Building a fully automated small house.

[ForABrandNewHome]

@KenN: I think he sees it more as a cleanliness thing. It's just more neat if you wire the device inside the walls instead of having over a hundred devices sending out rf signals throughout the house.

We originally expected for direct wiring to be a lot cheaper than any other solution. But since in reality it is the opposite, I hope I can convince him to use one of the RF networks. They seem cheaper have more product choices and have less vendor lock in.

@picta: elegance seems to be exactly what I'm looking for. I guess it will all come down to product availability and price.

Sorry, I think you have a LOT of research to do...

Yes, yes I do.

 

[az1324]

@KenN: I think he sees it more as a cleanliness thing. It's just more neat if you wire the device inside the walls instead of having over a hundred devices sending out rf signals throughout the house.

Hundreds of feet of wire snaking through the walls and all terminating in spaghetti filled wall cans is "neat" but RF signals are messy? Is it strange that I picture an old man with a curly moustache and a beret cursing in French and swatting the air with a broom to clear the messy RF signals?

 

[KenN]

@KenN: I think he sees it more as a cleanliness thing. It's just more neat if you wire the device inside the walls instead of having over a hundred devices sending out rf signals throughout the house.

We originally expected for direct wiring to be a lot cheaper than any other solution. But since in reality it is the opposite, I hope I can convince him to use one of the RF networks. They seem cheaper have more product choices and have less vendor lock in.

I guess the cleanliness or elegance of the system comes down to perception and preference. One might argue that RF is actually more clean because are no wires! In any case, given that this will be in France, you're probably best off looking for a European designed automation solution. European wiring methods and even the fixtures are so very different to North American! Even if you manage to get 220V/50Hz rated dimmers from UPB or Insteon, you'd still be challenged to find Decora-style cover plates at the local hardware store. Size/shape of switches and outlets are very different so you'd have challenges mounting up NA switches/outlets/dimmers into a Euro wall box.

I believe most French domestic service is single phase, so at least you don't have phase bridging to worry about as we do in NA ... but wait!! Some French homes have three-phase service so you have to bridge phases twice if that's the case.

My quick search (out of interest) of some Euro solutions came up with stuff from ABB (DomusTech) and Siemens (Synco). Both seem to be pretty heavily RF-dependent though, and I got the sense that they're not very DIY-friendly!

 

[picta]

One might argue that RF is actually more clean because are no wires!

There are certainly wires in any lighting solution, RF switches are mostly for standard daisy chain wiring while hard-wired solutions are typically home-run to central location. I would argue that the latest is better because you can minimize the amount of high voltage wires running through walls and insulation. My lighting controller is in the attic and all the fixture wires are run in the attic as well. The switches use cat5 wiring and they don't get heated up as the RF switches do. You can fit up to eight switch buttons into a single gang and control any light with any of those. Unfortunately the hard-wired solution is only available in the case of new construction of a full remodel, so if you are the lucky one with such project why settle for the retrofit solution?