ᐅ Preparing a Smart Home for Future Expansion (No Wireless/Cloud)
Created on: 3 Sep 2023 13:18
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Numrollen
Hello,
I am currently building a house; the walls are up, and the roof will be installed in the next few days. I work in IT, but for cost reasons, and because my electrician isn’t very familiar with the topic, I haven’t paid much attention to smart home systems. HOWEVER, I would like to prepare everything so that the basics are in place. I would rather not have to open up walls again later just because I got bored. Ideally, KNX would be great, but it’s quite expensive. My preferred option is probably Home Assistant; I will definitely install my own server using Docker/VMs. That will be a lot of work. Or simply a basic system like Homematic wired. This is my intention and line of thought. Here are some additional points to help understand what is important to me and what I have already planned.
- Power over Ethernet (PoE) RJ45 cables planned so far for the garage door, 2 outdoor cameras (if installed), front door, and 2 ceiling access points.
- I do not want any product that requires an internet connection. If there is an app, it should be optional and accessed via VPN into the house before use—no “cloud product” from a manufacturer. Also for data privacy reasons.
- I would like everything to be wired wherever possible, no wireless/Wi-Fi.
Now that electrical wiring is about to begin and I will soon be chiseling wall channels:
- What makes sense to wire, and which type of cables? For example, electric roller shutters are currently controlled by a classic switch at the door. Which cables should I run down to the fuse box? Just extend the existing 2-wire cable? Or should I run at least one RJ45 cable per room to the control boxes?
- For lighting, I might extend only outdoor lights and living room lights. The hallway will be controlled by a motion sensor, and I don’t currently see any point in individual room lighting control (or do I?).
- How much space should I allow for the distribution board/panel, or should I keep some free space? Or would it be better to install a second panel next to it in 1-4 years instead of reserving empty space now?
Are there any other aspects I should consider now that would be difficult to deal with later?
I would really appreciate it if someone with experience could help me out.
Best regards, and have a great Sunday!
I am currently building a house; the walls are up, and the roof will be installed in the next few days. I work in IT, but for cost reasons, and because my electrician isn’t very familiar with the topic, I haven’t paid much attention to smart home systems. HOWEVER, I would like to prepare everything so that the basics are in place. I would rather not have to open up walls again later just because I got bored. Ideally, KNX would be great, but it’s quite expensive. My preferred option is probably Home Assistant; I will definitely install my own server using Docker/VMs. That will be a lot of work. Or simply a basic system like Homematic wired. This is my intention and line of thought. Here are some additional points to help understand what is important to me and what I have already planned.
- Power over Ethernet (PoE) RJ45 cables planned so far for the garage door, 2 outdoor cameras (if installed), front door, and 2 ceiling access points.
- I do not want any product that requires an internet connection. If there is an app, it should be optional and accessed via VPN into the house before use—no “cloud product” from a manufacturer. Also for data privacy reasons.
- I would like everything to be wired wherever possible, no wireless/Wi-Fi.
Now that electrical wiring is about to begin and I will soon be chiseling wall channels:
- What makes sense to wire, and which type of cables? For example, electric roller shutters are currently controlled by a classic switch at the door. Which cables should I run down to the fuse box? Just extend the existing 2-wire cable? Or should I run at least one RJ45 cable per room to the control boxes?
- For lighting, I might extend only outdoor lights and living room lights. The hallway will be controlled by a motion sensor, and I don’t currently see any point in individual room lighting control (or do I?).
- How much space should I allow for the distribution board/panel, or should I keep some free space? Or would it be better to install a second panel next to it in 1-4 years instead of reserving empty space now?
Are there any other aspects I should consider now that would be difficult to deal with later?
I would really appreciate it if someone with experience could help me out.
Best regards, and have a great Sunday!
X
xMisterDx4 Sep 2023 16:31How much time do you have before the plasterer arrives and you need to be finished?
Reading a book and watching two YouTube videos probably won’t be enough, right? Or can you program an operating system just by reading a beginner’s C programming book? 😉
Maybe you should consider hiring a planner, you can pull the cables yourself.
Reading a book and watching two YouTube videos probably won’t be enough, right? Or can you program an operating system just by reading a beginner’s C programming book? 😉
Maybe you should consider hiring a planner, you can pull the cables yourself.
xMisterDx schrieb:
Maybe you should find a planner instead, you can pull the cables yourself. Definitely, since I lack both the expertise and that of the electrician. Maybe also pay for an hour of consultation so someone can explain things to you and what to watch out for.
A few days ago, I called my general practitioner to ask about coverage for a vaccination—a conversation lasting less than a minute. Yesterday, I received a bill for 10.72 euros for a telephone consultation with “extended time effort.” I might start doing that in my professional environment soon as well 😎
H
HeimatBauer4 Sep 2023 21:40Before randomly running cables into the walls without a clear plan, it’s essential to take a basic course on Smart Home technology. For example: What are the different devices that need to be connected? What are sensors, what are actuators, and where are they installed? What do I want to achieve with my smart home? Which functions should be wired, and which ones wireless? What can wireless systems do, and what are their limitations?
