Rob99

Niche is ok as long as its cheaper, better and less flaky than other options. I don't know anyone who has installed or is using Velbus so can't comment on how good or bad it is but it seemed to me a bit like a KNX bus type system. The programming software did look a bit clunky, although that could be the way the guy was demonstrating it. Lots of people on here have used Loxone (me included), some also use KNX, probably fewer with Control4 or Crestron. Some initial questions I'd be asking are: How popular is the system in the UK and who sells it (if not the manufacturer) What support is available (e.g. community forums, manufacturer, installer) and is it chargeable. Maintenance/software/firmware updates (how, who, how much?) Can you make changes to programming yourself, or is it an "engineer" only system (and therefore chargeable)

You need seperate MPAN's for import and export, and they aren't the same as the numbers etched onto your meter. It's not a requirement that Octopus obtain the MPAN, nor are they exclusively the ones able to do it. You should be able to obtain an MPAN from your DNO yourself, if they have had all of the paperwork required for the installation from your installer. Our installed requested an export MPAN at the same time they submitted the paperwork and we had it by return email. I sent this to Octopus and was set up for export in a matter of days.

That phrase always rings alarm bells with me. Which specific grant scheme is this? Just because they are funding it doesn't give them the right to impose poorly designed installations which it appears may not even comply with MCS standards.

I'm a Loxone partner and have previously looked around for metal enclosures for the control panel builds I do but always kept coming back to the Future Automation ones. They're very well built and robust and I like the fact they are designed to accommodate Loxone equipment which looks really smart when done right. Here's one of my previous builds as an example of how they look. Some clients leave them like this without the door on as they like the look of them.

Thanks @Kelvin, you've installed that nicely in a very tight space 👍

As @Dan F says, it’s usual to use operating modes for this type of control. Operating modes are hugely useful for lots of stuff. I use them for whole house evening and night modes, individual bedroom modes, heating/ventilation, guest mode, at home, away, holiday etc. They can be used with schedules, triggered by other logic or using switches and other inputs. Incredibly useful. If you used the config planning tool and auto config then it will create a whole range of operating modes automatically.

You should start by using the project planning part of config. Input all of your room, circuit and equipment details and you can automatically create a complete config file. It will create most of the blocks and logic for whatever you have said you need and put them on separate pages named for the rooms. It’s not perfect but will be easier than creating everything from scratch. You then just go through and make changes or add additional logic.

Just a heads up - you can only configure the miniserver network settings in the first hour after powering up. Beyond that you will need to power cycle it to make any changes.

No. Hybrid inverter will disconnect itself from the grid automatically when it loses power and will only reconnect when the grid connection is restored. They are designed this way and only approved for connection to the grid on this basis.

In my case, I use them on cat6 when they are going into screw terminals to provide a bit more for the screw to hold on to, but as @Dan F said, not necessary if they are going into push in terminals.

I use 0.5mm for cat6A

Looks fine to me 👍

Which SSR's did you go for?

1.5mm2 tri-rated is rated at nominal 21A but you should derate that if you are bunching cables together. Sounds like your sparky knows his stuff though. Besides you have to keep below 16A if you're using the Loxone relays, or 10A on the miniserver relays.

Yes, all the earth connections are made with the earth bars fitted to the back plate of the enclosure at the top/bottom. The main issue I see is that you need a way to distribute the RCBO feed to the relays but without the triple height blocks you can't do this at the terminal block end. It's not an ideal solution but one option would be to take the RCBO feed and loop it across to one side of all of the relays which link to that RCBO so that when you wire the other side of the relay back to the terminal block you are effectively feeding switched live into each terminal block. Your neutral would then be commoned across the terminal blocks.

If those are double height terminals on the top DIN rail then you won't be able to use them to distribute power from the RCBO, through the relays and out to the individual circuits as there aren't enough connection points. I use triple height blocks for RCBO fed circuits. The Live connection sequence needs to be....... RCBO >> Terminal Block >> Relay >> Terminal Block >> Circuit. To achieve the correct connections, the RCBO Live feed goes to the top level and is commoned across all terminals at that level. The RCBO Neutral feed goes to the bottom level and is commoned across all terminals. The Live to each relay goes from the top level out to the relay and returns to the middle level. Circuit connections on the outgoing side are then made at middle level for the switched Live and bottom level for the Neutral. Hopefully this might help:

If there's no connection of those cores at the other end I just keep them the same length as the Orange/Green pairs and then coil them round the screwdriver shaft and tuck them into the back of the box. If they're left inside the back box they are easy to find later if needed. If they are behind the box in the wall space then you might need to remove the box to get at them, possibly damaging your decorations.

Yep, you can just push them in and out once and they should snap off cleanly, no cutting needed

I always do ferrules at both ends. Keeps it neater and straightforward for anyone else making wiring changes later on.

These are the labels I use

I've never used the label holders. I just use the standard individual pre-printed number tiles which click into the top of each block. I seem to remember it was a pain to identify the correct wago product reference as there are several different types and most online stores also get confused about which ones fit the 2002 series. I'll have a dig around in my panel build box and check which ones I used.

My triple height Wago's are 70mm.

The triple height Wago 2002-3201 that I use will fit in a standard depth FA enclosure if you mount the DIN rail directly on the back with no spacers. The last LXN5 I built was fine with these Wago's and there should be clearance of about 10mm behind the front cover. Also, you can gain another 7.5mm of depth by swapping the standard 15mm deep DIN rail for a 7.5mm deep one if necessary

@Dan F makes a good point here. Usually it is necessary to mount the top DIN rail closer to the back panel so that the 8x8 blue/grey cat6 terminal blocks don't foul the front cover which would leave much less space behind the top rail to get your cables down to the next DIN rail. Where I've used two rails for terminal blocks it's usually been a 6 rail cabinet which is much deeper than standard. This allows me to mount the top 2 DIN rails on shorter standoff brackets (30mm standard depth panel ones, as opposed to 70mm deep panel ones) but still leaves plenty of space behind the rail to get cables through. I have found it possible to feed cables behind a DIN rail, even if it's on 15mm spacers, but it's a bit awkward. You also have to consider how you're going to get the cables past or through the cable trunking after all your internal wiring is in place.

Ah, bugger! Might be worth contacting Mike at WW to see if you can parallel 2 channels.