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I Ripped Out a £6k Lighting System

robdobson.com

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Re: I Ripped Out a £6k Lighting System

#231

Post by geocrasher »

WalterBright wrote: post #56

I wouldn't buy a house with such a system in it, and I doubt anybody else will, either. Who wants to become an expert on these systems just to turn the lights on? Not a chance. I considered these systems when my house was built, and am very glad I didn't get them. I turn the switch on, the lights go on, I turn it off, the lights go off. I replace a bulb now and then. That's it! I'm very happy with it. But what I did…

Around 2010 I designed the "computer room" for a 3 story apartment building that had computers for the residents to use. It was all very basic. The only complexity was that the ethernet run was across the whole building and 3 stories from the 3rd story computer room to the first story utility room.

The day came when it was time to test it out. All the Ethernet lights came on, but throughput was on the order of less than a few kbps. I let the project manager know that something was wrong with the cabling.

He got back to me a week later. The electrician who ran the line ran out mid way and used wire nuts to splice another length of cable. The fix was to simply terminate each end correctly on a splice connector. IIRC they might have even just re-ran one single length.

But the instinct not to trust electricians to run CAT5/6 was 101% correct!

Re: I Ripped Out a £6k Lighting System

#232

Post by hondadriver »

slmkbh wrote: post #222
wmeredith wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What Zigbee switches are you using?

not GP, but I use Xiaomi 2-gang switches, IKEA 5 button remotes, the old IKEA dimmers, and their on/off remote. At the moment I'm eyeing LIDLs remotes as well... In Denmark Everything is controlled via Homeassistant+Deconz and a Phoscon Zigbee Dongle. It's even possible to hack the IKEA switches into the danish wall switches.

Here friends of hue Gira and Ikea 5 button remotes mounted on a blindplate.

Still wondering what @t0mas88 is using...

The upcoming Lidl remote is very interesting indeed, because it has 4 buttons which could be wired to a regular 2 button up/down push switch (e.g. Gira 014700) as cheaper friends of hue alternative.

Re: I Ripped Out a £6k Lighting System

#233

Post by walshemj »

geocrasher wrote: post #231
WalterBright wrote: post #56

I wouldn't buy a house with such a system in it, and I doubt anybody else will, either. Who wants to become an expert on these systems just to turn the lights on? Not a chance. I considered these systems when my house was built, and am very glad I didn't get them. I turn the switch on, the lights go on, I turn it off, the lights go off. I replace a bulb now and then. That's it! I'm very happy with it. But what I did…

Around 2010 I designed the "computer room" for a 3 story apartment building that had computers for the residents to use. It was all very basic. The only complexity was that the ethernet run was across the whole building and 3 stories from the 3rd story computer room to the first story utility room. The day came when it was time to test it out. All the Ethernet lights came on, but throughput was on the order of less t…

They did use the correct wiring standard T-568B ? and the runs where < 90m

Re: I Ripped Out a £6k Lighting System

#234

Post by EvanAnderson »

geocrasher wrote: post #231
WalterBright wrote: post #56

I wouldn't buy a house with such a system in it, and I doubt anybody else will, either. Who wants to become an expert on these systems just to turn the lights on? Not a chance. I considered these systems when my house was built, and am very glad I didn't get them. I turn the switch on, the lights go on, I turn it off, the lights go off. I replace a bulb now and then. That's it! I'm very happy with it. But what I did…

Around 2010 I designed the "computer room" for a 3 story apartment building that had computers for the residents to use. It was all very basic. The only complexity was that the ethernet run was across the whole building and 3 stories from the 3rd story computer room to the first story utility room. The day came when it was time to test it out. All the Ethernet lights came on, but throughput was on the order of less t…

The same goes for telco technicians. Just as I've caught electricians wire-nutting UTP cables I've also caught telco technicians putting "Scotch Lock" splice connectors on cables to "extend" them.

Re: I Ripped Out a £6k Lighting System

#235

Post by vvanders »

VBprogrammer wrote: post #82
m4tthumphrey wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to say my experience with Hive has been nothing but exceptional. All the way from having it installed back in 2016 (when we moved in) to this day when it came on for an hour this morning. The controller is right next to the boiler in the eaves of my house and is connected via ethernet through a TP-Link TL-PA9020P powerline adaptor. In all fairness the thermostat is very close to the receiver, in the landing, s…

Thanks for the hint on ethernet over power. I can plug one in reasonably close to the thermostat and another close to the router and they'd be on the same ring main so should work pretty well.

