home automation

mazthespark

any one ever heard of cu touch??
http://www.audon.co.uk/cutouch.html

Paulo1

Hi, The system is structured as follows: You have four different size controllers; they are sized and priced according to their output control capicity. For example the CTL16 can control up to 16 switching functions, the CTL32 can control 32 and so on. Each of the switching modules has a capability to switch 8 outputs. so if you require the ability to switch 16 different circuits, you need 2 output modules and the CTL 16. I hope this is making sense!! all you need after that is as many or as little wall switches as you require. These are really cool and can switch up to 8 devices per switch! They also have LED's which you can customise the colours of. You can also use "normal" switches but to do this you need an input module. I started off with a CTL64 controller and have built my system over the last 2 years as money allowed to incorporate an LCD controller in the kitchen, and I have also connrected all my heating valves(17 of them and 5 pumps!!) to the system at this stage. The software to program the system was available for FREE! from the qbus website, and any questions I had were answered by the Irish distributer. The CTL 32 would be more than enough for most houses and costs around €360 + the dreaded VAT. The 8 way switching modules cost around €350 + each the last time I checked. So for very small money you get huge control! You will have no trouble programming the system yourself( I had no trouble and I'm an idiot!!). I was hunting for a system for ages when I came across qbus and it worked out at a fraction of the price of any other system I could find. The only downside is it really needs to be installed during the build. The advantage of this is again cost. My electrician shaved €2000 off the wiring cost because the system was so easy to rough in.:):D No switch wires, no strappers, no intermediate switches! Sweet. The other really good thing is after living in our house for a period of time, I realised that I was switching lights from the wrong places. Everybody who builds a new house I think finds this. no expensive rewiring, just out with the laptop and changes done!

jackdoes

If you are using LabVIEW and want to add a wireless touch screen, you could easily do it with a cheap handheld PDA. Most of them now have WiFi and in you have a wirless router in your house you are good to go.

mazthespark

jackdoes wrote: »

If you are using LabVIEW and want to add a wireless touch screen, you could easily do it with a cheap handheld PDA. Most of them now have WiFi and in you have a wirless router in your house you are good to go.

dont think il go with using labview its just too pricey for one off. think iv found a way to stay away for the whole permenantly connected to a computer idea aswell

eao1

Hi Mazthespark,

Lets know what route you go and progress on your install,i'm looking at doing somthing similar.
What im aiming for is to have to control of my 2 sky boxs,multiroom music,multiroom video,lighting and heating controlled via touch screens pda and remote, I have been looking at clipsal c-bus for lighting and heating.
The load circuts are wired from dinrail units the control inputs are also wired back to the dinrail units using cat5e and can range from switches,pirs to touch screens and more check out cleverhome.com.
The software I will use to control all this you can make your own costum gui's with it too its called cqc (charmed quark systems) but with the touch screens you can get from clipsal are nice and would be great if you just want to control lighting and heating you can also add cbus multi room audio and use the touch screen for that too.
anyhow you can check out the prices of the clipsal gear here http://www.cbusdirect.co.uk/index.html and here http://www.letsautomate.com/index.cfm?&Nav=cbus

Paulo1

Hi all, I looked at cbus when deciding on a system for my house but its VERY expensive. I would advise that whatever you decide to use is avilable "off the shelf" otherwise you will have great difficulty if you ever needed to sell your home for any reason.

Mazotasan

Hi Paulo1, Can you Pm the details for the irish distributor and the main qbus website. Had a quick google there but didn't find too much. I am planning the wiring at the moment and I think this is exactly what I am after...although I could see fear in the sparkies eyes when I mentioned it! Any other advice you have on say if you were doing it again would you do anything different?

Paulo1

Hi, After your sparkie does your house he won't want to do a house any other way! The main website is www.qbus.be Use it for reference only, these guys won't sell direct! The Qbus people in Ireland are Homeconnect Ltd. (www.homeconnect.ie) I found these guys VERY helpful and they didn't try to baffle me with lingo! They Worked out a suggested list of modules required from my plans and didn't overload it either. This is really helpful because once you have this starting point its very easy to add to the system.
The only thing I would do differently is fit a larger fuseboard! I fitted a 700mm glass fronted unit but over the last two years I have been adding modules as money allowed and am now more or less out of room!!

mazthespark

theres a reason u may have saw fear in his eyes. because depending on your sparky he may have heard bad stories about it all and thinks it may cause him more hassle than its worth. being a sparky id imagine that was why. qbus seems fairly simple tho. just the programming of it all may not be so easy for him if he hasnt done one before.

Mazotasan

Cheers lads for the advice. The electrician is a friend and I will be involved in the 2nd fixing meself, his main concern was really 1st fixing. There seems to be alot of systems out there varying in cost and functionality. This Qbus I think has the right balance for us. If we bit the bullet will keep you posted!

mazthespark

being a sparky one thing i follow is if money allows pull cat 5 and power to all switches. can prob loop power if u like. mite be handy depending on devices or if u ever decide to change your setup later on

Mazotasan

Will take that onboard, working out how much I need at minute. The other thing I was told that it'd be handy to say use red cat5 going to switches and the std creamy/grey for networking...be a little easier back at main board.

mazthespark

ya its handy if u can get it but could be pricey! could just use 2 different makes of cat 5 as there all different greys neway as iv found. or label the boxes each time and the cable ends so u can id them just use masking tape on boxes and tape and marker on the cable ends or you can get number roll for them either. alternatively just pull everything in then trace them as u need them after. can pick one up for bout 50 euro just attach to one end of it and it sends a signal down the cable and you find it with the microphone at the other end. we use them all the time

rodred

hey,

some vey interesting info here. if a little mind blowing. im hoping to break ground in the next few weeks and was looking into doing a bit of automation, nothing major, just lights, tv, music, heating.
i dont have a clue about cabling or any of that but would be keen to do this with a mate that knows a bit.
any advice on where id get the basics of a simple system design? is it just a mater of running cat5 from everything i want to control?
sorry for the basic question but any info would be sound.

Thanks
Rob

mazthespark

im a sparky and have a bit of experience in the area. pm me if u have any questions etc or need somewhere to get started.

Tim M-U

dont go with a remote, can get lost under car seat ... Go with a ACT system (code), so then if you have friends over, you give em the code and they get in! .

mazthespark

sure you can have both for gate control code ,remote or even open them via text msg

Reelect

Hi Guys,
Hav a house to wire at the moment. Showed customer the q bus system and they seem keen for an automated system.
Is q bus a reliable system?
For how many years has this system been field tested?
If this company ever folds where do we go for spares?
As each device on the bus network will only communicate over q bus IT MUST BE A qbus replacement!!!
From my understanding Qbus communication is not compatible with a SCADA system.
This would be my only fear