RE: Re: C-BUS vs. EIB

["Hawes,Timothy Edward (GEG)" <haweste@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Buckley Sent: 16 March 2004 12:00
>
> --- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "Hawes,Timothy Edward (GEG)"
> <haweste@a...> wrote:
>
> This post is probably too long, but here goes...
>
> Strictly, you cant buy an EIB module.  Its a nit-picky point, but
> EIB is a protocol, the modules are made by manufacturers, and in
> Siemens case, their stuff is called instabus.  See below for some
> more names.
>
> Anyway, the horses mouth at Siemens (and I've forgotten the chaps
> name)

Replied off-list.

> should have pointed you to Eddie at AC Electrical in
> Christchurch, who will sell you whatever you want.  As will Dome
> Systems.  Eddie will fax you the price list, that runs to about
> fifteen pages of Excel printout.

Excellent, thanks.

> Dome will sell you the starter kit, which has a CD with the
> downloadable stuff, and a selection of bits,

Again, thanks :-)

> The big advantage of CBUs is theres lots of folks on this list who
> have it!  Thus friendly advice is nearby.

Absolutely.

> There also is a "free"
> training course, which when I did it I found really useful.

Something else that appeals.

> > I'm not knocking EIB, and as you point out there are
> > work-arounds, but it does seem harder to break into than CBus,
> > for example. I think we'd all benefit from a more open market
> > and greater competition :-)
>
> There is great competition in the EIB market.

Sorry, what I meant to suggest was greater competition between EIB and
other systems, e.g. CBus, Polaron.

> The most annoying thing about EIB is the cost of the ETS2 software.

Yup, although as you suggest below, I need to work through some costings to
see whether it can be "recovered" elsewhere.

> > You seem to know quite a bit about EIB, may I ask how you
> > acquired your knowledge ?
>
> By buying a couple of the starter kits, one of which I actually
> installed into a bit of my last place.

Cool !

> By being a contractor to a bit of Siemens a while back (not A&D)
so
> having access to the Siemens intranet and the corporate phonebook!!!

LOL !  Inside info is usually the quickest way :-)

> Since the EIB switches are dumb and cheap, if you redecorate and
> fancy a change of finish, or just plain bust the thing, you just
> change the button and surround thing, and reprogram the button to
> have the same address as the old one.  All the behind-the-scenes
> stuff, the non-cosmetic, non WAF approval gear, all just stays the
> same.

CBus has things called "bus couplers" (?) which let you use any
old switch you want, is something similar possible with EIB ?

> So to make an informed choice, you really need to do a costed design
> for both systems, and see if you like (a) the price, (b) the
> cosmetics, (c) the interoperability, and (d) the wiring, and (e) the
> workload.

Good advice and something I'll need to work though :-)

Thanks again,

Tim H.

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