New house - help to choose home automation protocol to work with MCE

[max666]

Hello all!

As I am currently building new house - I have come to stage of sorting out electrical installations - so I can choose to add additional lines for home automation.

Current main tasks are:
-controlling lights
-controlling shutters
-possible FL/LED dimming (if it is achievable)
-later the HVAC will be added - depending on the heat pump type, but it is not current priority.

The house has 220V/1-phase AC current, the shutter motors are 220V with 3 wires, and the most lights will be CFL, some LED flood lights.
For the dimming purposes I was considering FL with electronic ballasts (0-10V or DALI) - but as I am still unable to find good ballast/module combination I am about to give up dimming

Major concern now is which the protocol to choose - the more I read and ask for quotations the more I am unclear
-X10 Taiyito micro modules - very cheap (~1000USD total) and very easy to implement, but I am concerned about interference from CFL and switching power supply
-PCLBUS micro modules - more expensive (~2500USD total), probably more robust?!?
-KNX/EIB - the expense with micromodules is sky high (about 150EUR/module), could be great solution but out of my price range
-centralized KNX - expense is quite high and needs lots of customized wiring which could lead to lots of problems with upgrades in decades to come
-zwave or zigbee - cannot find applicable micromodules, especially for shutters and again gets very expensive

As I have said I have a clear book to start with, my electrical installations can be customized if a good solution emerge.

Here is my floor plan with some simplified lightning zones (A-I):
i.imgur.com / UD9jg.jpg
(cannot post img?)

Please give suggestions and keep in mind that the budget is not limitless

[hari]

KNX

[max666]

Can you elaborate just a bit? At least which KNX - centralized or eib modules behind switches?
And we are talking about at least 30 circuits, so the switch actuators at 200EUR/switch and 500EUR/blind are way way to much money.
Especially when you compare to taiyito X10 at 15-20USD/module.

Maybe there are some more affordable KNX solutions?
I've gone through siemens, gira, merten, abb, mdt, etc...

[coley]

re zwave - did you check out micro-modules from fibaro?
I haven't tried them myself but seem reasonable price and have what you want; relays, dimmers and shutter control.
see ftp://ftp.zwaveeurope.com/pub/man/en/FIB/

-Coley.

[max666]

thnx for the information about fibaro, I havent yet seen their modules.
It looks fine, and prices are about 60EUR ppc

this could be viable solution - what about zwave range? are there any problems around typical house?

[Marie.O]

max666,

I've recently rewired most of my home with KNX. Using REG type KNX/EIB equipement the price for blinds is around 40-50EUR per port, for on/off type stuff between 30-50EUR (depending on load type). The wall buttons are expensive, starting at around 80EUR for a two port, up to 110EUR for 8 port. Going REG there works as well, and reduces the price to 20-30EUR per port.

[hari]

get KNX. I did the z-wave driver and designed the KNX driver, so I know what I'm talking about :-) Z-Wave is quite nice for retro-fitting but if you're building a new house get KNX. Using a more centralised approach with REG actors will help to save money. Dimming can be done with DIM actuators or with a KNX-DALI gateway.

br Hari

[hari]

i forgot to add when you're building a new house I can't recommend X10/PLCBUS either (I did the plcbus driver so I also know what I'm talking about here)

re zigbee, there are no products to buy yet, at least not where I live (same situation as two years ago..)

EnOcean could be nice, but it lacks wires ;-)

[trentend]

There is a potential low cost DIY route into a knx implementation with Freebus, for personal non-commercial use only.  I don't have any experience with it, or where the project is in terms of reliability.  Generally I accumulate KNX devices via ebay, where some occasional bargains are to be found.

[Marie.O]

When I did the calculation with Freebus based stuff, I quickly found out, that it did not really make sense for me. KNX via eBay is a good way to get cheap devices, as well as sourcing from less known vendors.

[max666]

OK you got me hooked on KNX and I am already trying to find actuators on ebay
BUT - as I have read lots on X10/PLCBUS/Zigbee/ZWave - I am unfamiliar with KNX.
Can you point me to the good documentation for KNX?

REG actuators are the ones that can physically be controlled via momentary-switch?

I understand I need KNX powersupply, KNX RS232/USB interface, KNX actuator for blinds and for lights and I'll go for DALI.
Something special to look for regarding LinuxMCE connectivity?

thnx to all!

[Marie.O]

search our wiki on knx

[max666]

Just read wiki, there is good description which RS232 interface to buy.

But I will use forums knowledge a bit more

There is one major thing I dont understand about KNX: switches
I know there exists KNX switches and binary inputs. Does it mean that I have to buy those for every switch, and more importantly use 2 inputs for every motor blind? This is getting very expensive

Or are there actuators which accept binary inputs for switches? Shutter motors are special because they would use 2binary input each.

And what does REG mean?

[hari]

for switches you have multiple options:

1) Use a good old plain dumb momentary wall switch and hook that up to a central binary input (8-, 16-, x-way REG module, depending on the number of switches needed in your house).
2) Same as above but not using REG but small distributed modules behind the switch itself -> less cabling, but using such modules behind every switch is going to be more expensive than REG units
3) KNX switches, they're attached to the bus, feature multiple buttons (usually about 1 to , can be programmed, some vendors offer combined units (with temp sensor, thermostat function, ...)
4) mixture of the above

REG==ReihenEinbauGeraet, a standardized size for devices to fit on a DIN-Rail. The width is specified in TE (TeilungsEinheiten). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_rail

[hari]

btw I'd go for 1), that way you could replace everything easily should KNX get obsolete (but I don't think that will happen soon). Or use some cheap relais for channels that you don't want/need to be automated.. or where you want to upgrade to KNX later so reduce the initial costs

br Hari