The Homey Community has been moved to https://community.athom.com.
This forum is now read-only for archive purposes.
How to design/build your house around Homey
I am in the process of buying a very old farm. And we will be completely renovating it. And I would like to plan Homey into the design plans from the beginning. Highest priority is energy control, so lighting, climate. Secondly security , entertainment etc.
But have no idea what needs to be done to accomplish this. I will have LED lightning mostly, but how do I wire this for control with homey. I understand that it probably depends on the technology I want to use. An that there are different ways.
So maybe I missed it, but would be good if there was somewhere a complete matrix of what Homey could do, with which technologies/products and their pros and cons, in general and specific to homey.
Some like :
Controlling the lights:
technology: Bluetooth:
products : A, pros, cons
B, pros,cons
technology WiFI:
products: C, etc.etc.
For example, I want in every room to control the lights through movement and or sound. What would be the best way to build in the sensors to accomplish this, and what sensors could do this? Do I need to wire the lights and the switches to a central point, or will the control be at each light etc.?
Comments
btw, if you want a showcase house for Homey, the farm is very close to Enschede
, so any help appreciated.
I can relate to your question
My house is being build as we speak and I too want to use a lot of demotica. I'm thinking about using KaKu to power on/off (or even dim) my LED lights and using KaKu again for my audio/video stuff.
I'm probably going for a Sunea IO Homecontrol screen to keep the sun out. That should work with Homey too.
KaKu offers a lot of stuff you might use in regard to montion sensors btw
The list you're asking about isn't there yet, but Emile did mention some sort of capatibilitylist is being made.
Some things I have learnt by reading the web (I'm a starting Domotica users).
Personally, I think z-wave has the best value by far. Fibaro has some beautiful products with a lot of functionality. It's not cheap, but each component has so many features. If you use it will, you get a lot of bang for you buck.
The reliability of z-wave is very nice to have for main lighting. Philips hue (lux) seems like an obvious choice as it creates a reliable mesh network and it has very high quality and energy efficient led light.
It can be expensive to use z-wave everywhere, so I recommend using z-wave for the main lighting and doing the rest with klik-aan-klik-uit. With homey, you can easily combine, swap and upgrade as you go along. Be aware that the range/reliability of klik-aan-klik-uit can vary greatly depending on placement and building materials.
I recommend to go in steps. You cannot foresee everything you want at the beginning, so start with your just a few rooms and and see how you want your home to behave. My girlfriend want to control things differently than I do. As a result, we have a combination of timers/sensors, wall switches and remotes at fixed locations. We both use distinctly different ways to control our home.
I'd only use bluetooth and wifi for audio and video only. I have both bluetooth and chromecast, and the chromecast wins it all the time because it's so easy to use. Sonos is probably better if you want the full house music experience, the 35 euro chromecast for both audio and video works just as well (except for spotify, so I use google music instead).
If you want to do yourself a favor, buy a good asus router. The range and reliability if these things is monstrous. with many different products continuously online, a low of routers have trouble switching between the various wifi standard. A good router was the best investment for home automation which I have done. Don't spend thousands of euros on sensors and have it run on a cheap backbone.
If you want to build a house domotica ready I would consider the following.
Another option could be the EnOcean concept (https://www.enocean.com/en/smart-home-and-home-automation/). They're not the cheapest, but their components are very energy efficient (self powered, no batteries or electrical wiring needed)... so it may be worth considering...
@roberte hits the spot.. just make sure you are flexible.. I moved into my new house a few weeks ago and used about 175 cat6 cable in it.. and its a simple "rijtjeshuis".. nothing fancy.
Dont try to plan where you are placing your sensors, lights and other.. plan for flexibility. Your interior will change over time. You dont want to be left with a cripple setup just because you had to move the couch or tv.. and you dont want to be stuck with the placement of your interior because it will leave you with a cripple system..
