Re: About to build house, advice needed.

[andrew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Andrew Gabriel)]

In article <13d8posj92h9539@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
	"CWatters" <colin.watters@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> Extra tips...
>
> Make sure the electrical wiring is suitable.. For example in the UK you
> won't find a neutral wire behind most light switches but a neutral
> connection is needed for some home automation applications. Might be worth
> telling the electrician you want a neutral wire at all light switches and in
> the ceiling at all light fixtures. This means using wire with more cores.

When I was rewiring with a view to future HA, I ran every lighting
and switch point back to a wiring centre (which was a depopulated
Consumer Unit). Even prior to HA installation, this made it trivial
to alter the switching arrangements when required. When I moved to
HA, I mounted relays and some X10 professional modules on the CU
DIN rail, and the conversion was easy because access to everything
was in one place. I used triple and earth everywhere too, with multiple
runs for multi-way switch points, just to give extra cores if needed
(and could be used to supply a neutral to a switch point).

> Specify deep back boxes ones (in the UK that means 47mm). Many builders
> install shallow ones as they don't require the wall to be chased out.

The wiring centre method makes this unnecessary, but it would be a
good move if you aren't using a wiring centre and need to distribute
X10 modules around. If you are starting from scratch, you can avoid
X10 and use relays directly driven by a suitable ontroller. I only
use X10 where I want dimming, or retrofitting HA to an installation
without being able to get a hardwired control cable to the switch
location. However, this is also influenced by X10 being much more
expensive in the UK than the US.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]