DIN Panel Location

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by impact, Feb 11, 2008.

  1. impact

    impact

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    Well first post, very informative site - I love visiting here and learning....

    I have a big extension about to commence, and certainly decided to go down the cbus path - being too technically minded, have already planned things out well beforehand.

    Have spoken to a couple of installers and got conflicting views, so interested in points of view here....

    Where should I locate my cabnet containing all the cbus gear

    Whats the opinion of using the space under the staircase. Pretty dust free, although not much air flow. Some concern I have heard relaes to heat and if ever a cbus unit over heated, caught fire, your just asking for trouble fueling an enclosed woden staircase well. Likely hood of happening - probably low of course... But I could always wire in a smoke detector there anyway....

    Fuse box (external) on the hidden side of the house - yep... can see going out there in the rain to do some programming....

    Laundry area - moist and humidity...

    Any other suggestions or thoughts on choosing the location to store all the stuff / hide it away / protect it from prying fingers (kids - wow look at the blinking lights).

    TIA
    Keith
     
    impact, Feb 11, 2008
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  2. impact

    PSC

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    The garage.
     
    PSC, Feb 11, 2008
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  3. impact

    NickD Moderator

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    I don't see any technical reasons you wouldn't use any of the places you mentioned, or the garage as PSC suggested.

    I probably wouldn't put it outside unless you get a board that can lock. You shouldn't need too much access for programming, unless you locate the PC interface there, but if you plan to tinker I'd make an effort to run that somewhere more convenient, like the study, or use a CNI instead and hook it into your LAN or wireless router - assuming you have one (it seems to be a pretty safe assumption these days).

    The laundry could be problematic if it gets really humid, but if that's the case I'd have thought you'd be better off solving the humidity problem with some proper ventilation anyway. I have a C-Bus switchboard in my laundry and haven't had any problems, but I vented the tumble dryer to the outside.

    The equipment should be fine under the stairs, although bear in mind that the relays do make quite an audible click when they switch, so if this noise is likely to bother you, take that into account.

    What are you planning to put in it?

    Nick
     
    NickD, Feb 11, 2008
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  4. impact

    Leigh

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    I recently installed a system in my own house. I installed two panels to reduce long cable runs between the relays/dimmers and the light fittings and to reduce the concentration of cables at one location - one was located near the front of the house in the garage, the second was located in a passage near the rear of the house. Both panels were flush mounted.

    The click from the relays in the passage panel are barely noticeable.

    I also ensured that the relays/dimmers were distributed over all three phases.
     
    Leigh, Feb 12, 2008
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  5. impact

    ICS-GS

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    If i had my time again, i would put most gear in the garage, and some powered units at or near the 'other end' as well, to overcome some of the voltage drop i am currently experiencing by putting all my gear in the garage.

    HTH

    Grant
     
    ICS-GS, Feb 12, 2008
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  6. impact

    impact

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    Good advice guys....

    So friendly here, reminds me of another forum I used for several years until the riff raff moved in and it got destroyed !

    Garage is not a real option for me - as the garage is actually detatched from the house...

    Yep, it was a safe bet to assume a network in the house... Got one of those for the last decade - and at least the last 7 years, the coaxial TV antennas in each room have never been used, with all TV viewing done via the network only... Live TV / Recorded TV / DVD's etc - all tcp/ip friendly... (Got two starservers laying around - tried them, did not like the quality, that was the first models - so I am sure its improved now)


    Dryer in the laundry will be vented outside, but what I did not know until now was about the noise of realys - so thankyou!!! That is a consideration. It makes sense though - physical item being shoved through electro magnet or whatever - so I can understand that there would be a slight noise.

    Noise is subjective though - what annoys one greatly may not annoy someone else as much.

    Luckily the laundry is right behind the staircase - both being in the epicenter of the house - so probably the logical choices of location for me.