EoP has huge RFI issues, it basically turns your house wiring into a giant antenna broadcasting broadband noise.

Re: I Ripped Out a £6k Lighting System

#236

Post by walshemj »

hnarn wrote: post #125
WalterBright wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crosstalk is when two wires are close together, one induces a voltage in the other (it's how transformers work). The trouble with house wiring is if you run a phone line parallel and close to an A/C line, it will induce a 60 cycle hum in the phone line, which will drive you utterly mad. The electrician was installing the cat3 phone wires in the same holes as the A/C wires. It was guaranteed to induce a hum. The corre…

Just out of curiosity, would shielded cat-cables help in a situation where you have it next to A/C wires?

It would have to be a very noisy line and probably not the average house ac - this is from what my CCNA instructor commented.

They also said that stp is a lot harder and expensive to install.

Re: I Ripped Out a £6k Lighting System

#237

Post by hondadriver »

reportingsjr wrote: post #228
pmlnr wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried the IKEA bulbs. They have coil whine turned off any made my unable to fall asleep. Apparently it's a known issue: https://i.reddit.com/r/tradfri/comments/arlyiz/coil_whine_an... At the moment I have standalone lamps with Sonoff D1 dimmer and halogen (yes, really) bulbs that can actually be dimmed 0-100%.

I outfitted my apartment with ikea lights for the last few years, and I am currently in the middle of replacing them with philips Hue. It is insane how unreliable the ikea products have been and how terrible the interface is vs philips.

I am using both, the bulbs are equally reliable here, the Ikea bridge & app have had their problems in the past, but also work well atm.

I am moving to Deconz (Phoscon) for full flexibility though..

Re: I Ripped Out a £6k Lighting System

#238

Post by VBprogrammer »

vvanders wrote: post #235
VBprogrammer wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the hint on ethernet over power. I can plug one in reasonably close to the thermostat and another close to the router and they'd be on the same ring main so should work pretty well.

EoP has huge RFI issues, it basically turns your house wiring into a giant antenna broadcasting broadband noise.

Alas, if it makes my heating work the way it is supposed to then it's a price I'm willing to pay.

Re: I Ripped Out a £6k Lighting System

#239

Post by core-questions »

geocrasher wrote: post #231
WalterBright wrote: post #56

I wouldn't buy a house with such a system in it, and I doubt anybody else will, either. Who wants to become an expert on these systems just to turn the lights on? Not a chance. I considered these systems when my house was built, and am very glad I didn't get them. I turn the switch on, the lights go on, I turn it off, the lights go off. I replace a bulb now and then. That's it! I'm very happy with it. But what I did…

Around 2010 I designed the "computer room" for a 3 story apartment building that had computers for the residents to use. It was all very basic. The only complexity was that the ethernet run was across the whole building and 3 stories from the 3rd story computer room to the first story utility room. The day came when it was time to test it out. All the Ethernet lights came on, but throughput was on the order of less t…

I was confused as all get-out about what a "wire nut" is, turns out Marettes are not what everyone calls 'em!

Re: I Ripped Out a £6k Lighting System

#240

Post by dkdk8283 »

geocrasher wrote: post #231
WalterBright wrote: post #56

I wouldn't buy a house with such a system in it, and I doubt anybody else will, either. Who wants to become an expert on these systems just to turn the lights on? Not a chance. I considered these systems when my house was built, and am very glad I didn't get them. I turn the switch on, the lights go on, I turn it off, the lights go off. I replace a bulb now and then. That's it! I'm very happy with it. But what I did…

Around 2010 I designed the "computer room" for a 3 story apartment building that had computers for the residents to use. It was all very basic. The only complexity was that the ethernet run was across the whole building and 3 stories from the 3rd story computer room to the first story utility room. The day came when it was time to test it out. All the Ethernet lights came on, but throughput was on the order of less t…

Electricians are bad at low voltage wiring. There’s a different contractor license for low voltage work in many states.

Electricians also almost always use the wrong colors when wiring speakers with something like a 16/4. I have ran into this a lot.

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