Thorfun

of course I am! 😂

here ya go @pocster. some hep2o for you.

sure. was looking at multiple smaller Wattage PSUs yeah, I've got the miniserver needing and all the extensions needing 23W. so would just assume that would be covered by one of the many 24V PSUs. but, you're right, I might as well just add it all up together! cool. yeah, but that should be all of the 24V leds in the house. 15 warm white and 2 RGBW (lighting designer said I couldn't have more RGBW (as did SWMBO 😞 ) ok. thanks. I did read that report on PWM frequencies you sent and it was quite interesting but, unless I read it incorrectly, anything between 90Hz and 1250Hz can all produce flicker and it's down to the driver designer to ensure that a maximum percentage is allowed. so there's no evidence that the 123Hz of the Loxone drivers will produce flicker. but it's something I'll bare in mind. that was the plan! just thought I'd add it for completeness as it might've come up as a potential solution. 😉

afternoon all, I think I'm improving my knowledge around the whole 24V led strips subject and my attention has moved to the power supplies required for my setup. As if I can get a handle on that I can decide if I want remote or central (or a combination of both) drivers. IF I've got an understanding of it all I calculate that I will need a total of around 1.3kW PSU!! here's my spreadsheet table showing the calculations: anything that says 'Powered by Miniserver' isn't included in the totals at the bottom for the Total Watts and Amps. have I got this completely wrong or does this seem about right for a system of this size? I could, in theory, move some of the LED strips to have remote drivers so they're powered by 230V cable like this that @Dan F sent me https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/led-drivers/7066684. but I presume I will still need a control mechanism for the remote drivers, like a DMX driver (https://www.downlightsdirect.co.uk/dmx-driver-constant-voltage.html) but if I didn't want to use DMX how else would I control the lights? would that need to be a Loxone Dimmer extension (https://shop.loxone.com/enuk/dimmer-extension.html)? ps. I do have a Whitewing mains dimmer 16-channel (http://whitewing.co.uk/acdim.html)

this? https://shop.loxone.com/enuk/power-supply-backup.html that is rather expensive. will take a look though as I'm a sucker for simplicity.

ok. so I am a little confused (electrics get me that way!). let's assume I've decided to go with the Loxone Compact RGBW Dimmer Tree solution. decision made. and let's also assume I've decided to go with 10m of these RGBW Led Strips (https://www.led-lighthouse.co.uk/shop/led-strip-lights/rgbw-led-strip-lights/24v-rgbw-led-strip-lights-ip65/). another decision made. from this diagram in the Compact dimmer datasheet: it shows a 24V power supply and a twisted pair for the Tree connection. Now, please correct me if I'm wrong, but can't the 24V supply be supplied by the Cat6A cable on the orange/white pair? just like a Loxone Touch? and then I would need a 5-core cable of sufficient size taking in to account the voltage drop run from the compact dimmer to the RGBW strip (as shown in the diagram above)? if all of that is correct then my confusion is around @Rob99's comment about needing a T&E and Cat6. can you see where my confusion is?

ok thanks. so, in my mind, the second option using a single 10m run of RGBW strip sounds a lot simpler. a single Cat6A from Loxone cabinet to the compact dimmer in the loft void above the room and a suitably sized cable from the compact dimmer to the strip. I presume that the Cat6A cable from the cabinet to the dimmer will take the power the dimmer requires? just like any other Tree device like a Touch or presence sensor?

ok. so each strip has a T&E back to the compact RGBW dimmer with both T&E cables terminating at the dimmer? that would be wiring in parallel, right? I did a quick google and found these RGBW LED strips that say 10m = 192W. https://www.led-lighthouse.co.uk/shop/led-strip-lights/rgbw-led-strip-lights/24v-rgbw-led-strip-lights-ip65/ so, in theory, I could get a 10m length of these and wire with a single T&E to the compact?

yeah, I just tucked that cable up and out of the way. the double 'X's on the wall denote where the socket is going. glad the SAF clip solution looks ok. I will crack on with that! thank you. 🙂

the strips will be run around 2 walls in each bedroom in an 'L' shape. one wall is 4m and the other 6m in length. so would I need 2 x compact RGBW dimmers per room then? 5m of LED into each? seems excessive! any voltage drop calculations I will leave to my electrician so will run any potential solution by him to check the calculations!

length will be about 12m from Loxone cabinet to both RGBW Led strip ends. LED length will be about 10m in total I don't know the wattage of the LED strip as I've not got that far yet! I could use remote drivers as there is a void above each bedroom in the roof eaves where I could put the driver and it could be accessible for replacement on failure which is why the solution @Rob99 is suggesting is quite appealing. it doesn't use Tree cable and I'm buying an excessively large amount of Cat6A for automation already so could incorporate another couple of runs easily

this is interesting Rob. I presume you mean these https://shop.loxone.com/enuk/rgbw-24v-compact-dimmer-tree.html? so this can go in the loft void above their bedrooms with a single Cat6A cable from the above linked compact dimmer back to the Loxone cabinet and a 1mm2 or 1.5mm2 cable from the above linked dimmer to the RGBW led strip? that seems easier than running 5-core 1mm2 from the loxone cabinet to the LED strip.

