Ok, 1K is going to be very hard, cable alone you will need to be purchasing from an electric supplier to get trade discount.
You need a list of every light circuit, the number of points on that circuit and if it will be switched, dim, or RGB. (Switched been least expensive, and all points on the circuit would be controlled as 1, so for example 4 GU10 spots in the roof of the kitchen)
Wall sockets, I assume you will leave alone, but if not then 13A in normal loop circuit and no automation, use Zwave or other dongles for Christmas trees etc, kettle if you wish etc). For sockets you know will be dedicated to lamps, the. Home run these the same as the roof lights but use 5A sockets (small round pin instead of the 13a BS sockets) that is to ensure you don’t plug in the vacuumed or hair dryer into a wrong point and possibly blow the triac or relay on the panel.
If your 1000 Euro is just for lighting then you can use the list you have created to count the circuits. CBUS offers 12 channel relay packs for about 450euro, and 8 channel dimmer packs for similar cost, software is free, KNX would be similar, but software for program is not free, though they do offer massive discounts about 2 times a year, (or have a KNX Guy program for you). CBus, and KNX need a bridge to connect with the automation so many choices here, common options are CGate for CBus, and for KNX TP1 network via any gateway or KNX router with IP Unicast support: Jung IPS 100/200 REG, Jung IPR 100/200 REG, Evika Logic Machine 2, 3, Reactor, Weinzierl KNX IP BAOS 770/771/772, ABB, Siemens, Gira, etc.
To help aid an illustration, my own system for lighting has a CBus network which includes the Gateway, Automation Controller, about 30 Switch Pads (2,4 and 6 button layout), 2 x 12 channel relay packs and 6 x 8 channel 1A dimmer packs and 2 x 4 channel 2A dimmer packs. All in this system is 100% self sufficient and can deal with power failures just like a normal system. All dimmer packs are trailing edge as that helps a lot with low current loads, and use many 18w Hallogen bulbs, all dimmer loads ramp from 0 to full (which is locked to 90%) over a minimum of 2 seconds which has resulted in most bulbs lasting over 7 years! And the 90% maximum has reduced the max 18w current draw of th bulb to about 14w with no visual brightness (lux) difference.
The automation controller serves mainly as a sceen store, and runs some routines like outside lights at dusk.
Homeassistant in this setup becomes just another smart controller which has the ability over MQTT to speak with the bus, report the state of every light, and trigger channels, scenes or automations. This allows me to bridge the smart lights with other environmental data for example motion or security.
Beside the lighting system I also run independent security panel with 180 sensors, in this case the now aging but still super flexible and utterly reliable ELK M1, which will run all these sensors for 48 hours on 2 x 12 gel batteries! As with the lighting system the ElK can also communicate with Home assistant in great detail.
ELK M1 with covers off and a test connection for a new Cartel sensor hanging loose
Clipsal CBus with covers off to illustrate the main panel, automation and gateway at bottom, fused channel ends at top
Then thier is the audio systems, video system and so on.
Every one of these started life in 2006 on a spreadsheet, then a plan, and finally as a maze of over 40km of cable which I personally pull every meter of, before the arduous task or termination, trace and test. But despite the blood sweat and swears this has been flawless.
My wireless quest, oh boy. Heating I implemented just 18 months ago a large 32 TRV Honeywell Evohome with 2 heat sources and 12 zones, bridged the solution to a logic platform (Domoticz with a HGI80) and ran in test for 4 months before allowing it mange the heating. It did not take long to start seeing the issues and been a closed system after much calls tweaks and fixes finally relented to the fact that it’s non mesh based wireless impemention with no support for repeaters was a bad choice and has been this summer removed and part sold during the exercise.
To replace this I am focusing on a Zwave mesh of Eurotonic Spiritz TRV with Heaty on Home assistant to deliver the same solution. Testing so far is good but the meat will be yet to be told.
Sorry this is a long story, but I wanted to share the approach that I have personally taken and how I approach these projects with customers as budget is important, but reliability is far more important, as if you have crap you will not want (or wife let you) spend more in the risk of it’s also crap.
One final point. The bus systems are called bus as they do a LOT more than just lighting, KNX can mange
Sonos, alarms, sensors and so many things. Ebay (Germany, Austria, Poland) has lots of great deals on modules if you don’t want to buy brand new, and been prosumer stuff, I can confirm that if you install it right it just works, as long as it’s not abused by a hair drier in a light dimmer channel!!
Damian
