Home Automation Domotica Forum Europe, Bwired Forum

I'm going to move to a new home soon, but today they told me that I can not move in at the date that was planned. It happens that, amongst other things, the electrical wiring is not on par with the level of quality they demand of it. So that they will completely renew the electrical wiring at no cost for me. This would be the perfect moment to ready the system for home automation. I'm sure these adjustments will cost me money, but its far cheaper to do it now rather than later.

I haven't done a thing with home automation yet, so I'd like to get some suggestions as how to let them rewire the electrical wires. I'm not sure how far they want to go along with all these plans, I'll have to ask them tomorrow. But if they would be open to adding extra wiring and tubes for later expansion. What would you suggest?

I find a good stable system without (or with less) interference more important then price, but I do like to get some idea about what sort of cabling will connect to which HA systems so that I can make a guesstimation about the price per piece of equipment attached.

In another topic Mindbender already suggested to get all electrical wires to a central point. I will try to have them do that for me, if it doesnt take too much time (I have to move out of my old house soonish)

Next to that I guess that having ethernet cables to rooms would help anyway. If not for home automation, then its still good for relocatability of my home office.

CAT5e cabling throughout all of the house is definitely something I would consider. 500 (or even 1000) meters of that kind of cabling it not so expensive and it can be used for all sorts of equipment: Telephone, ISDN, network etc ...

About the wiring: You said they have to rewire. Does this mean only pulling new wires through already mounted tubes, or do they also have to refit those tubes?

If I were to build a new house I would definitely make sure that in every room, preferably in two diagonally opposite corners, I have a power outlet and room for a data-outlet. All data-outlets would have a dedicated pipe running to the central fuse-box ('meterkast'). Tubing is not expensive, it is the labour that comes with it that can make it expensive.

X10 / PLCBUS is reasonably reliable and can be made almost 100% reliable by fitting an active repeater and a filter where the powerline enters your home.

Wireless domotica solutions are also an option, but considering the fact you are building a new house, I would definitely try X10/PLCBUS. I prefer wired anove wireless because of RF interference.

If I were in your situation: You can never have to many outlets in your house.

Als het niet gerepareerd kan worden dan is het niet kapot!

I'm not really building a completely new house though. The house is only "new" to me The house I move into has existed for quite a while, and the inspection by the "housing corperation" (Woningbouw corporatie) yesterday late afternoon revealed that the wiring was no longer safe which means I can not move in for another two weeks. Perhaps by requesting these extra wires they need more time, but I might be able to extend the rent of my old house a bit longer.

I'm not sure whether they will only pull new cables through existing tubes or refit the tubes entirely. If it is the latter, I am happy because that means I can add tubing, and do as you suggest. I have planned a trip to their shop today to get a clearer picture of the situation then the short answer through the phone.

Thanks for the information. This gives me a clearer idea of how to use this negative situation to my benefit, and ensured me that ethernet cabling (specifically the cat5e version) is best for both compatibility and quality.

If I'd choose to go for cat5e cabling (and if they let me, ofcourse ) I guess the X10 active repeater and filter is somewhat redundant, but still not useless because I can, ofcourse, mix X10 appliances with other HA systems.

I just got back from the housing corporation (is there an official term for this in English?). They basically told me in politically correct words that its bureaucratically to difficult for them to handle any such modifications. I'm not entirely sure whether I want to wait a few years and try to get it in a newly build house, or if I already want to dabble in a bit of X10/PLCBUS appliances.