Personally, I find the KNX four-wire cabling quite restrictive. It supports KNX or maybe another control bus in the future. With traditional Ethernet, I have much more flexibility. Through Power over Ethernet (PoE), I get power supply as well, can choose from thousands of devices, and configure everything conveniently within the home network.
No offense to KNX — it’s a great technology — but I’ve installed Ethernet everywhere here and I love it.
Personally, I find the KNX four-wire cabling quite restrictive. It supports KNX or maybe another control bus in the future. With traditional Ethernet, I have much more flexibility. Through Power over Ethernet (PoE), I get power supply as well, can choose from thousands of devices, and configure everything conveniently within the home network.
No offense to KNX — it’s a great technology — but I’ve installed Ethernet everywhere here and I love it.
H
HeimatBauer4 Sep 2023 22:16Araknis schrieb:
And what kind of actuators and sensors are connected there?At my place right now? Mainly building services like ventilation, heating/cooling, several differential humidity ventilators, smoke detectors, water sensors, CO2 sensors, sun, rain – so "boring" functions like intelligent climate control based on weather forecasts, photovoltaic output, and planned occupancy. Currently, there is also an automatically controlled irrigation system connected via Ethernet. Of course, all of this could be done with KNX – but then I would need a second network. Now I have just one network that I can use for everything, supplying power to each port as needed, and so on. Also, for irrigation, I simply install a standard Hunter system on the network instead of building special KNX devices or gateways. Yes, that’s all possible, I know, but I want to minimize the number of different systems and the gateways required.For the original poster, the goal might be completely different. If you mainly want to automate your home lighting, the wiring needs to be in very different places. And that’s exactly my point: What do you want to achieve, and where should the devices be located?
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Numrollen4 Sep 2023 23:02Hello,
I have a maximum of 4 weeks left until it needs to be finished and will start next week. There are hardly any electricians here who know KNX; I spoke with three electricians, and the most they knew was “wireless smart stuff from brand X.” I will barely manage. I’ve already asked around for another trade who could advise me in advance—two said “yeah, okay, we’ll get back to you, bye.” So probably nothing, which is why I’m asking here.
I want to prepare, and I’ll read some more over the next few days. If anyone has a few links that aren’t 80 pages long, please share. I’ve already watched some videos on YouTube. Do I really need to know what an actuator is for this (yes, I roughly know, but as an example)? At least in IT forums, it’s usually not immediately recommended to read up on the OSI model—that makes no sense. I don’t want to install actuators or program anything right now. I just want to lay cables. For example, should I run 2 conductors for the blinds close to the control cabinet, or 4 conductors along the flush-mounted boxes? I would appreciate it if someone could show me a few examples of how to wire this sensibly. That would help me much more than lectures on why I should now study KNX or leave it to companies.
My ideas:
Bathroom/toilet lighting and music
Control blinds throughout the house (weather, time of day, heat/cold protection)
Sun sensor facing south somewhere coming out of the wall?
Remote control of front door and garage door
Automated heating/cooling depending on the weather
(Smoke detectors were advised against due to high costs)
We have 1 shutter that should be raised in strong wind.
Reduce the number of buttons in the living/dining room or assign different functions (scenes?)
Dimmer/timed lighting control for outdoor area and living room. If outdoor light is on, the terrace blind cannot be opened. If the terrace blind is down, the light turns off.
Regards
I have a maximum of 4 weeks left until it needs to be finished and will start next week. There are hardly any electricians here who know KNX; I spoke with three electricians, and the most they knew was “wireless smart stuff from brand X.” I will barely manage. I’ve already asked around for another trade who could advise me in advance—two said “yeah, okay, we’ll get back to you, bye.” So probably nothing, which is why I’m asking here.
I want to prepare, and I’ll read some more over the next few days. If anyone has a few links that aren’t 80 pages long, please share. I’ve already watched some videos on YouTube. Do I really need to know what an actuator is for this (yes, I roughly know, but as an example)? At least in IT forums, it’s usually not immediately recommended to read up on the OSI model—that makes no sense. I don’t want to install actuators or program anything right now. I just want to lay cables. For example, should I run 2 conductors for the blinds close to the control cabinet, or 4 conductors along the flush-mounted boxes? I would appreciate it if someone could show me a few examples of how to wire this sensibly. That would help me much more than lectures on why I should now study KNX or leave it to companies.
My ideas:
Bathroom/toilet lighting and music
Control blinds throughout the house (weather, time of day, heat/cold protection)
Sun sensor facing south somewhere coming out of the wall?
Remote control of front door and garage door
Automated heating/cooling depending on the weather
(Smoke detectors were advised against due to high costs)
We have 1 shutter that should be raised in strong wind.
Reduce the number of buttons in the living/dining room or assign different functions (scenes?)
Dimmer/timed lighting control for outdoor area and living room. If outdoor light is on, the terrace blind cannot be opened. If the terrace blind is down, the light turns off.
Regards