Home Automation - Wired or Wireless ?
So you're thinking about automating your home. Now the question becomes which is the best approach to connecting all of the new devices and balancing cost, complexity, security and access ?
The good news is there are all kinds of technologies and products out in the market at all sorts of price points. The bad news is there are all kinds of technologies and products out in the market at all sorts of price points.
So how do you choose the right solution ?
So first let's face some reality. Most homes are poorly wired. If your home was built prior to 1990 it has some CAT-3 UTP for phone, maybe a hardwired security system and barely has coax for cable tv. In many cases the Coax used a daisy-chain topology where the coax outlets are stringed together with "taps" versus a hub-spoke topology where each room had an individual run back to a central indoor or outdoor box.
While that improved in the 1990's, it wasn't until the 2000's that homes started to be built with CAT-5 UTP cabling that could support Ethernet. And even then it often was not in every room or poorly located.
For years the only real approach to automation was wired. Starting with X10, then Universal Powerline Bus (UPB) along with proprietary procotols like Cresnet and also good old fashioned serial connections like RS-232 and RS-422.
These solutions worked well - but required not only wiring from the centralized closet where the "controller" was located, but also custom programming for the controllers. Many of the best known systems (Crestron, AMX, Control4, etc) could only be installed by Pros and installation could easily run into the thousands of dollars.
I have designed, built, repaired and replaced wire based home infrastructure and automation systems. I can remember developing wiring plans that included Coax for TV, Cat-5/6 for Ethernet Networks, Cat-5 for Telephone, Cat-5 for Serial, 2/4 Wire Security & Smoke detection, 4 Wire speaker cables, 2 wire audio/RCA patches and even HDMI all in the same home. While it can all look very cool and professional when it's done correctly, it can also be very expensive to do and it's somewhat inflexible.
Want to add a new location ? Well ok - determine the location, length and type of cable, open the wall, fish the wire back to your fancy new wiring closet and make sure you have enough spare capacity to properly terminate the run.
In recent years wireless devices and controllers started to appear. Wireless technologies, like WiFi, Insteon, Zigbee and Zwave made it possible to create a wireless network of devices like switches, dimmers, thermostats, fan controls, etc to be easily added to your home. Today you can also easily distribute audio and video content over wireless, even to in-wall speaker systems. Typically as long as you have power, you can locate a device.
But similar to the challenges that exist with setting up wired solutions in the home, you have to do some real planning and in many cases trial and error to understand where to best place controllers, access points, etc to get it all to work correctly.
Also some of these wireless solutions use the same RF spectrum, potentially causing conflicts and drop outs. And until recently performance was always better over wired than wireless. Security is also better with wired since in most cases it's a closed system, that is not typically targeted by hackers.
Finally there is cost. When you factor in the cost of the various wire types needed to cover your use cases, plus termination at both ends and patch cords and labor, wired is almost always more expensive than wireless.
RF chipsets have gotten extremely inexpensive in the last few years and are small enough and low power enough that vendors can place them in practically anything. And while wireless light switches, thermostats, etc are typically more expensive than their wired counterparts - the difference is easily consumed by the wired infrastructure itself.
With that said, wired systems typically react faster are more reliable and secure. With WiFi based solutions, you need to make sure your Wifi access points and routers can handle the additional load. Between TVs, Audio & Video Streaming devices, Smartphones, Tablets, Laptops, Printers, etc - you can easily have 20 - 30 connections. Now add, Pool and Irrigation Systems, Home Appliances like Refrigerators, Washing Machines, Thermostats, etc and your load jumps again.
And as anyone who has tried knows that getting consistent high performance WiFi coverage across an entire home can be challenging. And while the good news is we are beginning to see better and better WiFi distribution technologies like WDS and WMN these are relatively new to the market. Just a few years ago the best way to build a whole home WiFI network was to purchase access points that had wired connections back to your router. And typically those were commercial solutions, not residential and so dramatically more expensive.
So back to the question - what is the right solution ?
My recommendation is to go wireless whenever you can. The industry has been moving this way for years and while there are still plenty of good wired solutions out there, you'll often run into tougher integration constraints that you do with wireless soluion
Wireless gives you the best flexibility in terms of add/move/change to devices and overall location. But this assumes you have a good design and coverage.
Regardless of the choice there are 4 rules I recommend to follow..
First and most important rule - use the Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) approach.
Ask yourself the following 3 questions
What am I trying automate or manage ?
How do I control the automation ?
Where do I want my controls ?
By documenting each of these items - you'll define your use cases.
Second - Try to limit your solution to one or two key technologies. So for example WiFi and Z-Wave. While there are controllers that can handle additional protocols like Zigbee and Insteon, the more "standardization" around a specific technology you can implement will save you in the long run in terms of management, replacement, etc.
Third - Plan, Plan, Plan - whether you use paper or Visio - layout your design, understand all the pieces, parts you need and order them all at once. The design will also be a basis for the next important component - documentation - so knowing all the IDs/Assignments of your devices.
Fourth - Understand your budget. Implementing whole home lighting control for example can easily run $1000+. Consider your going to pay on average around $100 for a simple controller, $40 - $50 / dimmer, switch or fan control, $30 - 35 for plug controls - it can add up quickly.
Add shade controls and motors and now you can be in $3 - $5K range. The same is true down the line from security systems, door locks, cameras, pool and irrigation controls... and this even before I begin discussing whole home audio and/or video. Bottom line - whole home automation can get pricey fast.
