Home automation/future proofing extension

JRJ

JRJ

JRJ

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We are just finalising drawings for our extension prior to final planning submission and I'm starting to plan the 'Geeky' aspect of things.

Doing some reading I'm completely lost as to where to start, should I just run Ethernet cable to all rooms or rely on wireless, smart sockets/switches and lights?

Appreciate some help from anybody who's done/doing this?

The house will be gutted and rewired in addition to the extension so running cables is the easiest it'll ever be.
 
Add ethernet anywhere you were thinking of putting plug sockets. Smart switches etc. are still a little flakey on the security front, but can be added to your system via wifi. This also means they will consume additional power in standby mode. It depends if you want remotely operated everything or energy efficiency.
 
I don't know what's normal (our house still had some wooden frames with light switches attached using wood screws) but having installed a bunch of Z-Wave dimmers here, at least 35mm deep boxes for switches if that's something you might consider.
 
I'd add Cat5e or Cat6e for networking, I'd also put coax into all rooms with with sockets for to. That's what I did in my house (ran all cables to an amplifier in the loft).
 
Cat6 in every room. No need for next to every plug socket but work out what you will be doing in your rooms and where furniture is likely to be. If you are going to have a TV or computer anywhere then install 4/5 cat6 cables (one for redundancy if you feel so inclined) and in every other room just install 2. Coax for places where you are going to install a TV. No need for telephone cable at all (just use the Cat 6 if necessary). All smart switches are wireless now so no need to wire them in, just make sure the boxes are big enough as they are usually a fair chunk deeper than normal switches.
 
iraiguana said:
Add ethernet anywhere you were thinking of putting plug sockets. Smart switches etc. are still a little flakey on the security front, but can be added to your system via wifi. This also means they will consume additional power in standby mode. It depends if you want remotely operated everything or energy efficiency.
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I did this. In fact I have multiple cat6 outlets in every single room. I have redundant runs and also a few runs in place in case I ever re-purpose the second toilet as an office etc. Or if I move things about in a room etc

My view was that I'd likely only ever rewire once so more now will save in the future.

Whilst macca's point about wireless is valid, I live in a 100 yr old house with 15" solid stone walls which essentially kills wireless. The ethernet points, particularly in the attic etc have enabled me to put in ubiquiti access points on the ceilings which are night and day better than virgin etc

My view as mentioned is to over provision
 
Also in the process of planning this myself and went from just wanting to put network cables in to installing a smart home system (Loxone). They have a mixture of wired and wireless devices and can integrate with other standards too. It is capable of full house control/automation. Some of the things we will be implementing:

  • Smart lighting - Can set colour temperature and brightness depnding on time of day/briginesss of the room etc
  • Scenes - Movie scene to close blinds, dim lights and turn tv on and to correct AV channel
  • House Alarm
  • Control of door locks/side gate opener
  • Integration with garden lighting
  • Muti-room A/V

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

We are looking at cat6e/7 to most rooms but also looking at ceiling speakers so audio cable runs need to be included as part of re-wiring - worht bearing in mind if you are looking to go full geek on it all!
 
NightShadow said:
Also in the process of planning this myself and went from just wanting to put network cables in to installing a smart home system (Loxone). They have a mixture of wired and wireless devices and can integrate with other standards too. It is capable of full house control/automation. Some of the things we will be implementing:

  • Smart lighting - Can set colour temperature and brightness depnding on time of day/briginesss of the room etc
  • Scenes - Movie scene to close blinds, dim lights and turn tv on and to correct AV channel
  • House Alarm
  • Control of door locks/side gate opener
  • Integration with garden lighting
  • Muti-room A/V

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

We are looking at cat6e/7 to most rooms but also looking at ceiling speakers so audio cable runs need to be included as part of re-wiring - worht bearing in mind if you are looking to go full geek on it all!
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Completely forgot about this thread whilst we were sorting planning, I think as a minimum I'll be running coax and cat6 cable to every room, I had planned on cat5e but I think 6 would be better suited to future proofing for the next few years.

There is some fantastic products on the Loxone website what sort of prices are you expecting with that setup if you don't mind me asking?
 
