Ross Hovey's Lightwave Experience
Ross Hovey is the leading accessibility manager for Lloyds bank. After a successful career in traditional banking roles, both in branch and in the HR department within Lloyds HQ, Ross now supports initiatives to help promote inclusion and diversity in Lloyds workplaces, policies and processes. Ross shares his Lightwave experience with us:
From when he installed his first Lightwave products in 2011, Ross has been an advocate of Lightwave technology as a means to help manage an independent lifestyle. At this time, most smart home technology was expensive and not accessible for the majority of people; however, the new devices recommended to him by a gadget-loving friend were different. Ross learned that he could install the devices himself with a little bit of help, and he began equipping the home he then shared with his family, room by room, starting with his bedroom.
Living more independently
The main benefit of Lightwave for Ross was that it reduced his reliance upon carers at home and allowed him to live more independently; things such as being able to turn his TV and reading lamp on and off when he wanted and to charge his wheelchair meant that he could enjoy some downtime in his own space.
In 2013 Ross took the decision to live independently from the rest of the family, and the Lightwave products he had installed helped him control the energy use and lighting in his home. Ross explains that he tends to get colder quicker than other people, so the convenience of being able to heat rooms according to his preference without necessarily heating the whole house using Lightwave Radiator valves was a big benefit to him. He even installed smart sockets from Lightwave’s first generation of products (Connect Series) in every room so that he could control any appliance, at any time of the day. Ross has also upgraded some of his dimmers and sockets to the second generation ‘smart series’, enjoying the added benefits of status reporting, energy monitoring and custom ‘automations’ which can create lighting scenes and trigger other Lightwave devices.
Clever Automations
Experimenting with these features has meant that Ross is now an expert user, and he regularly offers advice and opinions to other Lightwave users and potential users to help them out. For example, Ross has set his front door, equipped with Lightwave’s magnetic switch, to trigger his lights to come on for 90 seconds when he enters before going off again; this is roughly the time it takes him to come in, shut the door and travel along the hallway.
Another clever automation he has set up is to trigger the garage and outdoor lights to come on when the garage door opens - a scenario all too familiar to many of us as we struggle to find the right key when we return from work in the dark autumn and winter evenings. Ross’s live-in carers also get to enjoy the convenience of this and other automations; he has even ensured that there is a night light that comes on in the hallway, if they need to get up between midnight and 6am, which turns itself off after 7 minutes.
In addition to the enjoying the benefits of Lightwave while he is at home, Ross says he likes the peace-of-mind that the system gives him when he is away at work or on holiday. He provides an example of a time that learned of a suspicious car that had been reported in the neighbourhood via a local Facebook group. Though he was away on holiday, Ross was able to immediately turn his lights on to make it look as though he was home and thought no more about it.
Next for Ross is a complete kitchen renovation in which he plans to alter the layout to better accommodate his wheelchair. The improvements he is making to his environment will increase his comfort and enjoyment now and for the longer term as his needs change. He has already identified a company that make blinds that work with Lightwave and can be programmed to respond to voice commands to his Google voice assistant. After this, he also has plans to improve the bathroom with more smart technology.
Thank you, Ross for sharing your Lightwave experience with us!