Noobie help - where do I start?????

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  • ROI354
    Automated Home Lurker
    • Mar 2006
    • 7

    Noobie help - where do I start?????

    Hi all, I'm currently decorating almost all of my house and I'm after some general advise..... please! :lol:

    I'm gonna embark on the whole cat5 cable thing but to be honest, I'm so new to all this, I'm not entirely sure how to rig everyting up once i've cabled the house ops:

    Ideally I'd like to be able to control lights, curtains and a few other things via a centraly located PC runnin MCE2005. I want to be able to view everything on an LCD screen (my main tv) in my living room as well as all other tvs in the house, but how on earth do I do it?!?!?

    Many thanks in advance for any help and suggestions :wink:
  • UKAutomation
    Automated Home Jr Member
    • Mar 2006
    • 12

    #2
    Re: Noobie help - where do I start?????

    Just a quick tip - run more cable than you need!

    If you decide to change HA systems in the future, or you want to stream HD-TV to a room, or you want to distribute just about any signal around the house, you can usually get a 'something to CAT5' convertor.

    Therefore, if you wire lots of CAT5 points/wiring around then you hopefully won't be caught short in the future (and have to rip down plasterboard, etc).

    Remember, cable is cheap. Re-cabling after everything is done is a nightmare!
    UK Automation - UK Home Automation suppliers
    Free delivery on orders over £200!

    Comment

    • ROI354
      Automated Home Lurker
      • Mar 2006
      • 7

      #3
      Re: Noobie help - where do I start?????

      Thanks for that!!!

      After reading the wiring guide on this site I realise that thats absolutely right!!!

      As far as lighting, am I correct in thinking that every light I want to control has to be wired as 2 way switching to the original wall switch and to a dimmer located elsewhere???

      How do you get the dimmer to work with the control side of things i.e. computer interface???

      :?

      Comment

      • FrankMcAlinden
        Automated Home Guru
        • Feb 2004
        • 109

        #4
        Re: Noobie help - where do I start?????

        Hi


        How do you get the dimmer to work with the control side of things i.e. computer interface???

        Yes thats correct ....Are you going to use x10 ...cbus ???

        Frank
        Home of FirM - the Multi Zone IR Transport System
        http://www.armaghelectrical.com.au/index.html

        Comment

        • FrankMcAlinden
          Automated Home Guru
          • Feb 2004
          • 109

          #5
          Re: Noobie help - where do I start?????

          Hi


          How do you get the dimmer to work with the control side of things i.e. computer interface???

          Yes thats correct ....Are you going to use x10 ...cbus ???

          Frank
          Home of FirM - the Multi Zone IR Transport System
          http://www.armaghelectrical.com.au/index.html

          Comment

          • ROI354
            Automated Home Lurker
            • Mar 2006
            • 7

            #6
            Re: Noobie help - where do I start?????

            Originally posted by FrankMcAlinden
            Hi


            How do you get the dimmer to work with the control side of things i.e. computer interface???

            Yes thats correct ....Are you going to use x10 ...cbus ???

            Frank

            ops: I dunno??? Whats the general concensus!!!

            I really want something that is ultra reliable over ultra cheap but a fair compromise would be nice. I only want to control about half a dozen lights separately downstairs and 2 sets of curtains. But clearly as many have said and with what I have read, I will be cabling the house to expand on this in the future.

            Comment

            • FrankMcAlinden
              Automated Home Guru
              • Feb 2004
              • 109

              #7
              Re: Noobie help - where do I start?????

              Hi

              CBUS is very reliable but its not cheap......

              Check out the link , this may be of interest as well....A UK based Company

              News Anchor 2.0 is an RSS reader that helps Internet researchers and blog readers to keep up with their reading lists while having meals without dirtying their keyboards. Unlike most other newsread…


              HTH
              Frank
              Home of FirM - the Multi Zone IR Transport System
              http://www.armaghelectrical.com.au/index.html

              Comment

              • ROI354
                Automated Home Lurker
                • Mar 2006
                • 7

                #8
                Re: Noobie help - where do I start?????

                Taken a look at the cbus stuff and yes its lovely but I think a little dearer than I wanted to spend. Checked the link and the website for that co. as well.

                I think I need to buy a couple of bits and bench test them to see exactly how they behave to see what i'm actually getting for my money.

                Cheers for the help :wink:

                Comment

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