Mother of the Valentine.”  In 1847, she received an English Valentine and became fascinated with the idea of making similar Valentine’s.  She began taking orders for Valentine’s and soon the demand outweighed the amount she could make, so a company was born.  It is estimated she made more than $100,000 annually selling Valentine’s cards.

Fun Valentine Facts:

Fact: There are 7 species of sea turtles and 6 of those are found in the United States and all 6 are listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Sadly, they typically end up being eaten by predators or die from not being able to enter the water quickly enough. To combat the reduced population, regulations have been made to help protect the nesting areas of the turtles on beaches.  A special LED light that uses amber colored LEDs that have longer wavelengths undetectable to turtles are now being used to illuminate coastal areas.  This allows hatch-lings to not be distracted by the street lights and enter the ocean just as nature intended! How amazing!