RE: Re: Din Rail Modules...

["Graham Howe" <graham@xxxxxxx>]

> Adding DIN rail modules will not help you, unless you also rewire
> (some or all of) your house into a star topology rather than a ring
> topology.
>

There is another alternative, using those x10 enabled sockets. The
problem is they take up 2 gang space for a single socket, but they would
allow x10 control without a rewire and without plug in modules.
(http://www.letsautomate.com/10530.cfm?)

> In one house I worked on, we ended up putting in 192 individual mains
> cable runs back to a "patch panel" under the client's
stairs. Some of
> these runs went to ceiling outlets, some to wall outlets, others to
> wall switches.
>
> This is NOT a trivial task. In this particular case it was a 17th
> Century cottage that had been flooded, and everything was coming out
> for major structural repairs. This made it somewhat easier to
> justify, since the internal walls were having to be substantially
> rebuilt, and all the floors relaid anyway.
>

I am 3/4 way through complete lighting rewire of my 17th Century house,
doing one room at a time and it is a nightmare. How I miss cavity walls
:-(

> In my own house, I've stuck with plug-in modules, and the retrofit LW
> style light-switches. If I upgrade, it's unlikely to be to X-10
> modules, but to a higher-end system such as C-Bus or Polaron.
>
> You may find that it's possible, however, to mount individual DIN
> rails in enclosures in a loft space, rather than wiring everything
> back centrally. This will give you some of the advantages of the DIN
> rail approach in a "one step at a time" fashion. I'm sure
I've seen
> an article about this on www.automatedhome.co.uk, but for the life of
> my can't find it this evening :-(
>

I have two big enclosures that 2/3 of the runs go back to, however I am
hiding a smaller enclosure in a cupboard downstairs to run another 20
odd wires to. In fact if there is the possibility of using this
'distributed star' layout, it can make installation much easier.

Graham