    - What will I be putting in.... always depends on budget - mostly lighting - around 25 or so dimming lights / 8 relays for mostly external lights... I'd love a touch screen - but probably wont do it initially because of costs (just spent an additional $8K on windows today - by changing the glass from normal stuff to the black cant see thru environmental helpful comfort plus stuff). Will run the wiring for the touch screen and knock a whole in the wall later. Similarly for the IR sensors in hallways / bathrooms etc - add them later.
    And then the integrated alarm... and the rfid keypad... and... anything else high tech I can come across (oh a couple of blinds too - for the hard to reach ones...)

    Should be enough cabling to reach the moon - LOL - but it will be fun....

    (Sure to come here with some other silly ideas / questions - too newbie to actually help anyone out with their q's - but give me some time and experience....)

    Thanks again
     
    impact, Feb 13, 2008
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  7. impact

    NickD Moderator

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    The reason I asked about what you were putting in was to do with how many panels you're likely to end up using... if you end up with more than one you can move them closer to the loads and possibly end up with less cabling to your loads.

    "25 or so" dimming lights could be 25 dimmer channels or 6, depending on how you group them - personally I would recommend separating them into as many channels as possible to maximise flexibility... 12 channels or 2 or 3 loads per channel, or 8 channels of 3 or 4 loads per channel means you're looking at between 2 and 4 dimmer modules, or maybe 6 if you go to town. 8 relay channels is another module.

    The off the shelf 4FCC series switchboards will hold up to 4 of these, so you may be looking at 2 switchboards.

    The new black and white touchscreens (especially the one with the logic engine) add some real bang for your buck, and they're better and cheaper than the old one. It is easy to add later if you have gyprock walls, but if they're brick you'd want to get the wallbox in now!

    HTH,

    Nick
     
    NickD, Feb 13, 2008
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  8. impact

    impact

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    Nick

    Thanks for the comments / hints...

    I should have said 25 dimming channels or so... Each channel is at most two physical lights - with majority of them all being a single light...

    (Strange - originally I was going for the halogen / led down light everwhere throughout the house, and the current thinking is now going for the single bulb hanging effect or light fitting... with some downlight over kitchen bench and sort... but it could all change by the time it gets wired - LOL !!!)

    The relays are mostly for external lights / paths / floodlights and that sort - that dimming is not required.

    The concept of two enclosures at two different locations - yep the thought had crossed my mind... but I don't think its a real option for the way the layout of the house... the concept of placing it under the stairs kind of works best - as this is central to the house....

    I could consider one enclosure downstairs / but cant really find a decent location for the upstairs cabinet... Plus a wall of geo lights is much more exciting (geo lights for us oldies relates to the old computers where each bit in memory could be seen as a light status flasing on/off equating to that bit of information - hence they flashed all over the place as programs were running - hence the gee o whiz comments that became known as geo lights - LOL)


    Touchscreen... immediately I thought color... immediately I thought great gadget I want one... then the thought process went I want bigger 17" or something like that... and you know what - when I look at the prices and start to think about it... a B/W MkII screen is just as damn cool for doing this kind of stuff... So depending on how much I save in other areas (tiles / flooring / paint etc...) will depend on how I may actually consider it in phase 1 of my home project !!!

    Thanks again...
     
    impact, Feb 14, 2008
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  9. impact

    2SC

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    Hi JohnC,
    I thing that impact is the lost brother your were looking for :D

    He is not only writting a novel for answer everytime he posts but they are useful too.

    This forum is getting better every day.

    Keep up the good work.
     
    2SC, Feb 14, 2008
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  10. impact

    PSC

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    Sorry 2SC, that post was nowhere long enough to be JohnC's lost brother, maybe a distant relative but definitely not a lost brother! :p
     
    PSC, Feb 14, 2008
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  11. impact

    JohnC

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    True :D
     
    JohnC, Feb 15, 2008
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  12. impact

    Darpa

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    My God, that would have to be your SHORTEST post ever John :p

    Please don't tell me this is going to become the norm for you.... :(
     
    Darpa, Feb 16, 2008
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  13. impact

    JohnC

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    :rolleyes:

    He he - but what else could I say :)
     
    JohnC, Feb 21, 2008
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