Complete Noob

[Abnormal]

Big Hello from South Africa
 
 
I am a complete noob at this home automation stuff and need some help.
 
 
Busy renovating my house at the moment and figured its a good time to get into this.
 
I need some help. I have a double story house with a garage on both ends. I would like to start with complete lighting control and then move to video, audio, security, irrigation and who knows what else i will think of. 
I would however like to set things up like conduits now even if i don't use them for a long time. 
 
Are there any guides that i can reference on wiring? 
eg should i leave space for dual Cat6 cables from a central location to each tv for example?
Should I leave space for a cabinet in a central location or could i put everything in one of the garages and distribute from there?
 
 
Regards
 
 
 
 

 

[tmbrown97]

Welcome!
 
Some of the answers are a little difficult because of your different voltage; I know there are systems for european/220v systems but I don't know them well enough to say if they'll be compatible (voltage/frequency).   That said, it's a starting point.
 
The typical lighting technologies are UPB, Insteon, and ZWave.  You can search for each to see what's compatible with your voltage.
 
The rest is easy... ethernet, video, etc - are all pretty standard.
 
The home of your wiring should be a relatively conditioned clean air space; garages aren't usually great for this.
 
As far as what to run - it depends on the technology you're banking on... there are rapidrun cables for pure HDMI; dual Cat6 (shielded is better); HDBaseT, etc.  Of course this technology changes so rapidly, that's probably the best place to run conduit for future changes.  The rest will get you 10-20 years over regular Cat5e.  The market will favor popularity, so ultimately Cat5e will get you just about anything you want.

 

[Abnormal]

Thanks for the response.

We have a z wave supplier in SA so that seems like a possibility for lighting.

Ok decided on a central location inside the house rather than the garage.

Any tips or documents I could reference on where to run cables to?
Thinking I am going to install condiutes to all possible tv locations, kitchen, pool, closet.

I assume cat5e cables should not be run close to electricty cables.

 

[pete_c]

Welcome to the forum Abnormal.
 
There are plenty of guides and pictures relating to low voltage cabling on the Cocoontech forum.
 
Have a look here to start:
 
Wiring your house 101
 
http://cocoontech.com/forums/files/download/64-wiring-your-new-house-101/
 
Personally the more wires and chases the better.  (that is my opinion).
 
I have seen wiring closets in a closed door rooms in automobile garages in Florida. 
 
That said personally I went with one wiring closet in the middle of the house and another one in the basement (lower level) of the house.
 
Enjoy the company; many folks here have done the same as you.

 

[Abnormal]

Perfect Thanks for the link.
 
 
Got some reading to do now.