Bottom line - there are good wired and wireless solutions. Regardless of which you choose, your approach, planning and budget will ultimately drive your decision.
The good news is there are all kinds of technologies and products out in the market at all sorts of price points. The bad news is there are all kinds of technologies and products out in the market at all sorts of price points.
So how do you choose the right solution ?
So first let's face some reality. Most homes are poorly wired. If your home was built prior to 1990 it has some CAT-3 UTP for phone, maybe a hardwired security system and barely has coax for cable tv. In many cases the Coax used a daisy-chain topology where the coax outlets are stringed together with "taps" versus a hub-spoke topology where each room had an individual run back to a central indoor or outdoor box.
While that improved in the 1990's, it wasn't until the 2000's that homes started to be built with CAT-5 UTP cabling that could support Ethernet. And even then it often was not in every room or poorly located.
For years the only real approach to automation was wired. Starting with X10, then Universal Powerline Bus (UPB) along with proprietary procotols like Cresnet and also good old fashioned serial connections like RS-232 and RS-422.
These solutions worked well - but required not only wiring from the centralized closet where the "controller" was located, but also custom programming for the controllers. Many of the best known systems (Crestron, AMX, Control4, etc) could only be installed by Pros and installation could easily run into the thousands of dollars.
I have designed, built, repaired and replaced wire based home infrastructure and automation systems. I can remember developing wiring plans that included Coax for TV, Cat-5/6 for Ethernet Networks, Cat-5 for Telephone, Cat-5 for Serial, 2/4 Wire Security & Smoke detection, 4 Wire speaker cables, 2 wire audio/RCA patches and even HDMI all in the same home. While it can all look very cool and professional when it's done correctly, it can also be very expensive to do and it's somewhat inflexible.
Want to add a new location ? Well ok - determine the location, length and type of cable, open the wall, fish the wire back to your fancy new wiring closet and make sure you have enough spare capacity to properly terminate the run.
In recent years wireless devices and controllers started to appear. Wireless technologies, like WiFi, Insteon, Zigbee and Zwave made it possible to create a wireless network of devices like switches, dimmers, thermostats, fan controls, etc to be easily added to your home. Today you can also easily distribute audio and video content over wireless, even to in-wall speaker systems. Typically as long as you have power, you can locate a device.
But similar to the challenges that exist with setting up wired solutions in the home, you have to do some real planning and in many cases trial and error to understand where to best place controllers, access points, etc to get it all to work correctly.
Also some of these wireless solutions use the same RF spectrum, potentially causing conflicts and drop outs. And until recently performance was always better over wired than wireless. Security is also better with wired since in most cases it's a closed system, that is not typically targeted by hackers.
Finally there is cost. When you factor in the cost of the various wire types needed to cover your use cases, plus termination at both ends and patch cords and labor, wired is almost always more expensive than wireless.
RF chipsets have gotten extremely inexpensive in the last few years and are small enough and low power enough that vendors can place them in practically anything. And while wireless light switches, thermostats, etc are typically more expensive than their wired counterparts - the difference is easily consumed by the wired infrastructure itself.
With that said, wired systems typically react faster are more reliable and secure. With WiFi based solutions, you need to make sure your Wifi access points and routers can handle the additional load. Between TVs, Audio & Video Streaming devices, Smartphones, Tablets, Laptops, Printers, etc - you can easily have 20 - 30 connections. Now add, Pool and Irrigation Systems, Home Appliances like Refrigerators, Washing Machines, Thermostats, etc and your load jumps again.
And as anyone who has tried knows that getting consistent high performance WiFi coverage across an entire home can be challenging. And while the good news is we are beginning to see better and better WiFi distribution technologies like WDS and WMN these are relatively new to the market. Just a few years ago the best way to build a whole home WiFI network was to purchase access points that had wired connections back to your router. And typically those were commercial solutions, not residential and so dramatically more expensive.
So back to the question - what is the right solution ?
My recommendation is to go wireless whenever you can. The industry has been moving this way for years and while there are still plenty of good wired solutions out there, you'll often run into tougher integration constraints that you do with wireless soluion
Wireless gives you the best flexibility in terms of add/move/change to devices and overall location. But this assumes you have a good design and coverage.
Regardless of the choice there are 4 rules I recommend to follow..
First and most important rule - use the Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) approach.
Ask yourself the following 3 questions
What am I trying automate or manage ?
How do I control the automation ?
Where do I want my controls ?
By documenting each of these items - you'll define your use cases.
Second - Try to limit your solution to one or two key technologies. So for example WiFi and Z-Wave. While there are controllers that can handle additional protocols like Zigbee and Insteon, the more "standardization" around a specific technology you can implement will save you in the long run in terms of management, replacement, etc.
Third - Plan, Plan, Plan - whether you use paper or Visio - layout your design, understand all the pieces, parts you need and order them all at once. The design will also be a basis for the next important component - documentation - so knowing all the IDs/Assignments of your devices.
Fourth - Understand your budget. Implementing whole home lighting control for example can easily run $1000+. Consider your going to pay on average around $100 for a simple controller, $40 - $50 / dimmer, switch or fan control, $30 - 35 for plug controls - it can add up quickly.
Add shade controls and motors and now you can be in $3 - $5K range. The same is true down the line from security systems, door locks, cameras, pool and irrigation controls... and this even before I begin discussing whole home audio and/or video. Bottom line - whole home automation can get pricey fast.
Bottom line - there are good wired and wireless solutions. Regardless of which you choose, your approach, planning and budget will ultimately drive your decision.
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