Norm 69 lamp from Normann Copenhagen

December 25, 2018Design, Devices, Interior 4 Comments

It is a Christmas time so why not talk about some of the nice gifts. Today I have special one to talk about, it is very nice pendant classics, a design icon that never gets old. The Norm 69 from Normann Copenhagen is a sculptural pendant light that consists of 69 parts. It can be … Read More

24V DMX Dimmers

December 4, 2018Devices 11 Comments

Some of you might already noticed that Loxone silently discontinued few  products and one of the areas impacted are DMX products. Just a simple query to their web-shop reveals that there are no 24V DMX Dimmers any longer. The focus has moved towards Tree and Air products, leaving open standards aside. Same happened to EnOcean … Read More

Controlling Velux windows

October 20, 2018Devices, Interior, Solutions 31 Comments

No KUX, just Loxone Integration of Velux roof components into home automation systems has been often criticized in many smart home forums [1,2,3]. The usage of proprietary protocol is making this “black box” difficult to integrate and to interact with any other solutions. The overall architecture is a bit weird, utilizing a control unit KUX 100 … Read More

DMX dashboard

September 8, 2018Configuration, Devices, DIY, Ideas, Solutions 2 Comments

What I missed since the very beginning was some kind of an overview of the basic status of the house. I know, tablet, I do have one wall mounted in the living room as well, but by dashboard I mean something simpler, giving me the exact info about the things I need to know before … Read More

Outdoor power outlet

September 5, 2018Devices, Garden No Comments

Let’s start today with a more lightweight topic here. I have been searching for some nice garden power outlets, that can be placed permanently outside the house,  regardless of the weather conditions. Typical usage would be anything from electric lawn mower to birthday garden party 🙂 I do not need any extra functions there, like movement … Read More

Motorized door locks

November 20, 2017Devices, Solutions No Comments

Multi-point motorized door locks If you have read my article about finger print scanner integration this is the right follow-up for you. To enjoy the full experience of the keyless access system, motorized lock is what allows you to enter your home when you’re authorized and secures your door after closure.  I have found two different approaches providing similar … Read More

Finger scanner integration

September 3, 2017Devices, Sensors, Solutions 3 Comments

I am sure you know the situation when you lock yourself out while your keys were left inside. Or when your kids told you they lost the keys. With bio-metric door access you don’t have to worry about this. This is definitely my family favorite feature. Accessing your home using your finger as a key For key-less … Read More

Terminal blocks

February 4, 2017Devices, Wiring No Comments

Once you have all the wiring done properly following the star typology, you might notice that the amount of cables terminating in the cabinet is enormous. I do have around 60 UTP/STP cables for the whole house there just for Loxone purposes (not talking about network cables that are heading into different rack. To keep … Read More

Push-buttons with LED illumination

December 28, 2016Devices, Ideas, Interior 2 Comments

I mentioned in other posts as well, that switches we have selected for our house were Schneider/Unica. We had quite good experience with these in our previous apartment where we have renovated the electricity from scratch. The only component to avoid are the electronic dimmers, which are prone to failure after a couple of months … Read More

Loxone and UPS

November 23, 2016Devices, Solutions 15 Comments

One of the typical questions that people ask me when talking about the smarthome installation is “What happens in case of power outage?”, trying to target some weak spots of the solution. Well, usually the simplest answer is that in the event of power loss all happens the same as with any conventional “dumb” home … Read More