Complete Noob

Abnormal

New Member
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
 
 
 
 
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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