KNX smart home technology is assisting in religious abidance at a home in Leeds where the main criteria of the installation was that the lighting in the house should be controlled for a period of 25 hours so that the family could comply with Jewish Sabbath rules relating to creating or extinguishing fire (switching on any electrical item is considered to be a form of fire creation). The installation has been completed by KNX UK member Application Power Hire (APH) of Leicestershire.
At specific times, dependent on the sunset/sunrise times of the year, house lighting needs to be programmed to go on and off automatically without the intervention of any of the family. As well as managing over 60 internal and 10 external lighting circuits, a number of mains 230V AC sockets are controlled by KNX technology. This allows, for example, cooker hot plates to be switched on/off at certain times to bring food up to heat and keep it warm.
A KNX gateway enables the KNX installation within the house and is essential for the networking of the equipment internally. It has the ability to set lighting scenes, run complex and large timed light sequences and allow the client to input dates and times of various festivals and events that change from month to month and year to year. Sunrise and sunset times vary depending on the time of year and the gateway has an in-built astral calendar which allows for seasonal variations and determines these times based on its location in the world. All the required changes are undertaken completely automatically and the client does not have to intervene manually.
A series of six separate Sabbath scenes have been set to commence automatically at the required time. The system works perfectly with a seamless transition from one scene to the next. Outdoor lights are included and because many circuits can be dimmed, the entire process is energy efficient too. As sunset is used as the trigger for the first and last scenes, seasonal changes are completely automated.
Adding or removing lights from a scene is very simple as the scene can be called up using a web link. As well as lights, the KNX Gateway controls a number of mains sockets which can be used for appliances such as hot plates. These can be set to repeat the same event each week, removing the need for unsightly timers plugged into sockets. They can also be easily set for one off requirements.
APH has created a system which allows total flexibility allowing every light in the home to be timed. The timing memory also knows how bright or dim the lights should be, making it very flexible and, by using scenes, all the lighting is not lost when the system switches off – just the lights no longer needed.Â