Hey, great forum here!
Apologies for what will be quite a long post
I plan on moving home early next year and have been investigating options for lighting/heating control which will allow me to tweak when I have some free time. This has led me to this site where I discovered Idratek kit.
My current system consists of a DIY approach, built using Node Red (https://nodered.org/). This gives me control over my Zwave network, multi room audio, linux media PCs, RGB LEDs etc. My lighting is currently controlled via Fibaro (Zwave) modules combined with momentary switches. Currently there's no central heating control but overall everything is working quite smoothly and very easy to extend.
Although the 'new' house has somewhat satisfactory wiring, light switches are not where I'd like them, lights are simple hanging pendant types in every room and the sockets are lacking significantly. Figured it would be a good time to get it rewired with some home automation in mind, especially considering the decor leaves a lot to be desired.
I see three possible options for the new place:
Initial investigation of Idratek looks like it could potentially tie into my existing control system fairly easily with some bridging of APIs (likewise for Loxone too), I'd really like to not reconfigure the whole system with another provider given how many hours I have put into the existing system.
But there's a few questions to see how workable this would be:
1) I'll be getting a qualified electrician in to run cables/connect everything up
1a) Can I run the CatX leads to momentary light switches myself under current UK regs to cut down on install costs?
1b) Can I connect these CatX leads to the dimmer/relay modules from Idratek or does that need to be connected by a qualified electrician?
1c) What information will they need with regards to wiring up dimmers/relays? It all seems fairly straightforward based on the information I have read so far.
1d) Or do I need someone who has had training with Idratek installs?
2) Assuming I need IPD-001 at the core of my setup to power the dimmers/relays DIN modules or are they self powering from their 240v input?
3) Using the dimmer (QLD-001) and relays (QRI-002), can these be configured to act independently if the rest of the system fails. For example Input 1 would increase brightness on output 1, input 2 would decrease brightness on output 1.
4) Can this 'simple' configuration be taken a step further without a Cortex controller where a input module (ODI-002) would allow input 1 to turn off all outputs on a dimmer module configured using Reflex?
6) What happened to the radiator actuator AXT-111?
7) Assuming other low voltage radiator actuators can be used with Idratek, but given they typically run at 24v and Idratek seems to be 14v how would the wiring be configured?
8) Regarding APIs
8a) Can I send/receive RS232 commands without Cortex to control devices on the Idranet? (Assuming not seeing as theres a lack of documentation on this)
8b) Does Cortex have any sort of network based API allowing me granular control over my devices? I'd like to be able to say Dimmer 1 to 50%, Dimmer 2 to 75% for example.
Thanks
Apologies for what will be quite a long post
I plan on moving home early next year and have been investigating options for lighting/heating control which will allow me to tweak when I have some free time. This has led me to this site where I discovered Idratek kit.
My current system consists of a DIY approach, built using Node Red (https://nodered.org/). This gives me control over my Zwave network, multi room audio, linux media PCs, RGB LEDs etc. My lighting is currently controlled via Fibaro (Zwave) modules combined with momentary switches. Currently there's no central heating control but overall everything is working quite smoothly and very easy to extend.
Although the 'new' house has somewhat satisfactory wiring, light switches are not where I'd like them, lights are simple hanging pendant types in every room and the sockets are lacking significantly. Figured it would be a good time to get it rewired with some home automation in mind, especially considering the decor leaves a lot to be desired.
I see three possible options for the new place:
- Continue using Fibaro dimmer/switch modules
- Loxone (expensive!)
- Idratek
Initial investigation of Idratek looks like it could potentially tie into my existing control system fairly easily with some bridging of APIs (likewise for Loxone too), I'd really like to not reconfigure the whole system with another provider given how many hours I have put into the existing system.
But there's a few questions to see how workable this would be:
1) I'll be getting a qualified electrician in to run cables/connect everything up
1a) Can I run the CatX leads to momentary light switches myself under current UK regs to cut down on install costs?
1b) Can I connect these CatX leads to the dimmer/relay modules from Idratek or does that need to be connected by a qualified electrician?
1c) What information will they need with regards to wiring up dimmers/relays? It all seems fairly straightforward based on the information I have read so far.
1d) Or do I need someone who has had training with Idratek installs?
2) Assuming I need IPD-001 at the core of my setup to power the dimmers/relays DIN modules or are they self powering from their 240v input?
3) Using the dimmer (QLD-001) and relays (QRI-002), can these be configured to act independently if the rest of the system fails. For example Input 1 would increase brightness on output 1, input 2 would decrease brightness on output 1.
4) Can this 'simple' configuration be taken a step further without a Cortex controller where a input module (ODI-002) would allow input 1 to turn off all outputs on a dimmer module configured using Reflex?
6) What happened to the radiator actuator AXT-111?
7) Assuming other low voltage radiator actuators can be used with Idratek, but given they typically run at 24v and Idratek seems to be 14v how would the wiring be configured?
8) Regarding APIs
8a) Can I send/receive RS232 commands without Cortex to control devices on the Idranet? (Assuming not seeing as theres a lack of documentation on this)
8b) Does Cortex have any sort of network based API allowing me granular control over my devices? I'd like to be able to say Dimmer 1 to 50%, Dimmer 2 to 75% for example.
Thanks
Comment