another question if I may. the kids rooms have planned RGBW Led strips mounted around the edge of the ceiling. I was discussing with the electrician today where the drivers would be and I said I'd probably prefer to put them in the Loxone cabinet and drive the led strips from there. if I'm doing this I presume I need to run 5-core 1mm cable from the Loxone cabinet to the bedrooms to a point where the RGBW led strips will join the cable? just trying to find out if this will work before I buy a drum of 5-core cable. I also presume that one of these https://shop.loxone.com/enuk/rgbw-24v-dimmer-tree.html per LED strip to control them via Loxone? or could I use the DMX extension to control them using a DMX RGBW dimmer? (can you tell I'm a little out of my depth with electrics?)

first fix electrics has started and my electrician has been down to tutor me for a day on running cables. where a socket is in the middle of service cavity battens he suggest not clipping the cable to the battens as there's a risk of an errant screw from the plaster boarding but to run the cable down the middle between the battens using SAF clips. I have done one run as a test and the cables are pulling the membrane away from the wall slightly. the electrician said this isn't an issue as they're just there to hold the cable back for boarding. as you can see it seems to work but I was wondering if there was another way? or rather, how have others done this without penetrating the AVCL?

you can get AV Venetian blinds which give more blackout. e.g. https://www.hallmarkblinds.co.uk/assets/trojanav90-spec-sheets.pdf

I guess the benefit of using an indoor dog shower is that if it's raining or really cold I don't have to stand in the rain/cold to wash the dog(s) down! 😉

yeah. that's a fair point and you're right! if I did have a warm shower outside I wouldn't then shower him inside. sorry for the confusion.

yeah, sorry. when I meant 'shower' it was just to really rinse him off and then we can leave him in the utility room to dry. I wasn't talking about shampooing him every day!

when daisy chaining the Cat6a cable how does one join the pairs that aren't being used? so obviously, the tree pairs (green/green&white, orange/orange&white) go in one device and then on to the next but I'll need to join the blue/blue&white, brown/brown&white to carry those on up the daisy chain for the digital inputs from the retractive switches. what's the best way to do that?

interesting point about the mud in the shower trap. I hadn't thought of that. the shower tray will be raised a bit so I wonder if I can have a filter under the shower plug hole before going in to the trap that is easily removable for cleaning out? or some form of catchpit/sump so that the water from the shower goes in to that first (under the tray) and then drains out to a normal trap? I'll run the outside warm water tap past the mrs and see what she says although I'd rather find a solution to deal with the mud in the shower rather than have to wash him down outside and then put him in the shower. definitely food for thought though, thanks.

awesome. not planning on closing any of these Loxone Cat6a loops. ok. think I understand this and I'm pretty sure that I won't exceed the 4 digital inputs per cable run but will double check my drawings. I think that if I have more than 2 I'll just run another cable. Also, I'll be doing the boarding so will know where the cables are and will take my time to ensure cables aren't hit! 🤞 yeah, that was part of our brief to the architect, big boot/utility room with a dog shower. he thought the size of the utility was excessive but having lived in a house with a shoebox utility room we wanted space in this one! planning a second dog next year as well so the shower will get lots of use after muddy woodland walks. at the moment our dog gets hosed down outside and when it gets really cold I wouldn't like to be on the receiving end of a cold hose pipe so why should we subject our dogs to that if we don't have to! 😉

morning all. I've been thinking long and hard about my cabling and, as I started to draw it all out, it has raised another question. if I'm daisy-chaining Cat6a cable for tree devices/retractive switches does the last device on that chain need terminating with a resistor? e.g. in the drawing below I have drawn a 12m green cat6a cable to the Tree Touch switch at the entrance to the utility room and then daisy chained it up to a Tree presence sensor, then to a retractive switch, on to another tree presence sensor, down to another retractive switch and then finally through the wall to a retractive switch. will that work? and is there any sort of resistor termination required at that final retractive switch? this is the idea for every room. one cable from the comms room to the Tree switch and then daisy-chaining from there.

That looks fab!

I wondered this. bikes are pretty light so can be carried up the steps so I guess the ramp is only needed for the bins.

yeah, I read about this is another thread where @Rob99 talked about using 100 blocks in an enclosure external to the Loxone enclosure. seems like a very neat way of dealing with all the cables. whoops! should've read Rob's reply on this thread before posting! 🤦‍♂️