No charging, no battery, no cable – EnOcean technology enables autonomous power supply by the press of a button. Control for all Philips Hue devices and compatibility with Apple’s HomeKit.
Berlin, 5th September 2019
Smart home devices are designed to make everyday life easier. Sadly, controlling your smart home – which is usually done via voice or the smartphone – is often more complicated than expected, especially for children, elderly people, or those unfamiliar with the technology. With the new, smart switches from Berlinbased start-up Senic, things have changed. From now on, all devices in the Philips Hue universe can be controlled effortlessly with just one click.
Together with Gira – one of the leading full-service providers of intelligent system solutions for electrotechnical and networked digital building control – Senic developed the wireless and battery-free switches especially for use with Philips Hue products. Thanks to EnOcean’s innovative energy harvesting technology the switches don’t need to be recharged at any time. Each press of the switch generates enough energy to send a radio signal to the Philips Hue Bridge. No batteries and no power cable are required. Thus, it is as durable and reliable as a traditional wired switch. With a range of up to 30 meters (ca. 100 feet), the switches can be installed exactly where you naturally interact with your smart home devices every day.
“We believe that smart home devices need to adapt to people’s everyday lives, not the other way around. Only when interaction is not a barrier, but is naturally integrated into everyday life, will we start to realise the long term relief that smart home devices can offer. That was the idea behind the design of our Friends of Hue smart switches,” says Tobias Eichenwald, founder of Senic.
In addition to controlling all Philips Hue devices, the switches can also be connected to Apple HomeKit, as long as it is set up with the Philips Hue-Bridge V2. In this way it is also possible to use the switches to trigger a HomeKit action, such as switching on HomeKit activated lights or or other HomeKit devices.
Senic is a smart home startup from Berlin. The company, which has worked in close partnerships with market leaders such as Sonos and GIRA, is dedicated to the question of how technology can be naturally integrated into our everyday lives without distraction and side effects. The company was already awarded the Red Dot and German Design Prize in 2016 and produces the majority of its products locally in Germany. Further information can be found at www.senic.com
Gira Giersiepen GmbH & Co. KG (www.gira.com) is one of the leading suppliers of innovative electrical and digital networked building management systems. The family-owned company, which was founded in 1905 and has its headquarters in the German town of Radevormwald, has helped to shape the world of electrical systems and intelligent building management for the last 111 years. With its many innovations, such as the Gira HomeServer, from the very beginning Gira has been one of the most influential players in the development of the networked smart home and in the digitisation of buildings. Gira products and solutions stand for German engineering expertise, reliable “Made in Germany” quality, sustainable production processes, environmentally friendly and resource-efficient operations and perfect form and function. But most importantly they make people’s lives a little more comfortable, easier and safer. It is no coincidence that Gira switches and control, communication, multimedia and safety systems are now used in more than 40 countries, including in the central railway station in Berlin, the Olympic stadium in Kiev and the Banyan Tree Hotel in Shanghai. Thanks to its extensive expertise in the field of plastics, Gira has also become a manufacturer of complex plastic products for the medical and pharmaceutical industries, which are in demand worldwide. With more than 1,200 employees, the technology company is one of the largest employers in the Bergische Land region of Germany.
EnOcean is the pioneer of energy harvesting and sensor-to-cloud solutions for sustainable Internet of Things (IoT) applications. For more than 20 years, EnOcean has been producing maintenance-free wireless switches and sensors, which gain their energy from the surroundings – from movement, light, or temperature changes. The combination of miniaturized energy converters, ultra-low power electronics, robust radio technology, and open multi-protocol connectivity solutions based on open standards (EnOcean, Zigbee, Bluetooth®, BACnet, Modbus, LON, and IAP) forms the foundation for smart buildings, services, and production processes in the IoT. The sustainable EnOcean solutions are used in building automation, smart homes, LED lighting control, and industrial applications to optimize the CO2-footprint of buildings. EnOcean is a strong partner for more than 500 leading product manufacturers and has completed more than a million buildings worldwide.
For more information, please visit www.enocean.de
Simone Werner
EnOcean GmbH
T +49.89.67 34 689-58
simone.werner@enocean.com
www.enocean.com
