How to Solve it: Motion and Presence Detection in a Bypass Situation
By Jan Magnus, EIBKon BVBA. The Problem Imagine a private home in which lights are switched on using motion detection, but they should be kept on for cleaning purposes. Working in parallel on the binary output of the motion detector using the same group address works, but it fails when somebody walks through the detection […]
Shake my KNX – a new experience in the world of building control
By Gwenaël Leroutier, Hager. KNX is often hailed as being the most versatile building control standard in the world, and indeed the reach of KNX often extends beyond buildings into other applications. We wanted to show the true strengths of the standard through a competition based on ‘hackathons’ – events in which programmers meet to […]
How to Solve it: Synchronising the Status-LED of Wall Switches and Lighting Channels
By Héctor Colado, Amaisys Training. The Problem In an automated facility, it is very common to have wall switches with an integrated status-LED for every button. The status-LED is often used to show the current status of an associated light channel, or, more commonly, to show the inverted status of the light channel, in order […]
Going Green: Green Buildings, Energy Efficiency and Legislation
By Jesús Arias García, KNXin. Nikola Tesla, one of the most prolific engineers of our time and father of alternating current, was a fan of renewable energy. His new and state-of-the-art technology spawned the modern city, and was responsible for one of civilization’s milestones: the first-ever hydraulic power plant. Powered by the Niagara Falls, this […]
Trade Talk: Shade Control – the most underspecified aspect of the KNX smart home
By Sophie Thomas, Ivory Egg. The nights are beginning to draw in again, and the clocks will soon be changing. Rather than feeling down, we can focus on the positives: KNX installations around the world will be effortlessly switching external lights on automatically at dusk, just that bit earlier, and the heating will begin to […]
Best Practice: The Changing Use of the User Interface
By Simon Buddle, Future Ready Homes. Many moons have passed overhead since I programmed my first user interface. Full of joy that I had managed to program a button to turn on the lights, a small LED to the button’s right informed me that I had been successful. That night, I told my girlfriend of […]
Interview: Tim Robbins, My KNX Store – The Advantages of Becoming KNX-Certified
KNX is becoming more widely used in homes and businesses across the world, but in some countries, such as the UK, KNX is still relatively unknown. In order to better understand the advantages of being involved with the technology, we asked certified KNX trainer, Tim Robbins of My KNX Store, about what being KNX certified […]
Dr KNX: The Impact of ETS5
By Dr KNX. Dear KNXer, Let’s start with the basics. ETS stands for Engineering Tool Software; a Windows-based manufacturer-independent configuration software tool to design and configure intelligent home and building control installations with the KNX system. ETS5 is the latest edition and is available in two versions, namely ETS5 Lite and ETS5 Professional. ETS5 Lite […]
Case Study: Providing a KNX Infrastructure within a Listed Building – Part 1
By Ben Lewis, KNX Consultants. As a specialist in control and automation, and member of KNX UK Association, KNX is what we do, so visitors would expect to see it in our ‘home’. We recently moved our headquarters to Staunton near Gloucester, UK, and decided to take the opportunity to install KNX in the building. […]
How to Solve it: Proper Local Settings of a USB Interface for Programming Devices
By Julio Díaz, Sapienx Automation. The Problem A common task for many integrators is programming the KNX devices in a project with multiple lines connected via KNX TP couplers. Sometimes we do not adequately understand the importance of a correct configuration of the KNX USB interface (local) address. When this happens, the integrator will be […]