Voltage regulators help protect all of the equipment from damaging power spikes and dips, and two universal power supplies provide enough battery backup to keep the system running for two and a half hours, which is key in this part of Florida known for lightning strikes.

The owner, who lives part of the year in Canada, can monitor his property, operate any system in it and pan and zoom his security cameras via Control4’s 4Sight remote control system, via a secure web page.

In addition to further automating the shading, Merlin plans to add garage door automation through Card Access and use Control4’s energy management system to monitor electricity use and shut off unnecessary loads.

No discussion of this palace would be complete, however, without mention of the … ahem … throne room—or throne rooms, we should say. Yes, the man of this house can rule from any of several digital toilets that automatically raise their lids when one approaches and feature seat warmers, water jets for different cleansing options, and automatic flushing. “Throne room” lights turn off after a certain time, post-flush.

Now that’s being treated like a king.

Highlights

• Two separate networks
• Cat 6 gigabit Ethernet for home office/guests/whole-house Internet radio
• Cat 5 Ethernet for IP (Internet Prototcol)-based control network
• 16 zones of audio
• Automated shading on main floor
• 10,000 karaoke server
• 2-terabyte movie server
• UPS power backup
• Automated outdoor lighting via sensors
• Pool and gate control
• Digital toilets
• Regal rack treatment
• 16 miles of wiring

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Steven Castle - Contributing Writer

Steven Castle is Electronic House's managing editor. he has been writing about consumer electronics, homes and energy efficiency topics for two decades. He is also the co-founder of GreenTech Advocates.