As you plan your installation, keep in mind that you can always add more control into an existing Z-Wave setup.

A Wayne Dalton Z-Wave remote lets you control your home from a keychain

As an example, let’s set up a convenience where your garage door opener turns on your house lights, as well as the garage light, when you come home from work. Naturally, this same remote control will be able to turn these same lights off when you leave. These are called a “scenes” in Z-Wave speak and they’re easy to create.

In this instance, you’d add Z-Wave to as many lights as you want to control as part of your scene, and add Z-Wave to your garage door opener. Wayne Dalton offers an accessible series of devices that can make your existing garage door  (whether Wayne Dalton or other brand) Z-Wave enabled. Pair your lights to the Wayne Dalton controllers and you’ve created your scene. 

Once you’ve set up the basic scene, it’s easy to add other devices for even more elaborate control scenarios.  What if the “Leaving For Work” scene also controlled a Wayne Dalton Z-Wave thermostat and turned down the heat or air conditioning as you leave the house? Or a GE Z-Wave appliance module that lets you make sure you turned the coffee pot off as you’re pulling out of the driveway?

Z-Wave’s modular approach to home automation and control means you can do one device at a time, or a room, or a floor -- you don’t have to plan out (or purchase) your entire home’s automation all at once.  Instead, you can focus your installation on specific control goals, and be secure that you can always add more Z-Wave devices to any scene you create.