I am an electrical engineer and I would like to setup a smart distribution panel controlling a home.
Main concerns:
To control through home assistant and tuya.
To control (and work) online and offline. (if also 4g even better)
To control locally using switches (for lights, shutters etc) which will only give the command (no power through switch - maybe rs485).
Digital & analog inputs to control the circuit and input wind speed, light intensity, temp, humidity etc.
I stumbled on KinCony but they seem very unprofessional and didnât like their attitude when I contacted them.
Now that I have read a little more in the forum, I donât know if what I want to do is considered a smart home.
I want a board to control the main distribution board of a home. So a relay board which will be controlled online and offline will turn on and off the whole line (example a light line). It will also be controlled by tooch local switches probably connected on the digital inputs.
Afterwards I want to be able to connect sensors (wond, rain, humidity, temperature etc)
For sure you donât want anything related to tuya (except if you want to have uncertified chinese crap from unknown manufacturers taking care of your distribution panel).
As an engineer you know that running the whole load of your house through relays 24/7 is quite different case from switching some led lamps.
Whatever you choose, make sure the relays are genuine, made by some known manufacturer (like Omron, Finder etc) and certified in your country. For the âsmartâ control part you can be more light-hearted.
I wouldnât run the loads from the pcbâs relays but I would use them to run the A1A2 of external relays which then they would power the whole line (mostly lights).
Also would run shutters / rollers and MAYBE some receptacles.
When I say âtuyaâ you are right about what you say and I would like to be able to control through mobile phone/tablet no matter what app. What do you normally use?
Itâs hard to beat Shelly, they are amazing compared to some tuya/sonoff etc.
Totally functional in local network, but offers very good cloud as well.
European company, certified products.
I have two lines for lightâs in my house, many people have one.
My crystal ball is in dishwasher so I donât see how many you have.
There is also new Shelly X -line, I have not tried yet, but could be worth to look at.
I live in southern Europe and here the standard is one line per apartment, maybe two for a big house.
Did you have a look at that Shelly X, if I remember well, it has 7 outputs.
Here in Greece we also have 1 MAIN line per house and after the distribution box you break the lines. Normally we have 1 line per 3 or 4 outlets (receptacles) and 1 for lights per room or 2 rooms.
For North America, a SPAN load center would do everything you want. Itâs also UL listed, uses standard Square D HomeLine breakers, and designed to meet latest building codes. However, it can be very expensive, especially compared to a DIN rail full of Tuya relays. Home
In Italy, one line for lights, few for outlets and separate lines for heating /ac/ kitchen etc. For two floors, maybe separate set for every floor.
Why? Five separate lines costs less than 50. Also 30x30cm breaker panel is disturbing less interior designâŚ
Indeed. Also as you said we have seperate line for oven/cooking range (4mm² normally). Water boiler (10mm²), SOMETIMES seperate for A/C.
So now that we know what we are talking about, my idea was to start seperate lines for EVERYTHING on a new built house. Yes, it would cost more. Yes, the distribution panel will be way bigger (probably twice or more the size of the supposed one). BUT on a newbuilt house, the difference on cost woll be a drop in the ocean and this way you can do whatever you like on each line. Either turning on/off a specofic receptacle of main living room light erc. You get the point.
Ofcourse it is not forbidden by our GR or EU rules, on the contrary it is way better and safer to have each line on itâs dedicated breaker, also way easier to troubleshoot.
I would also like to thanks all of you and Stevemann for the help and guidelines provided!
This might sound weird, but Iâm not using home assistant. I have fully automated system with many Esphome devices communicating between each other and with Shellys, BLE-devices etc. Shelly has local web server so you can communicate with it through HTTP requests for example.
