Metra Home Theater Group, a provider of electronics accessories for over 65 years, has introduced a new in-depth educational program designed specifically for entry-level custom integration technicians or individuals looking to begin a career in home automation.
Metra Home Theater Group’s new EHD Training Program, developed in conjunction with Metra Electronics’ Installer Institute, provides students with a jump start on the difficult learning curve of mastering custom integration and/or home automation by providing a hands-on learning environment taught by industry experts.
“Bringing new employees on board is essential for the long-term growth of any business, but relying on those employees to learn on the job can lead to costly mistakes and lower productivity,” said Jessy Crabb, general manager of Metra Home Theater Group. “We worked with the team at Installer Institute to develop EHD Training Program as the perfect resource for employers and individuals who need to create a foundation for relevant skill sets and knowledge necessary to success in the custom integration industry.”
Developed by Installer Institute’s Lead Instructor, Joe Padula, the initial course offering of EHD Training Program will offer two one-week courses focusing on two main educational paths—custom integration and home automation
In “Introduction to Custom Integration”, students will gain first-hand knowledge of the most common cables used in custom integration, and how to properly terminate and run them. The course will explain the uses and installation of structured wiring systems as well as whole house audio distribution systems. Additionally, the features and connectivity of home theater components will be discussed. Students will complete hands on exercises, including cable terminations, the installation of a low voltage structured box and ports and a passive distributed audio system with in-wall speakers.
The “Introduction to Home Automation” course delves into the arena of system control including contact closures, relays, RF and I/R commands, hex codes, bitmaps, macros and programming. Students will learn the process of programming handheld controllers, keypads and touch panels and how to use them to integrate home theater components, lighting and other devices. Hands on exercises will include using computer software to complete the programming of a handheld remote to control a complete audio/video/lighting/control system.
Metra Home Theater Group will provide attendees to CEDIA EXPO 2013 (booth #110), held Sept. 26-28 in Denver with more information on EHD Training Program.
