Im totally confused, Im having a rewire and started to look into having lights controlled on circuits etc. Ive been recommended and WISE. Are there any companies out there that offer a service that go through whats needed. I approached Mr Resistor and coming up to 4k so far! Seems alot of cash for a 3 bed semi. Any advice anyone?
New lighting
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What you need to do is sit down, and write out your lighting requirements for each room. Once you have done this you then decide on what sort of control you want. Do you want dimmers, some sort of home automation control etc.
Getting the lighting right is very important, as you can end up with a room thats too dark or a bright room but has lots of shadows and dark spots.
1. Type of light, LED, Halogen, or CFL
2. Simple on or off, or dimmer control.
3. Type of home automation control, from timed on or off. Presence detection. Give you house that lived in look while you are away etc.Telephone control, control via the internet. And about 20 other things that someone else will suggest.
4. Lighting isn't cheap, so it pays to shop around. And think of the EU directive. A light fitting that looks wow today in a years time you could be struggling to get the bulbs for it. Which is why it was probably being sold cheap.
5. Always get a second and third opinion and use these forums. And don't assume that your questions are silly. You can only learn by asking questions.IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
Renovation Spain Blog
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Cheers, basically these are my plans at the mo (Mr Resistor recommended WISE but I believe RAKO etc are quite good too.
Hall
downlights (3) & possibly a flourescent above a cupboard (standard switch)
Thru Lounge/Diner
Lounge
1 pendant chandeleir
2 downlights either side of fireplace above shelves
Led strips on shelves
2 downlights on opposite wall where picture(s) will be
one floor lamp or table lamp
(To all work off remote control/dimmable & scene setting)
Diner
Practically same as above but without the shelves
(To work all off remote control/dimmable & scene setting)
Bed 1
Central pendant, two downlighters in bay area, two table lamps
(To work all off remote control/dimmable & scene setting)
Bed 2 (same as bed 1 - scene setting not required due to budget
Bed 3 - Downlights (4)- Standard switch
Landing - downlights (3) Standard switch
Bathroom - downlights (4) standard switch/dimmer
Im also interested in possibly incorporating r/c blinds to the system & audio/visual and any other ideas anyone else may have!
I believe alot can be ontrolled by txting/PCs but I do not know much about this. One company on here provides alot of home automation but range between 10 - 60k. This is not for me as a) I dont have this sort of £ and b) it will not increase the house value by as much as being spent.
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Cheapest home automation solution is X10.
And can be made to be very reliable but it does take some work.
With X10 you have a choice of controllers such as the CM15 Pro with ActiveHome Pro software, Homevision www.csi3.com , Homeseer www.homeseer.com .
I use homevision, has never let me down. Can run on its own and once set up you can probably leave it and forget it. Best bit of home automation kit I have bought.IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
Renovation Spain Blog
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I think you are doing it the correct way, its better to spend a little longer in the research than to rush into something only to find 6months down the line it was the wrong choice.
Both Homevision http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homevision-users/ and Homeseer http://board.homeseer.com/ have forums.And both are very good.
For audio its got to be Sonos. For a multimedia set up then the XBMC is pretty good. Just built one to replace my Pinnacle showcenter and so far the general consensus from the family is that the XBMC is much much better. www.xbmc.org
I know Homeseer can control the Sonos system and there is talk of XBMC doing the same.
X10 can take care of the blinds and virtually all of the other requirements its just the choice of controller. We did an install a while ago in a house with 5 motorised shutters. All shutters had local control and by the bed was 2 switches one for all up and one for all down. So at night you just pressed the one switch for either up or down. We are slowly integrating more things for the client. The bedroom gets a lot of sun, which is good in the winter and bad in the summer, so we programmed the shutters to close and open automatically depending on where the sun is and what time of year it is.
For X10 modules I would only use either Xanura or Marmitech Micromodules or the x10-2 range. We very rarely use anything else these days, and have made a special adapter so they can fit onto a din rail ideal for putting into the consumer unit.
The other thing with X10 is that you do need a whole house X10 filter as this will help with signal quality. And certain appliances may need extra filtering as well. But all this is easily available.
.IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
Renovation Spain Blog
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Thats the type of thing that I'd be into. I spoke to a couple of companies who both basically said the same think, they only deal with RAKO/MODE as the X10 stuff is aimed more at the DIY'er. Do you know of any providers that would supply and fit the X10 equipment at all?
Cheers
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I'm installing Z-wave. It's reasonably cheap and flexible. I looked at Rako and GET and a few others, but for cost and flexibility, I went for z-wave. Haven't ordered the switches yet, but the wiring is ready for it. (Some switches need a neutral).
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