i’m growing out my smart stuff as part of rebuilding my home. one topic i still need to address is how and where to power all of the different (mainly DC) devices, such as LED strip lights, doorbells, blinds, etc. i’m thinking of something like the breaker panel we use for AC power. a dedicated 120V/20A circuit which feeds all of the DC requirements in one central location (“panel”). the DC wiring is then fed from this central panel to the devices. the DC central panel would contain the transformers, bus bars, and safety features like grounding and fuse blocks.
i don’t see a lot of info on this approach online. i’ve seen a couple posts that discuss integrations with wifi, or DIN, or a single large amp fuse, or using a computer power supply as a transformer, but nothing that really goes into the pros/cons of different approaches.
i currently have 24V, 18V, 12V, and 5V DC components. i’m envisioning using separate transformers for each, fed from the mains AC circuit. from this each device would have a 1A fuse, or whatever rating is required, to protect myself from myself, and make it easy to disable a single device for testing, etc. i’m thinking to put this DC central panel in a different location than my AC panel, otherwise there will simply be too many wires going to/from one location, and not having equipment in an unheated/cooled garage is probably a good idea. i’ll probably co-locate it near my ethernet central server rack and devices for convenience.
if there is anyone who wants to comment on this topic, or can point me to info sources i’m missing, i’d appreciate it. thanks,
-SM-