Have budgeted around 10K for automation/tech, will be running my own Audio and Cat6e to save a little bit on costs but don't expect much change if any!
 
Same I'll be running the network, coax and any audio cable myself, I don't think the wife would be too happy with me if I budgeted 10k on tech.
 
The problem is, once you factor in something like HDAnywhere, decent music amp/controller or Sonos and speakers for every room etc you are already up to £2k and that's without the rest of automation. Don't forget a decent 24-port switch or 2 and it all starts to add up pretty quickly!

As part of that I have included the actual lights and switches as these will be controlled by the system rather than including them in the standard electrical works budget.
 
As said, Cat6 is good but make sure it's decent stuff. You can get various colours in 100m reels from black box .

For tv areas recommended to run x3 cat 6 cables, x2 coax and say a HDMI if you want to.

Look to invest in a decent router and wireless AP, im eyeing up the more commercial ubiquiti kit. Have a look in the networking area, plenty on here have their stuff already.
 
-Ad- I'm yet to properly speak to re-seller/planners I have found for our install but what is the reasoning behind co-ax and HDMI? surely running HDMI over Cat6 is easier, especially if you have a long run to take them over? Are you talking co-ax for built-in Freeview?

For WiFi I am also looking at Ubiquity, currently have Cloudtrax/OpenMesh which is OK but the AP kit is only average quality and the Ubiquity seems a bit better (although more expensive), not sure what the management is like for Ubiquity though. CloudTrax is done via free cloud management login.
 
I don't see the point of ethernet in in every room tbh unless you live in a old house with walls that kill wireless.

Ethernet wherever your gaming and main pc is. Wireless for everything else is more than adequate. Use extenders if need be.

Coaxial? HDMI?

I have a fire tv with USB and SD card so stick content on a stick and plug it in whatever room I need it.
 
NightShadow said:
The problem is, once you factor in something like HDAnywhere, decent music amp/controller or Sonos and speakers for every room etc you are already up to £2k and that's without the rest of automation. Don't forget a decent 24-port switch or 2 and it all starts to add up pretty quickly!

As part of that I have included the actual lights and switches as these will be controlled by the system rather than including them in the standard electrical works budget.
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Still seems exceedingly expensive unless you have a very nigh house.

£200 for a switch
£50 for a patch panel and wall mount
£100 for cable
£100 for boxes and faceplates

And that's being fairly generous.

Songs adds up fairly quickly, especially if you go the Amp and built in speakers, but again unless the house is huge then it's not that much.

Unless you're going full on control4 style automation (with the custom install and touchscreen panels everywhere) it's really not going to be more than a 3-4k to do an average house (with Sonos amp and speakers for every room)!
 
Psycho Sonny said:
I don't see the point of ethernet in in every room tbh unless you live in a old house with walls that kill wireless.

Ethernet wherever your gaming and main pc is. Wireless for everything else is more than adequate. Use extenders if need be.

Coaxial? HDMI?

I have a fire tv with USB and SD card so stick content on a stick and plug it in whatever room I need it.
Click to expand...

At the very least you want ethernet to every bedroom, the lounge and dining room. Just in case you have kids/need to move where you put your machines.

I also find my fire TV works better from a wired connection when streaming large MKVs to koi and t's much easier having everything available everywhere (using a central NAS) rather than having to copy stuff onto sticks when you want to watch something).

HDMI is a difficult one. Unless you can pull through a new cable in the future you may find the current HDMI becomes redundant fairly quickly. Better to stick a few cat6 cables through and use adaptors each end, which are easily replaced (even if more expensive)
 
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wireless tech is only going to get better and better.

you can get what 300-450MB wifi nowadays. more than enough IMO.

only the largest of homes or old houses should be considering ethernet in every room.
 
Depends what you're doing. I move a lot of DSLR raw files around my network and even wireless AC doesn't cut it. Wired makes a massive difference.

As I said it also makes a difference for HD MKV files.

Having completely renovated your house it would be a massive pain to then find you need to move your computer into another room and trail a cable to it from elsewhere because you didn't bother to install an ethernet port in that room. :p
 
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