Loxone home automation

[Alex C]

Does anyone have any experience of Loxone for home automation, @Jack, is this what you used. I am looking to use it to control blinds and some lighting and am also interested in streaming music and running an alarm on it as well.

[jack]

Yep, that's what we're running.

 

Let me know of you want to drop over again for a look.

[Barney12]

I keep looking at Loxone and it does look well developed.

Out of interest what route did you go for light switches?

[jack]

We went with Scolmore lighting retractive switches. Pretty good quality - a little stiffer than would be ideal for fast double clicks, but you get used to it (plus you can program around the need for double clicks in Loxone if you want to). The stiff mechanism means they can be a bit loud in operation if you're not careful.

 

Actually, when I say good quality, I mean the switches themselves. We went for the screwless range of faceplates and I can't say I was overwhelmed by their quality. Very thin metal and not always a very positive click into place. The edges of the plates also have visible dents where the clips are formed. Again, you get used to it, but if I had my time again if have gone for far cheaper screw-on plates.

[Barney12]

Interesting thanks.

 

Automation is the subject of debate between SWMBO and I at the moment. In our last three renovations we fitted Clipsal Cbus Automated lighting and I admit I am a BIG fan of it. Easy to install, easy to commission and with the PAC controller plenty of basic automation available.

By the third install I had learned to "dumb down" the switches. SWMBO just didn't like fancy switches, scene controllers, touch screens (and I tired them all). Instead we ended up with simple E2000 switches which look like this.

 

 

Simple design, simple press on press off but also supports long press. Scenes can still be set but you need to use the Pascal Automation Controller (PAC) rather than any logic in the switch.

 

BUT......SWMBO has now declared "I demand normal switches. I just want to switch it "on and off" (she means a standard switch).

 

I think I'm a bit stuffed!

[IanR]

I'm working towards a Loxone install for my build. The initial motivation was to coordinate ASHP, UFH, MVHR, external blinds and roof-light vents (and later for Solar PV dump to DHW) for heating and cooling.

 

Once the decision was made to include a Loxone system, then it's proved far too easy to add lighting, add access control, add security etc. that the budget is now nearly double what I had initially allocated for it. I'm now trying to resist integrating audio streaming, video streaming, TVs, AVRs.

 

4 hours ago, Alex C said:

... and running an alarm on it as well.

 

Be aware, if you want a monitored alarm, connected to police and fire you'll need a dedicated, certified alarm system. But there's no reason why it can't share sensors with and communicate with the Loxone system.

[Weegaz]

I'm really interested in using home automation to control lighting in our new build but with so many products to choose from it's a bit of a mine field.

 

I am interested in 'mood' lighting in the kitchen and dining areas and I like the fact that dimmers can be used if your up during the night.  Other than that I really have limited ideas myself on what all we could do with the system so any further ideas would be great.

 

The wife really likes that idea of turning lights on in the house from her phone if she is arriving home late and it's dark. 

 

Our heating system has smart tech so can be linked to our iPhones as a separate 'app'.

[Trw144]

I ve got all my Loxone kit in the garage and waiting to be installed imminently - basically controlling blinds, lighting, heating, burglar alarm, solar thermal, music, garage door, entrance gates. I would say all in its going to cost around £7k on the kit, but that includes 18 speakers, 12 music zones, and a shed load of lighting zones. Whilst it is a chunk, its probably saved me a couple of thousand pounds on heating controllers, solar controllers, dimmable light switches, burglar alarms etc. I m hoping I can shut myself away and get my head around programming it myself.

[jack]

1 hour ago, Trw144 said:

I ve got all my Loxone kit in the garage and waiting to be installed imminently - basically controlling blinds, lighting, heating, burglar alarm, solar thermal, music, garage door, entrance gates. I would say all in its going to cost around £7k on the kit, but that includes 18 speakers, 12 music zones, and a shed load of lighting zones. Whilst it is a chunk, its probably saved me a couple of thousand pounds on heating controllers, solar controllers, dimmable light switches, burglar alarms etc. I m hoping I can shut myself away and get my head around programming it myself.

 

It you haven't already done it, I'd highly recommend doing at least the first three days of the Loxone training courses. I looked at some online training stuff before starting but I found having someone take me through it by the hand really invaluable.

 

Once I'd done that, I was able to do all the programming myself. It's a very powerful system.

 

I'd also recommend joining (or at least reading) a couple of the forums that were set up when the official one was pulled last year.

[Trw144]

Yes they ve been trying to get me on the course but with a full time job and the house build, I simply don't have time to go on a training course for three days. My electrician is very good and has a lot of experience of control panel wiring so hopefully this element is covered, then it's down to me. Worst cast I was thinking I could get someone in to help but whether any home automation company is interested when they have nt supplied me the kit and charged me a small fortune l, I m not sure.

 

How far from Hereford are you??

[Pete]

How much did the 3 day training course cost Jack?

[Trw144]

I think it's £400 for the 3 day course. I think (although they may have changed it recently) that you get additional discount if you go the course. I calculated that the additional discount would cover the course cost.

[jack]

It was quite a bit less than that when I did it, I think - less than £200 from memory.

 

Also, do check whether the discounts that you're reading about are actually offered to non-trade punters.  I was led onto the course largely based on this discount, but was then calmly told when I went to claim it a couple of weeks later that the discount was only for trade.  I provided what I thought was pretty clear feedback about how misleading this was, and then HerbJ had a similar experience only a few months later.  I don't think they do it on purpose - I think they genuinely expect that most of the people on the course will be trade (as were 90% of the guys on the course I did).

