For 15 years I have used a BioMatx home automation system, made up of five modules of 10 contacts controlling the lighting. The light points are directly powered from the main panel. A loop bus receives commands from the switches that activate the light points. Some outlets are also switch activated.
I am on three-phase, three days ago phase 1 no longer responded and after restoration by the supplier I noticed that all the BioMatx modules were out of service.
As these modules are no longer technically followed, I would like to move to another home automation system. You need a system that both uses existing switches via the bus and can also go back to HomeKit and Home Assistant which I also use. According to the electrician, there is the possibility of having 12 V at the switches via the bus.
Either Wifi and/or ZigBee at the panel level (simpler), or small Wifi/Zigbee modules to add to the switches and actuated by them. Do you have experience and informed advice on this matter?
Thank you.
I swear by Shelly. But a prerequisite is a stable WiFi network and (if you add a lot of devices) a strong router. After numerous devices (and sometimes people run out of IP Addresses - and have performance issues with the cheaper all-in one routers). So if you have maybe hundreds of devices you would want a dedicated wired router and then strategically placed wireless access points. When you get fancy - an all in one router eventually will start struggling under the pressure -
Just so you know, I have a custom integration for the biomatx I never cared to publish it, thinking I was probably the only one with both the biomatx stuff and home assistant. It’s working well nowadays. I’m not sure the reason you’re looking for a new domotic, but if it’s just to integrate with home assistant, no need to. Tell me if you’re interested.
I have a similar system at home, made of 5 Biomatx modules. It doesn’t use the bus for switches, but the independent channels connectors (bottom left side of the panel modules). I’m building an extension to the house with new circuits, so I’m considering using the same or a similar architecture.
As far as replacement systems go, not that many systems offer the ability to use low-power DC push buttons. The affordable options I’ve considered are :
Domestia (BE)
They have an interesting range of products, including DMC-012-003 (12x10A bipolar switches) and DMC-008-001 (8x16A unipolar switches).
You can interconnect these, one of them will act as “master” for up to 48 outputs, and they provide WiFi connectivity.
The master runs a bus for buttons. You will need to replace the address boards in the wall box behind the switch. The buttons all get an address and you can (and must) program in the modules which buttons triggers which output (with Biomatx it was all hard-set in the address board, Domestia makes reprogramming easier).
It’s possible to interface this to HomeKit using Homebridge, and the in turn integrate that into Home Assistant using the HomeKit Device integration.
Or you can add their DME-LAN-002 central network module (which seems to mostly provide ethernet instead of WiFi, support for more outputs, and more automation and scenario features including an integrated clock).
GCE Electronics (FR)
They have their IPX800 v5 (central server device with 8x10A unipolar switches) and their X-8R Connect module (8x16A unipolar switches). On top of that you’d need a DC power supply, possibly their own X-PSU20 module or something else.
Main issue regarding you situation : these modules have separate inputs for each channel. Therefore you’ll need dedicated independent wiring to each button. Might no be possible if your current installation is already setup as a bus with a limited number of wire runs.
Shelly (BG)
Their DIN-rail mounted modules currently do not offer the possibility to use DC for the push button circuit while using 230V AC for the output (load circuit). Some schematics indicate that, but they rely on previous versions of the products, and if you read the fine prints on current publications they state that this feature has been removed. I would not hope for its comeback, Shelly’s products line include wireless buttons anyway so they likely don’t care.
Even then, the older products would not have managed a wired bus for your push buttons. You’d have had to use separated wire runs for each button. With the current DIN rail-mounted products, you’d have to integrate buttons wirelessly or through Home Assistant (Shelly sells switches/buttons, I think they use Wifi or Bluetooth, possibly Zigbee).
Freedompro (IT)
Their DIN rail-mounted modules currently do not offer the possibility to use DC for the push button circuit while using 230V AC for the output (load circuit). Freedompro says a dry contact DIN rail-mounted device able to use DC for its own power and buttons while triggering a 230V AC circuit, will be available in the future. I hope they realize how useful that would be to owners of installations with existing thin-section wire runs to push buttons than can therefore only run low-voltage (I’m on my third home wired precisely like that, that’s all I have used since 1991).
The products do not manage a wired bus for your push buttons. If said device above comes to the market, you’ll still have to use independent wires for each push buttons, so same issue as with GCE electronics.
Biomatx (BE)
Then there’s the option of purchasing new Biomatx modules. They are still available from a couple of distributors in Belgium, price is about 350 EUR including taxes, which is not overly expensive.
From these products, if you want to move away from Biomatx and have an easier time with Home Assistant integration, I would think the Domestia DMC-012-003 would be your best option, the closest to a drop-in replacement for Biomatx (they are longer and include 12 channels instead of 10, so you might have some physical rewiring to do in your electricity panel, this might be a real issue if it’s tight). Integration with HA seems possible and easier than with the old BiomatX system, but is not “out of the box” like it would be with Shelly or Freedompro.
But… You’ve most likely found a solution by now, so I’m really curious to know what you ended up using, that might be an option for my extension project.
Now, as far as integrating BiomatX with Home Assistant goes, here’s some preliminary information from the Biomatx side of things that I’ve found out so far, while reading the docs, browsing around and experimenting :
Even if not using the “Anabus” for the switch, the modules can be interconnected using the rj45 connectors (it uses RS485, NOT Ethernet). In which case you need to make sure all modules are set with a different address (otherwise, two modules using the same address will act as mirror of one another, anything triggered on one (either using the dedicated input, the Anabus input, or the local switch on the module itself) is triggered on the other).
The address of the modules and of the boards on the Anabus have to match one another. The information received from the Anabus is most likely just passed to all modules on the RS485 bus. Same thing when using the individual inputs, as proven by the “mirror” feature above.This gives me strong confidence in the fact that you can hybrid you setup. What I mean by that is that one should be able to use the Anabus AND dedicated inputs at the same time. Basically :
a press of the local button Y on module X,
is the same as a press of a button connected to input Y on module X,
and is the same as a press on a button connected on the Anabus using a board set with address XY.
If an Home Assistant integration (or any other piece of code for that matter) can send the same message on the RS485 bus, it does not matter if you’re using the Anabus or dedicated inputs to connect your push buttons to your Biomatx modules.
About that, the Biomatx doc refers to modules 1 to 8 and channels 1 to 10 on each module. Damien’s integration, based on the 2 bytes data on the bus, uses the actual technical values (0 to 7 and 0 to 9). Something to keep in mind while refining your configuration.
About Shelly specifically, from their publication :
Shelly Pro 1 v.1 is a modification of Shelly Pro 1(SPSW-001XE16EU)
Shelly Pro 1 is now obsolete and out of sale.
Main changes:
**** Power supply: no more 12 VDC option.***
**** Relay: no more DC switching***
**** Connectors: 3-terminal connectors are replaced by 2-terminal ones.***