"Leaving, extinguish everything." The principle of building a partially disconnected apartment grid is one of the stages of preparation for the creation of a “smart home”
Increasingly, I come across articles from “builders of smart houses” who, in an already finished house or apartment, create some kind of automation, as a rule, relating only to lighting. At the same time, since the repair has already been done for a long time, various workarounds with excessive complexity are used - wireless technologies with a bunch of transceivers, perversions on the use of free veins of laid low-voltage wiring and similar crutches. And on the mezzanine, behind the cabinets and under the sofas, bundles of boards and wires are formed, or, at best, separate junction boxes.
In my opinion, all this is not serious, not thorough, not reliable, too complicated and not durable. In a word - layout. The right smart home, in my opinion, needs to be created from scratch, from the project, and even at the construction or capital repairs phase, to lay all the necessary communications and executive mechanisms.
In this article, I will describe one of the aspects of the “foundation” of a smart home - the wiring variant of power wiring, which I implemented in my apartment during the overhaul. The ultimate goal I didn’t set myself to create a full-fledged smart home, for me it was important to solve a single task - when leaving the house, centrally turn off all the lighting, all unnecessary electrical consumers and cut off the input of hot and cold water. In my case, this is done by manually pressing a special key, but control can be easily integrated into the automation of a full-fledged smart home.
')
I do not consider myself to be paranoid, who, leaving the house, turn off all electrical appliances without fail, remove all plugs from the sockets, unscrew the light bulbs and do that kind of nonsense. However, if there is no one left in the apartment, it is still necessary to check all sorts of irons, soldering irons, ovens before leaving, and it will not be superfluous to extinguish the light everywhere. And at the same time it would be nice to check whether the water is closed everywhere.
But to do it every time and laziness, and you can forget, especially if you are in a hurry or your head is busy with something. It would be desirable, that it became at least centrally and quickly, one movement, as maximum - automatically. Next, I will describe how I solved the problem minimum.
The main idea - the entire power grid is divided into two subnets. One of the subnets operates continuously, the other can be centrally de-energized with one contactor. When designing the power grid, it is necessary to divide all possible consumers in the house into two groups. The first group is all the lighting and consumers who should be turned off if there is no one at home. The second group is consumers who must work in the absence of owners.
Then it is necessary to plan the location of the power points of all electrical consumers, and design the laying of the electrical network so that the power supply of the devices of the first and second groups is not interconnected until the main electrical panel.
Of course, it is difficult to take into account everything in the project at once. And over time, the conditions of use of household appliances may vary. Therefore, I made a certain compromise - I located power points (sockets or terminal boxes) in the most probable places for connecting devices so that each room had at least two sockets for devices of a smaller second group (continuously fed) spaced along different walls. I do not welcome the use of tees and extension cords in a continuous mode, so I still broke my brain over what and where I might need to connect, so that at least the first time I did not have to branch the power supply outside. But if in the future it will still be necessary, first of all I will think about how to install an extra outlet, and not stick a tee.
Those outlets that are connected to the second subnet (continuous power) must be marked or selected in some other way so as not to be confused with the first subnet. When using sockets, you need to keep track of which subnet the consumer is connected to. There should be no special inconvenience with this - outlets of the subnetwork of continuous power can be located in less accessible places directly next to the intended consumers and in much smaller quantities. And sockets of a disconnected subnet are in convenient, easily accessible places.
At the moment, I have not yet figured out how to simply and reliably implement automatic disconnection of the first subnet when all people leave the apartment. Now the control is carried out manually by a key specially output to the entrance door. At first I was afraid that there would be problems forgetting to do it. But no, everyone’s keystroke became a habit very quickly. However, the idea to automate this process has not yet left. But how to determine that there are no people in the apartment - I don't know yet. In addition to motion sensors, nothing comes to mind, but I don’t really trust them. I would be glad if I see any thoughts on this in the comments.
As always, unforeseen complications arise in seemingly simple systems. In my household, two powerful electrical appliances were discovered that created a certain problem. This electric oven and microwave. On the one hand, these devices should not work in the absence of people and they must be de-energized. On the other hand, they have a built-in clock, which requires uninterrupted power supply. It would be possible to solve the problem by buying a watch with LCD on batteries in the kitchen. But the clock dropped on the oven is annoyingly and continuously flashing with zeros, and besides, until the clock is set, the oven refuses to work at all - it doesn’t even turn itself on. Setting the clock every time you get home is somehow not smiling.
