ᐅ Consultation for Smart Home New Construction Wireless Systems

hegi___ schrieb:

So roughly estimated, KNX probably costs around 10,000 euros and, for example, a Homematic system 2,000 euros.
The manufacturer could go bankrupt five times before KNX pays off.
So I only see the advantage of interchangeability to a limited extent here.

Even if a manufacturer goes bankrupt, as long as you use a platform like Openhab, iobroker, etc., you don’t have to worry at all (the existing actuators still keep working...). The flexibility is endless: if one manufacturer goes bankrupt, I just buy actuators from another. I can simply combine whatever I want. You can call it a DIY solution or a maximally flexible system.

In my opinion, wiring only makes everything more complicated with less flexibility and no significant advantages in single-family homes (commercial buildings are a different story, where you have thousands of actuators and potential failures can be really costly...). Radio frequency or Wi-Fi never really come close to their limits in a typical single-family home, and if a signal occasionally doesn’t get through every six months or so... well, you just trigger it a second time.

Specific cost breakdown... (example from my house):
~100 € for Raspberry Pi, software is free
Actuators (all Z-Wave): 17 * 45 € for blinds = 765 €, garden irrigation: 2 * 45 € = 90 €, awning 1 * 45 €, lighting (only what I currently need): ~12 * 45 = 540 €
Total: ~1,550 €

Expandable at any time without having to pull cables everywhere for every contingency in advance. And I wouldn’t cover all contingencies anyway, since, as experience clearly shows, new applications keep appearing that no one could have anticipated yet.

No major upfront planning needed, since you can decide at any time what you want and what not. The only thing that takes some time, depending on IT affinity, is getting familiar with the software. Without any IT affinity it might not be entirely trivial.

Tego12 schrieb:

Concrete cost breakdown ... (example from my house):
~100 € PI, software free of charge
Actuators (exclusively Z-Wave): 17*45€ blinds = 765€, garden irrigation: 2 * 45€ = 90€, awning 1x45€, lighting (only those I currently need): ~12*45 = 540€
Total: ~1,550€

I completely agree with you – I’ve now made a cost overview myself.
I come to 1,657 €, excluding hardware that would have been needed anyway (robot lawnmower, robot vacuum cleaner, TV). The main cost drivers are the 11 roller shutter actuators and the cameras, totaling 850€. There may be an additional ~100 € in wasted expenses on things that didn’t work.
Considering I paid 800 € just for the electrician to install 5-core cables instead of 3-core and an unconnected EIB line throughout, this still remains a bargain.

With this setup, I have the following features:
- 11 automatic roller shutters, also operable manually
- Readable power consumption meter
- Readable gas meter (currently only per m³ (cubic meter))
- Vacuum cleaner controllable via Google Assistant / voice assignment of rooms / cleaning starts as soon as no one is home
- Robot lawnmower administrable over Wi-Fi
- Lighting controlled by motion sensors in 2 hallways, 1 room, and outdoors – 8 lights in total
- Automated garden irrigation with power monitoring to detect excessive run-time, 4 valves
- Alarm system with 16 window contacts, including fence and outdoor motion sensors
- Notification if windows are left open when leaving
- 4 cameras + Raspberry server, triggered by PIR or motion detection
- 1 CO2 sensor (indoor air monitoring to optimize controlled ventilation if needed)
- 1 brightness sensor (for light adjustment / roller shutters)
- 3 smoke detectors, roller shutters open + phone notification + siren
- Notification on phone if children’s windows are opened
- 1 water leak detector under the dishwasher
- 4 outdoor lights turn on with motion detection
- 3 sets of Christmas lights on/off control
- Ambient lighting in living room / study
- Access to the controlled ventilation system
- Access to fuel prices at my preferred gas stations, analysis of best times to refuel
- Access to TV
- Access to weather forecasts (except for current precipitation)
- 1 rain sensor
- Temperature and humidity sensors in 3 rooms
- Various Sonoff devices controlling e-bike charging, 3D printer

Planned additions include access to the gas burner and water consumption monitoring.

This year, only the CO2 sensor and one motion sensor have been added; everything else just runs. Of course, sometimes the Raspberry Pi needs rebooting. For small rule adjustments, I also cloned the SD card.
If something happens to the Raspberry Pi, I wait 3 days for a new one – everything works manually in the meantime.

I doubt KNX would be achievable at this price point. And for that reason, I’m fine with a DIY solution that’s also fun to build.

I am currently working with Z-Wave. Which actuators (manufacturers) do you use for dimming functions and roller shutter control?

I have looked into Shelly devices, which are based on Wi-Fi. They have great features (except for slat control). However, I am not comfortable with Wi-Fi as a communication medium.

KNX was not a cost-effective solution for us.

So far, I have been using almost exclusively Fibaro. No failures after 3 years, and integration has always been quick. Our neighbors use it as well, also without any problems.

Checker55 schrieb:

I’m currently working with Z-Wave. Which actuators (manufacturers) are you using for dimming functions and venetian blind control?

I looked at Shelly devices, but they are WLAN-based. Their functions are great (except for slat control), but I don’t like WLAN as a communication medium.

KNX was not an option for us due to cost.

Hello!

My entire house is basically controlled with Z-Wave. For dimmers, I can only recommend the ones from Qubino, which are much better than the Fibaro devices. I have them as DIN rail dimmers mounted directly on the distribution board and partly as dimmers inside the wall boxes. The biggest advantage of these dimmers is that they can dim smoothly and flicker-free starting from just 1W (3.4 BTU/h) power load. Other dimmers cannot do this without a bypass. For the venetian blinds, I use Fibaro devices. In total, we have well over 100 actuators and sensors from various manufacturers installed. Everything runs smoothly...

That sounds good. That’s already reassuring.

One small question please.
Do you also use a wind/weather sensor? I would be interested in the manufacturer as well, and how reliable it is.