Automated home lighting

[Tom]

I'm planning to rip the shit out of my back living room and have some building work done. While everything is chaos, I also want to remove the old woodchip plaster ceiling and replace it with insulated plasterboard. While it's down, I want to put some decent lighting up, small downlighters around the perimeter of the room, and also some flat speakers for surround sound telly, so there's no wires trailing around. On that same score, I want to hang the telly (haven't bought one yet) from a couple of wires in the ceiling, so it floats in the air and doesn't sit on some ugly stand with wires everywhere.

So rather than a couple of dimmer switches and traditional lighting ring, I wondered if anyone did something where I could have them connected to a fancy lightswitch so I could select "watching a film", "telly on in the background while I browse t'internet", "eating tea on my lap", that kind of thing. I'm also going to hang my bicycles from the wall so it'd be nice to shine a couple of lights on them, too.

Anyone know of any DIY systems that would hit the spot? I don't necessarily want to control each light individually, just have a few different circuits that I could switch from my phone or something.

 

[TdC]

I'm also going to hang my bicycles from the wall so it'd be nice to shine a couple of lights on them, too.

no advice but I'm totally with you there dude

 

[Yrendan]

You should check something like Siemens Instabus

 

[dysfunction]

Something like this?

http://www.philips.co.uk/c/livingambiance/livingcolors-black-6914365pu/prd/

 

[TdC]

that's gay as hell. I like them though

 

[old.user4556]

I'm planning to rip the shit out of my back living room and have some building work done. While everything is chaos, I also want to remove the old woodchip plaster ceiling and replace it with insulated plasterboard. While it's down, I want to put some decent lighting up, small downlighters around the perimeter of the room, and also some flat speakers for surround sound telly, so there's no wires trailing around. On that same score, I want to hang the telly (haven't bought one yet) from a couple of wires in the ceiling, so it floats in the air and doesn't sit on some ugly stand with wires everywhere.

So rather than a couple of dimmer switches and traditional lighting ring, I wondered if anyone did something where I could have them connected to a fancy lightswitch so I could select "watching a film", "telly on in the background while I browse t'internet", "eating tea on my lap", that kind of thing. I'm also going to hang my bicycles from the wall so it'd be nice to shine a couple of lights on them, too.

Anyone know of any DIY systems that would hit the spot? I don't necessarily want to control each light individually, just have a few different circuits that I could switch from my phone or something.

How much control are you looking for Tom?

Lutron do a wide range of dimming solutions from simple to rather complex (read: expensive). I've got a lutron rania dimmer which comes in a variety of metal finishes depending on your decor, and I've got that connected to two halogen wall lights and a halogen floor stander (therefore, three 50w units). It's a simple unit with a remote control that allows me to control the light level as well as a "memory" button which I've set for TV / home cinema levels. One touch of that, and it fades nicely down to that preset level. If you want multiple zones, then you're into their GrafikEye setup, I don't know too much about that but Lutron products are some of the best out there.

 

[Tom]

Basically a fancy switch on the wall with a few preset patterns, and perhaps an app on my phone, although that's not too important.

 

[old.user4556]

Check this out:

http://www.lutron.com/Products/WholeHomeSystems/RadioRA2/Pages/Components.aspx

I'd also ask the guys here for some very detailed responses, I can only offer what I've got experience of and unsure of decent alternatives:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/home-automation-lighting-security-climate-control/

 

[Tilda]

I read a review of siemens or someone who do a wireless light system. Phone app, add-hoc point-to-point network between each light bulb allowing you do to presets/colours/dim areas etc. Looked pretty nifty.

 

[TdC]

my only real contribution is something you prolly already know: be careful with your dimmers if you're dimming halogen, LED or dimmable fluorescents. I actually just bought yet another LED dimmer for my kitchen table lights because the last one still had them make a slight noise even though the LED lamps themselves are dimmable, and the other dimmer was rated for that type.

 

[PLightstar]

Depends how far you want to go. You could stick in a building control system, just controlling the lights. We can't sale to the general public, but if you were to look on eBay or the Sontay website you might find a deal. Then write a little bit of software controlled by your PC that could set the lighting, you could also have it controlled by Timezones, so that if you were on holiday you could have the lights come on and off. Its a bit expensive but if you could find cheap parts you could do it. Trying to do a similar thing myself, but also controlling the heating and hot water system. Am slowly building up the parts

 

[Tom]

Check this out:

http://www.lutron.com/Products/WholeHomeSystems/RadioRA2/Pages/Components.aspx

I'd also ask the guys here for some very detailed responses, I can only offer what I've got experience of and unsure of decent alternatives:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/home-automation-lighting-security-climate-control/

Thanks G, that looks a bit expensive though for what is effectively a back room in a terraced house The main unit is about £500 alone...

This looks pretty good:

http://www.lightwaverf.co.uk/LightwaveRF-Home-Automation-Remote-Control/

 

[Tilda]

Found it, called Phillip Hue, mobile app, add hoc wifi network between bulbs. Pocket lint have an interesting article.

 

[Embattle]

Arstechnica have a review of the philips hue.

 

[Tom]

They look pretty damn nifty although I don't think there's room in my ceiling to fit recessed edison screw bulbs.

