Home automation bus ( X10, PLCBUS, EIB )

[kate]

I have been thinking what home automation bus to chose. It looks a like there is
three choices in Europe, X10, EIB and PLCBUS

X10 is very common, easy to get and really cheap solution. Based just on specifications
it look a like to be slow, so latency from switch to lamp etc could be easily long,
limited address space, only 16 devices within house code so multiple house codes
need to be used and then computer route between them ? I have not find any even
good looking wall switch units sold in Europe, only boring looking stuff.

PLCBUS looks a like being solution fixing many of the problems, it is little bit
faster, more device address space and Crystal Switch units looks great
and price is not bad at all.
The problem is that it looks a like being really rare, i have found only one
selling it in European Union, http://www.elekhomica.nl and one web shop in HonKong,
that's all. And at the moment just one source and PC-adapter is out of the stock.

EIB needs separate control cables, it is fast, it has lot of suppliers and least
Berker has lot of really goods looking wall switch units. There is
really large variation of related stuff, as example http://www.knx-online-shop.de .
I think that largest problem is price, it is really expensive. When Cystal switch costs 60 Euro,
EIB ones costs least two times as much. Same thing in all other related devices.
Some estimate is that system price will be more 4 times PLCBUS .

EIB starts to be so expensive that it becames cheaper to fix N800 or old Nokia 770 to every room wall
and use just some Maxim Single wire or I2C controlled relays to controll lights and do many
other nice things.

I nearly ordered PLCBUS but just the one missing key component stopped me. What will be future
if everything is depending one supplier and couple of retailers in all world ?

EIB and X10 looks a like safe, but i am thinking limitations of X10 . Price of EIB
puts me thinking th N800 solution and there i am again, beginning of the decicion making lopp
again and again.

The plan is to have final system with some Crystal switch like units in most of rooms and then
few fixed N800 in some selected rooms like Living room and Home theater and then the mobile
N810 devices.

Kate

[hari]

you forgot Z-Wave. Much faster than PLCBUS, plenty of device manufacturers.

best regards,
Hari

[kate]

you forgot Z-Wave. Much faster than PLCBUS, plenty of device manufacturers.

I did not forget. I have browsed may be tens of web shops selling Z-Wave .
It looks a much more American market oriented product.
Some shops selling it in Europe for European standards have even
more limited selection than PLCBUS.

Some european i found http://www.mypowershop.eu and http://www.elekhomica.nl

The http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Where_to_Buy mentions also http://www.chtukltd.co.uk/
but at the moment there is no products in their website at all.

If someone knows European shop with good selection or
even one wallswitch even nearly as stylich as PLCBUS Crystall switch or Berker B.IQ , please tell.
In wall units it is problem that also mechanical installation dimensions differ between USA and Europe.

Kate

[jondecker76]

X10 support is pretty solid. Latencies are usually a little less than a second, and though devices are spread across house codes, you can have up to 255 devices. I'm not sure in the differences between the American devices and European devices however, and I have heard on case where the CM-12 (european version of the CM11A?) was a little flaky under the current CM11A driver.
Every light switch and outlet in my home is X10, along with some other things - and I couldn't be happier with the performance.

[totallymaxed]

you forgot Z-Wave. Much faster than PLCBUS, plenty of device manufacturers.

I did not forget. I have browsed may be tens of web shops selling Z-Wave .
It looks a much more American market oriented product.
Some shops selling it in Europe for European standards have even
more limited selection than PLCBUS.

Some european i found http://www.mypowershop.eu and http://www.elekhomica.nl

The http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Where_to_Buy mentions also http://www.chtukltd.co.uk/
but at the moment there is no products in their website at all.

If someone knows European shop with good selection or
even one wallswitch even nearly as stylich as PLCBUS Crystall switch or Berker B.IQ , please tell.
In wall units it is problem that also mechanical installation dimensions differ between USA and Europe.

Kate

Look at the Merten Connect System... this is Zwave and contains literally 100's of products ;-)

Andrew

[eNoodle]

@andrew

do you have experience with merten products, to be more precise: are they running out of the box?

eNoodle

[totallymaxed]

@andrew

do you have experience with merten products, to be more precise: are they running out of the box?

eNoodle

We're working on Merten integration now. Basic light switches work already (we have some in our demo suite) but they need some 'hand configuration' currently.

Andrew