My family is building a new house, we’re in Surrey UK. We’re just entering the stage where I need to be clear with the electrician what I want installed throughout.
I’m happy that I’m being sensible with pull tubes in a few places, ethernet etc but I am drawing a blank when it comes to how to make lighting and some power sockets, smart throughout the house.
I asked the electrician to install deep back boxes and wire in Shelly Zigbee throughout, but he has pointed out that on 4 gang lighting circuits, even before dimmers get involved, there is not enough space.
He is pushing toward Lutron RA3, which my spidey sense tells me will be costly and not really the Home Assistant way…
If the answer is that the hardware I really need is a year or two out, what wiring provision should I make now, aside from deeper back boxes, that I’ll be glad of in the future?
It seems that finding an electrician with Home Assistant experience is really tough (Surrey, UK) and I worry about being pushed to the generic approach and getting locked into a propriety system.
I need an alarm system. In a number of rentals have found Abode to be reliable, but clearly need something more substantial. Seems the like the decisions I have are to use Home Assistant functionality OR get an independant alarm that talks to HA. Until I retire and can spend my weekends and evenings playing, I worry the HA approach will result in too much hassle, which will see the family reject the system… Any wisdom (have read so many threads where opinion is divided).
What a challenge and opportunity to make things right or prepare for these at least.
I can’t give you specific answers, but some thought I have about the issues you mention.
Regarding the wiring, i will personally do the wiring for dum switches and after that replace by smart switches or add smart relays behind these.
I have seen many recommend Lutron, these seem to be quite good, but I haven’t used these. I use Philips hue bulbs. I removed my switches. made permanent connection in the wall back boxes and attached a Philips remote in front of it. these are easy to detach and take to the sofa or desk. Like Lutron but this requires smart bulbs too. I don’t know which of these are most expensive.
Regarding the relays, have you seen SonOff mini, these are very small but I guess you cannot fit more than 2 in a single wall back box. You can get Wi-Fi and Zigbee versions with and without neutral wire like this https://amzn.eu/d/gnMYIxG
Regarding the alarm and in general regarding adding more and more functionality to Home Assistant, I share you the approach having a separate alarm system and integrate it to Home Assistant. This is what I also do for the alarm, security cameras and light.
Please let me know if you have any question or need me to clarify or need more details on any of the above.
I don’t know whether my input is of any help but wish you luck and hope you share here how you proceed.
I would run every cable through conduits and to a centralized point. Then you have the flexibility to change cables and equipment more easily.
If you can afford it and have the space for the central installation.
I did this once in my small flat in the construction phase. I even had empty conduits running for speakers and lan cables.
You could use shellys or similar in the central switchboard.
Lots and lots of power points. They’re the only thing for which there is no alternative. Apart from that, home automation is in its infancy and it’s impossible to predict what you may need.
If you plan to use Shelly’s (or similar), they not necessarily need to be behind the switches, you can also place them near the light ( which is actually easier when using 2-4 gang); just make sure you have L and N available at the switches AND light, so you could place them either way
Useful to have neutral available at the switches, but maybe that’s standard for new installs.
I have a post here about various hardware, including the Zigbee Aqara switches and Samotech dimmers we’re using in the UK. Hope it might be useful to you, although ours was a retrofit into a new build rather than planned from the start.
I’ve seen Lutron in another house (though not with HA) and it was great, but definitely more pricey than what we have! Our blinds are functional but definitely a bit noisier than the Lutron ones, for example.
(If you’re considering smart blinds/curtains, that might be something you want to think about in terms of wiring too.)