Wireless systems are getting better and more reliable, but for electric curtains and screens you need power. Also try to use wired network when it's possible, just faster and more reliable. And another good one: Loads of power sockets! More than you think you are going to need.
Wired Connections in different places, like opposite walls. And I would also think running Cat 5e or Cat 6 (Ethernet) cable wherever possible is better than relying on WiFi
Personally, I would not use ethernet anymore for anything except placing your router at an optimal spot in the center of the house. Zwave and Zigbee have excellent coverage.
Tip of the day: Ensure you have a blue and brown wire everywhere (even in lights where you normally only would have black and brown). This allows you to power a receiver or ensure your Philips hue lamps always have power.
@JaapPelt, Good idea!
But I would place a lot of ethernet cables to prepare for the future. My friend just moved to an other place and found that he had to less access points. For example, he wanted to have his NAS near his television so he needs two ethernet cables to this location, one for TV and one for his NAS. Simply because TV goes over a VLAN from the router.
If you have the possibility, install lots of ethernet. Or empty tubes to pull wires later.
You won't regret it ☺
Beware of empty tubes! From my work I know that it can be very hard to pull cable through them at a later point. Especially when they use flexible tubes which are very nice for installation but not for pulling cables.
Empty tubes are in themselves rarely the problem, but pushing the actual cable through tend to prove difficult.
Be smart; try to keep the tube bends at a minimum. Use a "cable puller" (I don't know what they are called, but those wire things that you push through, attach the cable, and pull the cable through) or use a vacuum cleaner to suck a string through, to pull the cable.
http://www.wikihow.com/Fish-Wires-Through-a-Conduit-or-Pipe
And never use soap as a lubricant. . Despite of what you may read in forums..
I think my empty tubes already have had a wire run through it by the builders. That should make it possible to tie a cable at one and and pull the whole thing through.
I think that in the instructions you got with your (newly built) house, it is written not to use the black wires as pulling rod. That might damage the inside of your pipes. (i.e. melting, create tracks with sharp edges, strip the black shield from the copper part and thus blocking the tube etc.) Use a nylon wire or metal spring that is designed for pulling cables. If you only pull a thin cable, and do not pull too fast (!) the black wire might do fine.
So, now that we covered to topic of cables, which light switch do you guys recommend? I only have experience with KaKu AWMD-250 which is a receiver only. I like to upgrade some of my switches to z-wave or zigbee, but I'd rather not depend on a wireless protocol to control the main lights in a room, so the switch must be able to control the black wire.
One of the main problems with the AWMD-250 is the dimming which is not very practical to do with a toggle switch.
What are your experiences? Any recommendations I should try?
I recommend Zwave. Can be switched or dimmed both from controller and (pulse) contact.I have Duwi, Fibaro and Qubino. It is two way communication so confirmation of the status of your lights/appliances
Which of those 3 brands do you like best?
I only buy fibaro now because they are the most popular it seems and I guess that's safest fire compatibility. :-)
For switches you can buy any type with these modules, but momentary switches works best. I don't like toggle switches.
I would recommend the Z-Wave.me Busch-Jaeger series like this one: http://www.robbshop.nl/z-wave-schakelaar-duro-2000-met-2-uitgangen-2x1700watt-563
You can still use regular (non-Domotica) switches which look exactly the same. Also: these switches switch themselves. If your Domotica may fail, these would still work.
Sucks that you will have to use the switch included, i just need a module behind my existing switches, but also usable without the z-wave protocol as you stated
The Fibaro and Qubino come without switches, you can use your own existing set. I however find pulse switches more convenient in particular for dimmers.
Read the manual, it has an electric diagram
Reading the manual is a good tip.
From what I read so far, all the Fibaro stuff is really amazing, but the Busch-Jaeger might be convenient when there is less room in the wall socket.
The swipe switch looks totaly awesome. I want to control my hue colors with this!
How would you make it stop halfway? :-P