Renovations and C-Bus behaviour

Hi,

I've hired a contractor to renovate the guest bathroom and W/C, both of which have C-Bus lighting and a shared ventilation fan in the ceiling. He asked me if I could remove the lighting control for these circuits from the C-Bus network. He's concerned about sending the C-Bus network into a tailspin. The lighting circuits in both rooms are connected to C-Bus via DINAUX4s, which also control the shared ceiling ventilation fan.

I have tried to connect to the network (see link below) without luck so can't isolate the control for either the lighting or fans. Is this a real concern? Can't I simply turn the dimmer control off at the Dimmer units? Additionally, to protect the system, I could simply request that the electrician isolate the input wires going to the DINAUX4s so the control is not turned on/off accidentally during the renovation.

(Ref: http://www.cbusforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=58358&postcount=13)

Cheers

PB

 

Hi PB,

Can you get to the Aux unit? If so from memory the C-bus terminals are on a block that can be lifted off the pins, so if you were concerned you could just lift the terminals off and physically isolate that unit from the C-Bus network and effectively un-powering it.

 

The DINAUX4 has isolated inputs so there is nothing you can do with the inputs to upset the cbus network other than regularly triggering group address changes which is highly unlikely.

More of a concern is the fact that the dimmers have 240V on the outputs even with the channel turned off, so if someone is mucking around near the wiring you definitely want to isolate the output channels. You can either power off the dimmer if you don't need any other channels, or better yet disconnect the load outputs.

 

As you are renovating, this might be a chance to have your CBUS updated and some ideas of design in the CBUS revised. Might be an idea to drop in a Network module and step away from the Direct serial connections.

I find CBUS amazing in its ability to mix with the lastest modules.

 

Yes, I can access these Aux units easily. I'll have a look tonight. That seems the easiest to remove the concern of the contractor. He's hiring an electrician that doesn't have C-Bus training. I'm relatively confident in my knowledge of C-Bus to make sure control and power isolation is complete.

Thanks again.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I agree, that was my plan but unfortunately timing hasn't been on my side. I was having difficulty connecting via my new Windows 10 computer using what I soon found out was a dodgy USB/RS-232 cable. See http://www.cbusforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=58358&postcount=13 for the sad details. I'm awaiting delivery of the recommended cable. 'Damn school holidays '

 

There seem to be a number of CNI (ethernet) boxes on auction sites.