On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:25:40 Brett Davidson wrote: > > Tie in to Linux - I would prefer that this be Linux (via embedded or > not) control as I want as little proprietary content as possible. >
And here in lies yours biggest problem, there would be no off of the shelf control device available in New Zealand that fulfils your criteria. Secondly, do you ultimately want to possibly on sell your property. If the answer is to this question is yes, then stop now! With thanks to the other contributors, I;ll suggest the following; How far through with the build are you. just planning, builder, sub-contractors and architect selected? Have any of the people you are planning on utilising had any experience with "building control" systems? Ensure that the electrician you select is open to your input and not completed close minded. I trust you understand that anything you try to implement that deviates from a normal building contract will add to your costs. From the previous posters, they have given some good advice including; Install plenty of Cat6 to everywhere. (Should all be dual runs but the only recommendation for Cat 6 would be to have it professional terminated and not by your electrician. Get it tested properly at time of install.) Put in draw wires for future use. I'd agree with this only in partially filled cable conduits, dragging in additional cables after the fact mostly causes more problems than it solves. Run some 100 mm conduit to every building on the property. If this is done properly, ensure easy access to this infrastructure where it exits the building, to allow expansion of additional items. Remember that mains voltage cables and extra low voltage cables need to be segregated. See note above about Electrician. And plenty of power points and power capacity. Actually power capacity affects power points so be careful with your planning, I speak from experience as I discovered after the fact that my mains cable connection to my house was not 16 millimetre squared as I had 'presumed" but the imperial equivalent to ten millimetre squared. A separate circuit for each room is handy too. This is a given as the purpose of any automation must be the control of electrical loads. ie (loud stereos, televisions, and hair straighteners.) Electrically isolate the kitchen/laundry/AC/heatpump/HWC/bathroom from all the other rooms. Again this is the best planning but you need to ensure your electrician understands why and provides you with real reasons as to why it's not a good idea. I have some war stories about real world situations where the electrician made changes to a professional lighting design because it had too many lights and would use a lot of cable. Documentation, documentation. This idea is pretty good to. And photograph all the rooms to see where the cable runs are, before putting up the gib boards. Keep a printout of these photos handy whenever you call in a builder/workman for anything in the future. Did I say lots of documentation. There was also a comment raised about the size of your switchboard. Again, you have plenty of design options and decisions to make here and the working relationship you have with your electrical contractor will make or break the entire project. As the electrician has a legal (and moral) responsibility for the installation the design and fabrication of the switchboard to easily allow for the purpose of 'automation' (control) will require his/her buy in to your ideas. Shout out if you'd like any further discussion. If so we could take it off list and on down to a drinking establishment. Andrew
