Re: Contemplating house rewiring - advice?

[James Reed <james@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Paul, this is very helpful.

I can see that the star wiring may be problematic, particulary trying to
explain it all to SWMBO when there will be higher costs etc.

I will pursue the pink CAT5 idea as you suggest. So far as topology
goes, I guess the idea would be to terminate as much as possible of it
in a single place, but again thinking about aesthetics could you have
nodes at each floor with links between them? I read the Idratek wiring
guidance which seemed to suggest such a thing might be possible. Again I
want to try and put it in a way which makes it easy for the sparks to
follow as I imagine they won't have much experience of this sort of thing.

James

On 24/11/2012 1:11 pm, Paul Gordon wrote:
>
> Yup, you've answered your own question pretty well James...
>
> To give yourself the utmost flexibility in your future selection of
what
> system to go for, if you both star-wire the mains cable *and* run some
> control cable into each backbox as well, I think you've pretty much
> allowed
> for any possibility.. and even if you end up not using one or other
cable,
> at least you have not limited your options in any way, and cable is -
> comparatively - cheap.. (compared the HA modules you will eventually
> connect
> to them!)
>
> Couple of thoughts..
>
> Star wiring the mains isn't the "norm" in the UK, so your
sparkies may be
> resistant to the idea... it will increase cable costs - both in that
you
> will use more of it - the ring main topology was thought up to
> minimise the
> quantity of cable required I believe, - and I think you have to uprate
the
> mains cable you use... - your sparks should know about that assuming
they
> know their onions...
>
> For control cable, even though you seem to have rejected CBUS for now,
you
> would still get benefit from using CBUS's pink CAT5 cable as your
control
> wiring.. - it's not specific to CBUS - it's just bog standard CAT5
> cable on
> the inside, - but the pink outer sheath is certified mains rated, so
> you are
> allowed within the UK wiring regs to bring that cable into the same
> enclosure where mains is present... - that is not permitted with
> "ordinary"
> computer CAT5 cable - which can be obtained quite a bit cheaper...
>
> CAT5 cable at each socket and switch backbox shoud cate for just about
any
> wired HA system, although I believe there are a few options available
that
> require the use of their own proprietary control cable.. personally I
> wouldn't give consideration to any HA system that imposes that demand,
but
> that's just me... - for me, if CAT5 isn't good enough, then I'm not
giving
> that system my money...
>
> Paul G.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
> [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx <mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>]
On
> Behalf Of
> James Reed
> Sent: 23 November 2012 20:00
> To: UKHA_D Group
> Subject: [ukha_d] Contemplating house rewiring - advice?
>
> Hi
>
> I've just moved in to a largish victorian terrace. The wiring is not
> in good
> condition, and as we are planning to stay for some time I'm
contemplating
> having the whole house rewired.
>
> I'm keen on home automation but haven't really got the money (or the
> permission from HQ!) to install all the modules etc now. I'm
> interested in a
> wired system such as Idratek (have looked at Cbus but seems too
> expensive by
> comparison).
>
> I've got some electricians coming round, and basically what I am
asking is
> what sort of wiring would I need to give me options in the future to
> add kit
> bit by bit? I was thinking that I would need control wires run along
with
> the mains cabling for the lights at least - any suggestions how?
>
> ALso should I be considering 'star wiring' of the lighting circuits?
>
> What I'm trying to balance up is making the most of the opportunities
> presented by a rewiring whilst keeping costs as low as I can. I'm
going to
> have a number of years of leisure to install modules etc, but
> (hopefully!) only one shot at the rewiring.
>
> I'd be really interested to hear views / opinions
>
> James
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>



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