The solution to this contradiction came in the form of the organization of the third subnet, which does not turn off completely, but is transferred to a more low-current circuit breaker. This subnet in the dashboard is protected by two automata, connected in series - powerful and low-current. In my case, this is 16A and 1A. In the active mode, when all subnets are turned on, the automaton on 1A is not used (short-circuited with the help of a contactor) and this third subnet is protected only by the automaton on 16A. In sleep mode, when the first subnet is turned off, the 1A machine turns on, which becomes the weakest link of the third subnet and allows the clock to work in powerful devices, but turns off immediately if these powerful consumers haven't turned off by forgetfulness, or lack of people.
Another unpleasant moment was the constantly buzzing main contactor in the switchboard in the hallway, which disables the first subnet. But, to my surprise, a special silent contactor was found in the Legrand's catalog, which I finally installed, the hum disappeared.
Not being paranoid in the field of electrical safety, I am wary of possible leakage of water supply when there is no one at home (well, everyone has his own cockroaches). But shut off the valves on the risers every time - again too lazy. Therefore, even before the repair, I decided to install a leak protection system with motorized ball valves. Such a system was installed, but still does not cause complete confidence, although I test it periodically and as long as everything is working properly.
And I decided to connect the control of motorized electric cranes to the control of disconnecting the first subnet, so that when leaving the house, the water supply system automatically overlaps. At the same time without disturbing the normal operation of the leakage protection system. Another small difficulty arose here - I wanted the cranes to also be powered from the first subnet and de-energized after closing, but it takes some time to close them (about 10 seconds), so the first subnet cannot be de-energized immediately by pressing a key or by submitting the corresponding commands from automation. I had to install a time delay relay. Now, after pressing the key to disable the first subnet, the taps are first closed, and then, after 10 seconds, the power is removed from the subnet.
This time relay introduced an additional feature to the control logic - the ability to cancel the shutdown for 10 seconds :) That is, if you accidentally pressed a button, or suddenly changed your mind about leaving the house, you can return the button to its original position, the subnet will not turn off, and the taps again will open up. Conveniently, more than once already resorted to this opportunity.
This entire system of a partially disconnected power network has been working properly for four years, confirming its reliability and fully justifying the costs of its implementation by usability.
I wanted to draw a diagram for clarity, but I decided that the components I used were rather individual, so the scheme would be too specific and of little use to more readers. The main thing is the general principle of building the grid. And the options can be many.
In my opinion, all this is not serious, not thorough, not reliable, too complicated and not durable. In a word - layout. The right smart home, in my opinion, needs to be created from scratch, from the project, and even at the construction or capital repairs phase, to lay all the necessary communications and executive mechanisms.
In this article, I will describe one of the aspects of the “foundation” of a smart home - the wiring variant of power wiring, which I implemented in my apartment during the overhaul. The ultimate goal I didn’t set myself to create a full-fledged smart home, for me it was important to solve a single task - when leaving the house, centrally turn off all the lighting, all unnecessary electrical consumers and cut off the input of hot and cold water. In my case, this is done by manually pressing a special key, but control can be easily integrated into the automation of a full-fledged smart home.
')
I do not consider myself to be paranoid, who, leaving the house, turn off all electrical appliances without fail, remove all plugs from the sockets, unscrew the light bulbs and do that kind of nonsense. However, if there is no one left in the apartment, it is still necessary to check all sorts of irons, soldering irons, ovens before leaving, and it will not be superfluous to extinguish the light everywhere. And at the same time it would be nice to check whether the water is closed everywhere.
But to do it every time and laziness, and you can forget, especially if you are in a hurry or your head is busy with something. It would be desirable, that it became at least centrally and quickly, one movement, as maximum - automatically. Next, I will describe how I solved the problem minimum.
Idea
The main idea - the entire power grid is divided into two subnets. One of the subnets operates continuously, the other can be centrally de-energized with one contactor. When designing the power grid, it is necessary to divide all possible consumers in the house into two groups. The first group is all the lighting and consumers who should be turned off if there is no one at home. The second group is consumers who must work in the absence of owners.
Then it is necessary to plan the location of the power points of all electrical consumers, and design the laying of the electrical network so that the power supply of the devices of the first and second groups is not interconnected until the main electrical panel.
