Monday, August 18, 2008
Home Automation - decision
I am close to finish the house construction. I went to a KNX basic course and got KNX certification last month. I think going to KNX world was a good decision because:
  • it is an open standard (apparently the only one to be European - CELENEC, international - ISO and recently adopted as national standard by China). It means the technology will survive no matter what happens with any manufacturer
  • it is based on technology with some experience. Maybe it is 8 or so years old but the principles are there for around 30 years...
  • it offers a range of products and applications to satisfy even the most pretending end users
  • it is possible to link it with other systems such as EnOcean or DALI
On the dark side, I need to mention that most of it is used inside Germany where the most product range can be found and also sold. As a consequence the English documentation is less developed than German one. Another problem is that even if the devices follow similar principles they embody a vast range of functionality that require profound study of each one. This means the end user will need a specialist to receive advice from or be prepared to pay the similar price in order to discover the best solution alone.

My KNX system will cover a vast area of systems such as:
  • heating/cooling management that involves automation of valves, A/C units and solar blinds. A weather station and various in house sensors are to be used as well
  • lighting, with dimmers, stairs lights, presence detectors
  • security, by using same sensors as security sensors or action devices when the security system is armed
  • communication, shortly said, the ability to receive messages from the house and control it remotely (SMS, web, phone extensions)
  • door entry system, it is not pure KNX but can be easily integrated. For both pedestrians and auto
  • automatic gardening: measure the precipitation level and add necessary water by pumps...
The beauty is that in time more can be done with same or little additional devices.

Some of the manufacturers involved in my system: Gira, Siemens, Zennio, Theben, Agfeo, ABB, Hager

As a matter of last minute solution, check this link for multiroom audio. It is not KNX (yet) but I think it can be easily integrated via Gira HomeServer if the manufacturer will agree to offer an API toolkit: Sonos

After my 1 month vacation I believe I will be able to finish everything in another month. I already cabled and programmed the upper floor in several days. The basic things will be done very quickly. More time will require imagining and developing the smart functions.



Tuesday, August 19, 2008 3:45:16 AM (GTB Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #  Comments [0] 
 Tuesday, April 29, 2008
More home automation

I registered to a 5 days seminar in UK in order to learn KNX/EIB. It was the single seminar that gave me confidence upon my web research. The company name is Ivory Egg and they also operate a website with other KNX/EIB products: http://www.knxshop.co.uk

I will attend in July and hope will return home with KNX certification.


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Tuesday, April 29, 2008 6:08:06 PM (GTB Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #  Comments [0] 
 Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Home automation
Back to the home automation project. The construction project itself is in delay due to lack of qualified workers in Romania. Therefore prices went up if you want to keep good quality. Otherwise you need to relay on personal connections and good friends to get things done well.

I was dropping the home automation project after I failed to find a reliable component supplier. However at some point it happened to find such a supplier so I am back with this project. The supplier is named Gewiss and comes from Italy. I found a full product range (namely Chorus) based on KNX/EIB bus as described into an earlier post. No more technicalities now but it has all I dreamed: the bus management tools, navigator panels, internet and GSM interfaces, receivers and actuators, burglar system, video entryphone, etc. It even has some less complicated devices such as wireless triggers and actuators that listen directly for the wireless command.

Now I found that in Romania there is no company today to offer services around this system therefore I am up to start learning this area and plan and install by myself all the system. If it will be a succes, I plan to include this activity as a part of my future business.



Wednesday, January 30, 2008 9:16:00 PM (GTB Standard Time, UTC+02:00)  #  Comments [0] 
 Sunday, August 12, 2007
House project - home automation

I come to a stage in house building where I intend to design and add some automation around the house. I've come searching many different solutions and seen that very few reliable solutions are available. A home automation can rely either on special data bus or PLC (power line communication) or even on both. Of course, one must search for simplicity in every aspect of life, therefore here PLC should be the winner...

For starter, X10 technology pops-up from any web search. The upside is that one can use power cabling to send commands to devices and there is no need for special cabling or routing. There is a filter to be installed at the power entrance so to reject any X10 command from or to outside the house and from here you can use any kind of device like bulb adapter, socket adapter or switch adapter to regulate light, appliances, etc. Moreover, there are security systems, doors, garage doors, blinders etc that can communicate over X10. The solution is appealing also for low cost involved over great flexibility. Intelligent devices can even run scripts. Also a wireless adapter can be used to collect commands from wireless remote controls.

The downside of X10 is it's communication protocol that does not exceed 50bps and often is not reliable, generating such problems as lag times, missed commands, etc. For more info look at http://www.x10europe.com.

I also found a local company building devices for home automation but they lack 2 things: the design of the products is not eye catching at all and they require a 4 wire phone cable to be deployed along the electrical circuits. Check them at http://www.ibs.ro

While searching more I could find better automation solutions such as KNX (http://www.knx.org/) standard that is based on use of actuators. Now the installation of this kind of home automation is more professional as all executing devices (actuators) reside in the power panel and it is more easy to connect all with a single bus that can reach higer speeds such as 9600bps. The catch is that one needs to do separate cabling for every circuit likely to be an automation candidate. So if you have more than one lighting system in a room, you need to design and execute separate cabling from power panel to that room. Therefore simplicity is lost and costs are boosted even more. You can really think this would be a solution only for new houses not for old ones. Even me, as I am building a new house, I am not convinced to redo the cabling system based mainly on 2 reasons: first the team of electricians installing the cabling will not understand what to do and second, I am not able to make a design to such an system by myself and there is no company or provider here to help me in a professional way.

Another solution is based on a standard named Lonworks (http://www.echelon.com/solutions/home/default.htm) and I found a solution provider near me able to assist. It supports communication over power line as X10 does (and KNX to be fair) but looks for me this is a better standard for what I am looking for. I will submit more comments after I meet this company and reach a decision.



Sunday, August 12, 2007 10:04:29 PM (GTB Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #  Comments [0] 
 Tuesday, May 22, 2007
House project - feng shui aspects

I am currently building a family house in Otopeni, near Bucharest, actually very close to main Romanian airports. Anyway, it is not so close that the construction will ever be endangered by planes or airport extension plans.

The place is quiet and currently at edge of Otopeni city.

The construction started in September 2006, however we faced big problem with the construction company that delayed a lot of work due to another interest they had on a separate construction project. In fact they worked for real only 3-4 months out of 9!

In the following picture there is the current stage of the construction:

Interesting enough for people preoccupied with Feng Shui analysis, the house has a facing direction of 61° Northeast (Yin). Below is the Flying Star Chart for the house:

As you can see there is a very nice symmetry (same groups of numbers appear in an orderly fashion). Below is the Flying Star Chart applied to the both floors:

 and

The best qi comes from SW sector, right through the back door which has to be maximized in terms of open surface. Also a fountain should be placed in the backyard as well as inside at the first floor. Some trees should be placed in same area to calm down the wind and back doors and windows should be left open as long as possible. Now this is the Feng Shui recommendation, I must see what security can be applied to accommodate it.

As a result of the house architecture, it has beneficial effects on inhabitants for the next 57 years to come, having in mind that the main entrance should be switched to another door after first 37 years.



Tuesday, May 22, 2007 9:36:17 PM (GTB Daylight Time, UTC+03:00)  #  Comments [0]