Wired or wireless home automation system?

[ey143]

I'm having difficulty deciding between a wired or wireless home automation system as part of my home rebuild project.

I have a few LightwaveRF devices at my parents house to play with an also a Z-wave Fibaro controller and some devices to play with.

I'm now just doing some light research on KNX and Loxone. The wired installers are trying to sell me the idea of a wired home automation system but I'm not convinced that this is the way forward aside from the astronomical cost of installation which averages £15 to £20,000 compared with a wireless one which I could probably do myself as part of a DIY installed costing a fractional file. I am running ethernet cable's all around the house but ultimately the question is whether I want to have a wired home automation system or not.

Suggestions?

 

[bernardgreen]

Wired will be better than wireless. Maybe not in the first few months after installation but at some time when neighbours buy more wireless linked equipment your system will be fighting their system for use of the radio channel.

The astronomical cost quoted for some wired systems is due to the massive amount of functionality that the basic controller has built in as standard, features which most users will never use but still have to pay for.

 

[ey143]

Just noticed that Loxone had a system malfunction on 1 Jan and most users couldnt operate their miniserver because of the fact that 2016 has a leap year. Will need a firmware fix....in the mean time users cant control their system....or their house. I think its looking more likely I will go with wireless and and still have manual switches.

I would agree that having a wired alarm is better than wireless, which is what I am planning but I dont think I can afford to trust my whole house electrics to some fancy hardwired algorithm that goes haywire if a bug stops it from operating.

Anyway still researching......

 

[bernardgreen]

but I dont think I can afford to trust my whole house electrics to some fancy hardwired algorithm that goes haywire if a bug stops it from operating.

Why would you ( or anyone for that matter ) need to involve an external internet server in the control of the electrics in your house ?

Hard wiring only connects the switches, sensors, actuators etc etc to the inputs and outputs of a programmable processor that controls the various circuits in the house. The actions of the processor are contained in the software configuration of the processor and not by the configuration of the hard wiring.

 

[ey143]

My understanding with some home automation systems is that you do not have switches in the house. Instead, you have infrared sensors in the ceilings which detect movement and switch on the light and switch it off if no movement is detected after certain amount of time.

You place your trust in the miniserver to do all the work. It tells the light to come on not the manual switch.

And it's not internet driven. It's contained with your home but it is a mini server.

http://www.loxone.com/enen/start.html

 

[bernardgreen]

If there's an emergency such as a security breach or burst water pipe, you home will know what to do and you won't need to lift a finger.

So it dials the emergency plumber, agrees the price and opens the door when he arrives and whem the repair is completed it transfers the money to the plumber's bank account.......I don't think so.

And it's not internet driven. It's contained with your home but it is a mini server.

but should you wish to manually take control, all it takes it a tap on your mobile device.

Is this "mobile device " specific to the system with no other functions or is it also an internet connected "mobile device" such as a "phone" or tablet ? If the latter then there is connection between mini server and the internet which may be hackable.