ᐅ Smart Home without switches? P.Hue, Home Assistant, Homematic wired IP
Created on: 1 Apr 2023 08:54
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Audiobampa
Hello,
I’m currently considering the electrical installation in a house with two holiday apartments. KNX is too expensive... I’m thinking about using two control panels to operate the apartments... Roller shutters, lighting, Philips Hue is great because of the colors and the little light accents you can place everywhere...
The idea would be to install a distribution system with Homematic IP Wired... and run Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi... I would use iPads in the apartments to control everything smartly from two locations within the apartments... lighting scenes, roller shutters, heating... by the way, are there smart air conditioners or heaters that can be integrated into the system? ... and Powerline communication (PLCs) in the distribution cabinet...
This is roughly how I imagine it... Has anyone already implemented something similar or have tips, etc.?
Regards, Bampa
I’m currently considering the electrical installation in a house with two holiday apartments. KNX is too expensive... I’m thinking about using two control panels to operate the apartments... Roller shutters, lighting, Philips Hue is great because of the colors and the little light accents you can place everywhere...
The idea would be to install a distribution system with Homematic IP Wired... and run Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi... I would use iPads in the apartments to control everything smartly from two locations within the apartments... lighting scenes, roller shutters, heating... by the way, are there smart air conditioners or heaters that can be integrated into the system? ... and Powerline communication (PLCs) in the distribution cabinet...
This is roughly how I imagine it... Has anyone already implemented something similar or have tips, etc.?
Regards, Bampa
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Audiobampa2 Apr 2023 18:12Or you can separate the data communication with a firewall; I think that should work, if necessary even with two Fritz boxes.
Well, I’m not an expert in networking, electrical systems, or Linux—if I really were, I probably wouldn’t need to ask these questions and could express my concerns just like you are doing confidently right now. It’s just always difficult for the person asking 😉
What I’ve learned from the answers is that Philips Hue, combined with free@home, plus Nuki, would be a reasonably professional way to automate apartments—provided all your privacy concerns are properly addressed... And it’s something you can manage yourself quite well.
Right? And I wouldn’t need light switches—getting back to the original topic 😉
Well, I’m not an expert in networking, electrical systems, or Linux—if I really were, I probably wouldn’t need to ask these questions and could express my concerns just like you are doing confidently right now. It’s just always difficult for the person asking 😉
What I’ve learned from the answers is that Philips Hue, combined with free@home, plus Nuki, would be a reasonably professional way to automate apartments—provided all your privacy concerns are properly addressed... And it’s something you can manage yourself quite well.
Right? And I wouldn’t need light switches—getting back to the original topic 😉
Router = firewall (at least in this context). Free@home is a limited version of KNX and not cheaper than full KNX. You only don’t need the ETS software, but for two apartments with 3-4 actuators, the smallest version is sufficient anyway. I wouldn’t start with an iPad or similar device if users change frequently; instead, use the original display. It must be as foolproof and tamper-resistant as possible.
Have fun experimenting! When will the system go live?
Have fun experimenting! When will the system go live?
Oh, regarding the question: You can build any control system with centralized actuators without physical switches. In that case, everything has to be managed through motion and presence sensors placed in every corner. This gets particularly challenging in rooms like bathrooms because, for example, PIR sensors cannot detect through shower glass walls. I haven’t come across RF sensors or optical detectors in the consumer smart home sector yet. I would strongly consider the switchless design since the wall display is almost never located exactly where you need it. But why go without physical switches? Is it because of the wiring effort with bus cables being too high?
There are also control systems with actuators integrated into or attached to the switches that can still be centrally controlled (Eltako, Shelly, OPUS, KNX-RF+, etc.). The simplest setup might be Shelly devices combined with Home Assistant. It all depends on your budget.
There are also control systems with actuators integrated into or attached to the switches that can still be centrally controlled (Eltako, Shelly, OPUS, KNX-RF+, etc.). The simplest setup might be Shelly devices combined with Home Assistant. It all depends on your budget.
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Audiobampa2 Apr 2023 20:08Yes, I’ve also thought about the display, and I actually like the idea of having a display at the entrance where you can generally set what you are doing at the moment—cooking, wellness, sleeping, relaxing, showering, party... and exactly what I want happens accordingly. You can set this the same way at a second location where it makes sense. There are no rooms but rather zones...
Opening it up... maybe next year sometime... since the electrical system needs to be redone... it would make sense to have a central control panel... And during the shell construction phase, the cables could be neatly laid all at once...
It would also be great if the customer could access the apartment’s lighting control via a user interface over Wi-Fi... then everything can be controlled from the bed... But this should only be a control view, not for programming.
Does free@home provide such a browser interface?
Opening it up... maybe next year sometime... since the electrical system needs to be redone... it would make sense to have a central control panel... And during the shell construction phase, the cables could be neatly laid all at once...
It would also be great if the customer could access the apartment’s lighting control via a user interface over Wi-Fi... then everything can be controlled from the bed... But this should only be a control view, not for programming.
Does free@home provide such a browser interface?
Audiobampa schrieb:
I am currently thinking about the electrical installation in a house with two holiday apartments. That all seems very makeshift. Fine in your own home... but if you are renting it out? If something doesn’t work, you’ll quickly get negative reviews.
Audiobampa schrieb:
It would also be nice if the customer could access the lighting control of their apartment via a wireless interface... then everything could be controlled from the bed... But it should only be a control view and not for programming. And what if the phone, tablet, or whatever runs out of battery? Would I then have to run to the wall panel whenever I need light somewhere?
Sorry, but I find the concept without physical switches terrible. If I had not been explicitly informed about this upfront, I would consider it a defect. How are children supposed to manage with this?