 

[Tilda]

There's also a kickstarter one thats similar thats due to start shipping in early 2013, they are planning bayonette, screw and downlighter options.

 

[Tom]

http://www.diy.com/nav/fix/electrical/room-control?fh_view_size=150&fh_start_index=0

Seems to be the same stuff as the Lightwave, except I trust the Siemens name more. And B&Q is a hell of a lot easier to buy from. Also:

http://blog.networkedsolutions.co.uk/?p=149

 

[Yaka]

creston also do a good system, then theres rako as well. i was going to do this couple of years back till the mrs got a sniff of the total cost for the whole house to be done:/

 

[Tom]

Thanks. I'm going to go to B&Q tomorrow and buy one of their dual-gang dimmers (link above), I can use it to replace another dual-gang dimmer I already have on the wall. If it's any good, I reckon that's the system I'll go for, as I can just control wall dimmers rather than individual lights. As the ceiling is coming down anyway, it'll be easy to wire it so I have 3 or 4 separate circuits.

 

[Tom]

Well the dimmer is a nice bit of kit, the buttons are a little bit "wobbly" but they click reassuringly and the lights go up and come down nice and softly. You can programme a preset "on" brightness by holding down the button until the required level is reached.

I prefer dimmers on lights as the bulbs will always last longer (the halogen downlighters in the kitchen are ten years old and have never, ever failed). Now I just have to buy the wifi link thingy. Shame the system doesn't support wifi direct.

 

[Deebs]

Just embarking on automating my house. Got a Raspberry PI with a Razberry (for Z-Wave), a RFXCOM USB transceiver on order, and some fibaro devices to retrofit behind my light switches. The RFXCOM will allow me to control LightwaveRF devices (1 way comms atm), the Razberry is used for sensors and more critical monitoring like smoke/CO2 sensors etc.

 

[Moriath]

How much does this sort of thing set you back ?

 

[Deebs]

How much does this sort of thing set you back ?

It depends. Z-Wave is more expensive than LightWaveRF but is superior in its design and operation. i use Z-Wave for the important stuff as it is a 2 way protocol whereas LightWaveRF is 1 way at the moment. I have door sensors installed where required, get a text whenever one of those doors is triggered, they are all linked to a PIR and Siren, which only activates based on criteria I set.

Bottom line, LightWaveRF is dirt cheap, Z-Wave is expensive but better. ZigBee is another system to look at, my heating is controlled by British Gas which uses the ZigBee platform, luckily my Pi can manage all 3 platforms for around £3.50 per year. Still early days for me, need to take pictures and document what I do.

 

[Moriath]

Is it expensive paranoia or do you have a Mona Lisa to protect ?

 

[TdC]

It depends. Z-Wave is more expensive than LightWaveRF but is superior in its design and operation. i use Z-Wave for the important stuff as it is a 2 way protocol whereas LightWaveRF is 1 way at the moment. I have door sensors installed where required, get a text whenever one of those doors is triggered, they are all linked to a PIR and Siren, which only activates based on criteria I set.

Bottom line, LightWaveRF is dirt cheap, Z-Wave is expensive but better. ZigBee is another system to look at, my heating is controlled by British Gas which uses the ZigBee platform, luckily my Pi can manage all 3 platforms for around £3.50 per year. Still early days for me, need to take pictures and document what I do.

Can you elaborate on your setup?

Re home automation, yesterday I saw a "smart" themostat that also looked the 'bollox. Iirc you could take it with you about the house and it had a magnetic base so you could stick it to anything convenient and/or just attache plates to specific wall areas for it to live on / charge. It would talk to your central heating wirelessly and allegedly save you up to 30% on heating costs as it would know where you were and could program the heating effectively for you.

 

[Deebs]

Can you elaborate on your setup?

Re home automation, yesterday I saw a "smart" themostat that also looked the 'bollox. Iirc you could take it with you about the house and it had a magnetic base so you could stick it to anything convenient and/or just attache plates to specific wall areas for it to live on / charge. It would talk to your central heating wirelessly and allegedly save you up to 30% on heating costs as it would know where you were and could program the heating effectively for you.

I have Hive installed from British Gas (rebranded AlertMe tech). The thermostat is programmable as well as wireless and I could move it around but don't. The receiver controls the hot water, pump and boiler. I have an app on my phone which allows me to remotely control my heating and set all the different schedules via the cloud and the Hive system is sent updates from there.

I can have hundreds of different on/off times and temperatures along with manual control. It really is a sweet system

 

[TdC]

that sounds very interesting Deeblar. I have a programmable thermostat, but it's terriffically unfriendly so I have one program that starts the heating at 16hrs and shuts it off again at 22hrs, or I hand operate / just turn it off entirely (which is what I do in summer). I'm considering getting a new kitchen if I ever manage to sell the GT, which I'd like to be smart and eco friendly, but entire home integration seems beyond the scope of a one-person household to me.

 

[Embattle]

Sounds like https://nest.com/thermostat/life-with-nest-thermostat/

 

[TdC]

spot on Emblar! nice one!

 

[TdC]

hmm it seems that whoever makes the nest has deliberately crippled it. Way to go, chump

http://www.bjornsblog.nl/reviews/using-nest-thermostat-europe/