 

I also had serious problems with the significantly higher pricing they had in the UK at the time I bought.  They argued that they wanted to be able to fix prices for a year or two at a time and didn't want to keep reprinting materials with new prices.

 

That might have been ok if if  you could have ordered from the German site, but you couldn't, which as far as I'm concerned is contrary to EU regs.  I was basically fobbed off when I raised it with them.  I started looking into doing something more formal about it, but didn't have the time or energy as I was buried in the build at the time.

All that said, they're a really good company and they're putting together some really great tech.  They're always more than helpful when you have technical questions.  The only other question mark I have over them is their interface.  It's better than what I've seen of, eg, Control4, and to be honest, I hardly use it because most of what it controls is either automatic (heating/DHW/blinds) or has a hard switch (lights, blinds).

[Pete]

Thanks once again guys

[Trw144]

Cant say about the discount to trade or not, I think I must have blagged it. Jack, you still have nt told me how far from Hereford you live and what your doing next month!!

[jack]

35 minutes ago, Trw144 said:

Jack, you still have nt told me how far from Hereford you live and what your doing next month!!

 

You're right, I haven't!

[Trw144]

33 minutes ago, jack said:

 

You're right, I haven't!

How long did it take to set up your system?

[jack]

The actual programming didn't take long.  A couple of days maybe.  Mostly it's pretty easy - lots of repetition once you figure out how you're going to implement each function.  Then I went back and tweaked things over the next several weeks as I had time, and added things like a blinds schedule so certain blinds open and shut automatically at certain times of the day.   

[jayroc2k]

Anyone compared this to z-wave? they seem cheaper on components.

 

I am looking into the Loxone one to add lighting in the extension only, control boiler, underfloor manifold valves, actuators for each radiator, motion sensor and sensors to check windows/doors are closed.

 

It seems one has to mix wired and wireless, example, sensors on each windows with wires is not pretty, however, once you have the mini-server, you can run the slighting wired.n That adds to cost

[Lesgrandepotato]

I've got a substantial amount of z-wave, hue, fibaro and heatmiser kit to go in shortly. Thread will be created! 

[jack]

On 10/25/2016 at 23:52, jayroc2k said:

Anyone compared this to z-wave? they seem cheaper on components.

 

I did at the time.

 

From memory, Z-wave is cheaper , but there's a much more limited selection of components, and I seem to recall there being issues with range and reliability of the protocol as a whole. That might have been FUD from Loxone though.

 

The programming environment for Loxone is extremely powerful and easy to use, which was really what swung it for me.

 

Loxone does occasional open evenings at a pub near where they're based in Reading. Worth getting along to if you can.  Failing that, they have a few videos on Youtube showing how it all works. 

 

I will caution that since I bought it a couple of years ago, Loxone does seem to be moving more and more towards closed systems, and are increasingly reticent to support self-installers. There are active forums with very helpful people that can get you around this though.

 

You can also mix and match Loxone with other stuff. They have DMX and modbus interfaces, for example, plus their outputs are relays and so can be used to control just about anything that uses switched contacts (eg, many MVHR and ASHP units).

The one thing that I didn't realise at the time was just how rarely I'd open the interface. Mine isn't connected to the outside world, so I can't control anything remotely. Just about everything else is controlled automatically or by hard switches, so I typically wouldn't open the mobile interface more than a couple of times a month!

[IanR]

9 minutes ago, jack said:

Just about everything else is controlled automatically or by hard switches, so I typically wouldn't open the mobile interface more than a couple of times a month!

 

I misjudged this. I've put in a traditional number of switches to cover multi-way switching of lights and a touch screen panel thinking I'd regularly need access to the app. 

 

Could have got away with half the switches and the touchscreen is now used to stream the output from the camera at our entrance 

 

Loxone has been able to control all my heating and cooling hardware. Modbus to the Nibe heat pump controller,  IP directly to the Airflow MVHR and relays to vents and blinds. Not fully configured yet, that's a work in progress, but the basics are working. 

 

[jbrwilkinson]

On 23/09/2017 at 09:40, IanR said:

Loxone has been able to control all my heating and cooling hardware. Modbus to the Nibe heat pump controller,  IP directly to the Airflow MVHR and relays to vents and blinds. Not fully configured yet, that's a work in progress, but the basics are working. 

 

 

It's a few months on now, how did it work out?

[jbrwilkinson]

Can anyone remember what brand/supplier of automated blinds they went with? We're finding that all manufacturers lately want you to take their internet-based control system but we'd prefer to control from Loxone...

[jack]

Mine came as part of our Pazen window package, so I'm not sure what brand they are.

 

The ones we ended up with are 240V, with simple relay-based switching. Works well with Loxone, although you need two relays per blind, which adds up quickly if you have a lot of blinds.

 

One thing to be aware of is that Venetian-type external blinds definitely don't block out all light. Our kids' rooms have them, and just the gaps around the side and the holes for the support wires let in enough sunlight in the morning to wake them up. Doing this again, I'd have gone for proper blockout versions on bedroom windows.

 

That said, I do like the sleek appearance that the Venetian blinds give to the house from the front. We never raise them all the way up - they just get rotated to a semi-open state every morning.