Of course, it is difficult to take into account everything in the project at once. And over time, the conditions of use of household appliances may vary. Therefore, I made a certain compromise - I located power points (sockets or terminal boxes) in the most probable places for connecting devices so that each room had at least two sockets for devices of a smaller second group (continuously fed) spaced along different walls. I do not welcome the use of tees and extension cords in a continuous mode, so I still broke my brain over what and where I might need to connect, so that at least the first time I did not have to branch the power supply outside. But if in the future it will still be necessary, first of all I will think about how to install an extra outlet, and not stick a tee.
Those outlets that are connected to the second subnet (continuous power) must be marked or selected in some other way so as not to be confused with the first subnet. When using sockets, you need to keep track of which subnet the consumer is connected to. There should be no special inconvenience with this - outlets of the subnetwork of continuous power can be located in less accessible places directly next to the intended consumers and in much smaller quantities. And sockets of a disconnected subnet are in convenient, easily accessible places.
At the moment, I have not yet figured out how to simply and reliably implement automatic disconnection of the first subnet when all people leave the apartment. Now the control is carried out manually by a key specially output to the entrance door. At first I was afraid that there would be problems forgetting to do it. But no, everyone’s keystroke became a habit very quickly. However, the idea to automate this process has not yet left. But how to determine that there are no people in the apartment - I don't know yet. In addition to motion sensors, nothing comes to mind, but I don’t really trust them. I would be glad if I see any thoughts on this in the comments.
Underwater rocks
As always, unforeseen complications arise in seemingly simple systems. In my household, two powerful electrical appliances were discovered that created a certain problem. This electric oven and microwave. On the one hand, these devices should not work in the absence of people and they must be de-energized. On the other hand, they have a built-in clock, which requires uninterrupted power supply. It would be possible to solve the problem by buying a watch with LCD on batteries in the kitchen. But the clock dropped on the oven is annoyingly and continuously flashing with zeros, and besides, until the clock is set, the oven refuses to work at all - it doesn’t even turn itself on. Setting the clock every time you get home is somehow not smiling.
The solution to this contradiction came in the form of the organization of the third subnet, which does not turn off completely, but is transferred to a more low-current circuit breaker. This subnet in the dashboard is protected by two automata, connected in series - powerful and low-current. In my case, this is 16A and 1A. In the active mode, when all subnets are turned on, the automaton on 1A is not used (short-circuited with the help of a contactor) and this third subnet is protected only by the automaton on 16A. In sleep mode, when the first subnet is turned off, the 1A machine turns on, which becomes the weakest link of the third subnet and allows the clock to work in powerful devices, but turns off immediately if these powerful consumers haven't turned off by forgetfulness, or lack of people.
Another unpleasant moment was the constantly buzzing main contactor in the switchboard in the hallway, which disables the first subnet. But, to my surprise, a special silent contactor was found in the Legrand's catalog, which I finally installed, the hum disappeared.
Additional functions
Not being paranoid in the field of electrical safety, I am wary of possible leakage of water supply when there is no one at home (well, everyone has his own cockroaches). But shut off the valves on the risers every time - again too lazy. Therefore, even before the repair, I decided to install a leak protection system with motorized ball valves. Such a system was installed, but still does not cause complete confidence, although I test it periodically and as long as everything is working properly.
And I decided to connect the control of motorized electric cranes to the control of disconnecting the first subnet, so that when leaving the house, the water supply system automatically overlaps. At the same time without disturbing the normal operation of the leakage protection system. Another small difficulty arose here - I wanted the cranes to also be powered from the first subnet and de-energized after closing, but it takes some time to close them (about 10 seconds), so the first subnet cannot be de-energized immediately by pressing a key or by submitting the corresponding commands from automation. I had to install a time delay relay. Now, after pressing the key to disable the first subnet, the taps are first closed, and then, after 10 seconds, the power is removed from the subnet.
This time relay introduced an additional feature to the control logic - the ability to cancel the shutdown for 10 seconds :) That is, if you accidentally pressed a button, or suddenly changed your mind about leaving the house, you can return the button to its original position, the subnet will not turn off, and the taps again will open up. Conveniently, more than once already resorted to this opportunity.
This entire system of a partially disconnected power network has been working properly for four years, confirming its reliability and fully justifying the costs of its implementation by usability.
I wanted to draw a diagram for clarity, but I decided that the components I used were rather individual, so the scheme would be too specific and of little use to more readers. The main thing is the general principle of building the grid. And the options can be many.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/160483/
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