Introduction

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Stets, Jul 18, 2007.

  1. Stets

    Stets

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    Hi Guys,

    Just wanted to introduce myself after having lurked around the forum for a few months gathering much needed knowledge from the insight of the forum members.

    I am planning on doing a retrofit of c-bus to my new home controlling approximately 60 off 240V downlights.

    The system will be based around a cbus 12 channel relay, 4 channel universal dimmer and combination of Neo and C2000 switches.

    I was also intending to use the cbus PC interface however I read recently about the USB interface.... Does anyone have any details on this module?

    The low voltage cbus cabling and programming will be done by myself and a sparky mate (presently O/S) will be doing the 240V stuff.

    I'm also planning on using a Logitech Harmony universal remote to control scenes through the Neo IR receivers.

    Anyway, I was hoping to "bench program" the system before sparky mate arrives home then be able to just install the 4FCC36 switchboard, wire up the 240V stuff and then fine tune.

    Is it possible to program/learn the switches & modules with the system on a bench using a standard lamp as a load then in a couple of months install the switchboard in the new house and have everything pretty much pre-taught?

    TIA

    Stets
     
    Stets, Jul 18, 2007
    #1
  2. Stets

    Darpa

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    Simple answer: Yes, absolutely, this is frequently done by others.
     
    Darpa, Jul 18, 2007
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  3. Stets

    NickD Moderator

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    Slightly longer answer : Yes, BUT.... you need to power your network. This means you need 240V hooked up to whatever it is that supplies power to your network, (in your case, probably the universal dimmers with built-in C-Bus power supply), which means you need to know what you're doing, and legally speaking, probably some kind of license (I'm guessing that wiring the equipment up on a bench doesn't require a full sparky licence, but probably requires some kind of restricted electrical license).

    Regarding your setup - are you planning on *one* 4 channel universal dimmer and *one* 12 channel relay to do your entire 60 downlighs?

    If so I would recommend you reconsider. I would suggest you put all lighting on dimmers (with the exception of some utility lighting like outdoor, carport, pantry etc, or anywhere you want to use a compact fluorescent).

    I would also discourace you from putting too many lamps on a single channel.. not only because of the current limitations, but because it reduces the flexibility of the installation... if you have lots of channels you can easily switch them all together, but if you wire them all to one it's pretty hard to switch them separately. If they're all wired in large groups already then this makes it a bit harder to split them, so maybe just allow room in your switchboard to add more dimmer units later, and/or to move circuits from the relay to the dimmer later.

    HTH,

    Nick
     
    NickD, Jul 19, 2007
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  4. Stets

    Stets

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    Nick (& Darpa), thanks for the response

    My setup was planned as follows:-

    Dimmer 1 Home Theatre = 5x50W (1.14A)
    Dimmer 2 Living Room = 9x50W (2.05A)
    Dimmer 3 Study = 6x50W (1.36A)
    Dimmer 4 Half of master bedroom = 7x50W (1.6A)

    Relay 1 Kitchen room area = 4x50W (0.9A)
    Relay 2 Lounge = 5x15W compact fluro downlight (0.35A)
    Relay 3 Living room fill lighting = 3x50W (0.68A)
    Relay 4 Half of master bedroom = 4x50W (0.9A)
    Relay 5 Dining = 5x15W compact fluro downlight (0.35A)
    Relay 6 External lighting = 3x?W
    Relay 7 Entry = 2 x 15W compact fluro downlight (0.14A)
    Relay 8 Entry highlights = 4 x 50W (0.91A)

    At this stage the other bedrooms, bathrooms, etc will be standard switched 240V compact fluro downlights however I have 4 empty channels on the relay that I could utilise at a later date.
     
    Stets, Jul 19, 2007
    #4
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