Home Lighting Control System

Daragh86

I am shortly renovating the entire downstairs of my house including rewiring. I am interested in putting back in a smart lighting system though it's very difficult to find any decent information on systems.

I am trying to find out if there is a system that has one point (touch screen panel?) which all lighting is wired back to so that this panel can control the lighting for the entire downstairs.

I have found heaps of wireless things that connect to tablets, iPhones, etc. but I just want this to be controlled from a wall panel that's not wireless.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Hoagy

There are a few specialists, but I've found iLight pretty good and not huge money.
Not cheap, though.

Daragh86

Hoagy wrote: »

There are a few specialists, but I've found iLight pretty good and not huge money.
Not cheap, though.

Just had a look at the website, it seems very commercial and a bit over the top for what I need?

I'm not very experienced at all in electrics / lighting though I would have thought there was a much simpler product available than having to run cat5 cabling everywhere. What I'm looking for is really just a glorified on / off switch that can be programmed to have combinations turned on / off also.

What you're asking for isn't simple.

Here's another solution popular with hoteliers.

stereo_steve

Philips Hue?

You can control via smart phone or leave a cheap/old tablet mounted somewhere for the controls?

Daragh86

@stereo_steve I had a look at the Philips Hue, seems a bit costly for basic controls - if I have the right one. This system has the controls built into each bulb?

@Sir Liamalot That's more like what I was thinking about but obviously I'm being a bit naïve in thinking there should be a simple system. Maybe I'm a bit out of my league on this one! I think I best scale back to nice shiny led faceplates!

Thanks very much for your help, really appreciate it.

The way I'd do it is hard wired data cable from the control panel(s) to the dimmer units and dimmer outputs to the fixtures taking the dimmer hot power from the DB. I'm known to overcomplicate things though, Phillips Hue is easy and shiny if you fancy paying €70 per bulb. It could quite easily end up much the same cost for a modular system too all told.

In the interest of future-proofing I'd run CatV everywhere anyway...curtain rails (plus hot power), ethernet points, back of the fridge, behind the tv etc...much easier now than later...

Grain of salt in hand I'm no REC.

stereo_steve

Bulbs are £25 each if you just want white colour. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Personal-Wireless-Lighting-Single/dp/B00L62JU3O/

Still expensive but honestly I love the flexibility of mine. Very handy during winter turning on lights remotely.

You can optionally buy physical switches too for £50 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Personal-Wireless-Lighting-Switch/dp/B00L62JTDU/

Self powered and don't require any electrical connections so you can put them anywhere

tedimc

Check out Loxone - Loxone.com

Not dirt cheap, but you can use normal light fittings and start small. Has a decent ipad and android app. They also have a range of wireless components that also integrate easily.

I've fitted a few systems and found it reasonably easy to wire and very flexible to configure. Basically its a small server controlling a number of relays.