12 Channel DIN Rail Relay Unit Outside?

Discussion in 'C-Bus Wired Hardware' started by NickLocke, Jan 8, 2006.

  1. NickLocke

    NickLocke

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    I am currently going through the design phase of some patio/pond/decking type stuff. As all of the house lighting is already C-Bus, it seems very logical that the external stuff (waterfall pump, underwater lights, patio lights....) should all be too. Control is easy - just shove another NEO on the inside wall near the patio doors.

    The implication of all this would be a run of armoured power cable and a run of C-Bus Cat5 (suitably protected) underground from the house to the far end of the garden. There, I would expect to have a weatherproof box containing a twelve channel relay, MCBs etc with more armoured cable going to lights etc. No doubt there would be low-voltage stuff too, so the box would also need to accommodate the necessary transformers.

    I am in the UK, so need to worry about all the regulations including "part P".

    What I am interested in first though, is whether there is anything C-Bus specific that I should also be worrying about. Things like whether the twelve channel relay will appreciate being in a small box at the end of the garden, whether the pink cable is ok outside.......

    I'd welcome any advice and also wonder whether anyone has done this before?

    Thanks,

    Nick
     
    NickLocke, Jan 8, 2006
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  2. NickLocke

    dbuckley

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    I'd offer the suggestion that the CBus external cabling run should be bridged from the main CBus network, so in the event of something "bad" happening outside, the bridge will hopefully sacrifice itself to protect all the indoor stuff.

    Thinking up a level, you need to ensure that a hebert with a lappy and a PCI cant unlock your house from outside...
     
    dbuckley, Jan 9, 2006
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  3. NickLocke

    rune

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    I've done the same thing (although my cabinet is inside a shed). To be on the safe side, though, I put the C-Bus cable in conduits to protect them. It's been there for just over half a year now without trouble (at least yet :) ).

    Btw. dbuckley has a very good point on the security issue. Hmmm... need to look into that :)

    Good luck,
    Rune
     
    rune, Jan 11, 2006
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  4. NickLocke

    dbuckley

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    Is that a door latch solenoid on a CBus relay unit I hear clicking away?

    Thats the trouble with home automation, its just so dammed seductive.....
     
    dbuckley, Jan 12, 2006
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  5. NickLocke

    Richo

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    I would recommend you do a search in the forums on Lightning protection as any underground cables has a danger of frying other units on the bus. Using Network bridges should go a long way to isolating this outside run, but the are much more detailed responses in the forum.
     
    Richo, Jan 12, 2006
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  6. NickLocke

    JohnC

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    When we worked on the Sydney Olympics Site (about 1500 exterior lights controlled individually by C-bus) there was a lot of tests done before selecting the cable...

    In the end a gel-filled "Underground Rated" telephone cable was used, rather than normal Cat5. The reason for that was that the conduits were about 6ft underground and conduits ALWAYS fill up with water, irrespective of how well they are glued together. Normal (and Cbus Pink) Cat5 does not have a waterproof sheath - hence the water will leech in sooner or later and may cause Comms wierdness.

    The telephone cable used on the Olympics site was only classed Cat3, but we were still able to get up to 1000m without comms problems (one run was actually about 1500m and worked most of the time, but it was acting wierdly some days until we added a Network Bridge to split it up).

    In the UK it's a lot wetter than here in Aus - I's recommend proper Underground comms cable which shouldn't cost much for a short run down the garden.

    Cheers, JC
     
    JohnC, Jan 16, 2006
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