Project: High-tech electrical control system for cutting edge home

Solution: Integrated i-Lifestyle home automation system

A couple building a large home in Melbourne's seaside suburb of Mornington wanted to accentuate their cutting-edge design with the implementation of the latest high-tech electrical infrastructure and a selection of stylish switching devices. This ultra-modern house is positioned and designed to take advantage of sweeping views across Port Phillip Bay.

Home automation system integrators i-Wired were contracted to deliver on the client's definitive brief. Sister company i-Lifestyle, who distributes a number of European home automation systems, was brought in to ensure the latest and most innovative products were utilised to complement the home's ultra-modern style.

The client's brief called for lighting to highlight key architectural features of the house, full but unobtrusive control of lighting and other facilities, with the ability to create moods and scenes with single intuitive steps, ultra-modern switches to complement the home's interior and the ability to add to the control system in the future, should the need arise, or additional facilities needing to be controlled.

The resultant i-Wired design centred around a vendor-neutral, KNX standard-compliant system that enables a number of products from different suppliers to be seamlessly integrated together to switch and control lighting, fire places, fountains and pool equipment, spa and blind control, ceiling fans, heating lamps and exhaust fans in the bathrooms and pedestrian gate for entry into the property. A Daikin VRV HVAC system was also integrated into KNX via a BacNet gateway. Other HVAC systems, such as a Siemens Synco controller, which has native KNX connectivity, were similarly controlled through IR or serial interfaces. An advantage of the KNX system was the discrete control of the climate from the ‘smart switch' rather than standalone thermostats.

i-Wired and i-Lifestyle collaborated to prepare the design, including the provision of wiring schematics and switchboard layout diagrams for the electrical installation team. i-Wired installed, programmed and commissioned the system to ensure the overall system to the client's satisfaction.

The i-Lifestyle team recommended Display Triton switches for the main areas of the house, which were selected by the clients because they complemented the home's modern appearance and provided user-friendly labelling of switching. The display function was also useful because it enables the owners to easily control and monitor the status of functions which were not easily viewable eg, to show the status of the pool pump and the fountain. A built-in thermostat function also provided complete climate control.

With such a large number of lighting circuits installed in the home, two KNX controllers were used to control the on/off switching functions of all the fittings. Dimming of the lights was controlled through the use of an ABB universal dimming actuator (UDS), whilst a blind actuator was used to control the window furnishings and a binary actuator was used for the switching of inductive loads and other electrical items such as fans, pumps and blowers throughout the house.

It is a misconception that building automation actuators have to be placed in a separate enclosure. Because the automation switch gear is in fact switching low and extra-low voltages, complete segregation of cabling is not achievable. Therefore, a KNX-approved bus cable is used within the same enclosure as low-voltage cabling. Even if the control gear is in a separate enclosure to the low-voltage protective devices, both types of cabling are still within the same enclosure.

Therefore it makes for a neater and easier installation if all the equipment is installed in the one enclosure. The main electrical switch and circuit breakers are usually mounted at the top of the board and as each actuator takes a varied number of poles, space saving within the board is achieved by using vertical DIN rail.

The home is now finished and the clients are extremely happy with the results. They have the switching programmed to meet their lifestyle requirements. They love their ‘master off’ function when they leave the home; and with a wave of their remote control, they can lie in bed and turn on their fireplace and dim the lights. i-Lifestyle's design has placed the control of all electrical elements within easy reach.