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Glossary
Home Systems terms, explained
Short, plain definitions of the words you'll see on product pages and spec sheets. Each one links to a guide when there's more to know.
C
- C-wire
- The common wire that gives a thermostat constant 24-volt power. Read the guide →
- CADR
- Clean air delivery rate, an AHAM rating of how much clean air a purifier delivers. Read the guide →
J
- J1772
- The standard Level 2 EV connector used by most non-Tesla EVs. Read the guide →
K
- kWh
- Kilowatt-hour, the unit of stored or used energy. Read the guide →
L
- Line voltage
- Thermostats that switch 120 or 240 volt heaters directly. Read the guide →
M
- Matter
- A shared smart-home standard that lets devices work across Apple, Google, Amazon and SmartThings. Read the guide →
N
- NACS
- The North American Charging Standard connector, standardized as SAE J3400. Read the guide →
O
- O/B wire
- The thermostat wire that switches a heat pump between heating and cooling. Read the guide →
T
- Thread
- A low-power mesh network used by many Matter devices. Read the guide →
- Thread border router
- A device that connects a Thread mesh to your home network. Read the guide →
- Transfer switch
- A device that safely connects backup power to home circuits. Read the guide →
- True HEPA
- A filter that captures at least 99.97 percent of particles at 0.3 microns. Read the guide →
Z
- Z-Wave
- A sub-gigahertz mesh network for smart-home devices that needs a hub. Read the guide →
- Zigbee
- A 2.4 GHz mesh network for smart-home devices that needs a hub. Read the guide →