Used Products & Costs
The planning
The family Lehmann from Bielefeld would also like to use their weekend house in the Sauerland. The heating should be activated at any time from a distance via mobile phone or Internet. At the same time, heating costs are to be reduced and a break-in protection installed. A problem is however: in the holiday house there is neither fixed-line telephone nor DSL or cable TV.
RWE SmartHome
The weekend house has three radiators which are to be equipped with a radio radiator control valve. A room thermostat is used for on-site control.
The structure
Three windows are to be equipped with wireless window switches. These report whether the respective window is opened or closed. When the window is open, the radiator underneath is to be switched off immediately so that it is not heated to the window during ventilation.
Via UMTS into the Internet
And sometimes family Lehmann leaves her vacation home to friends. You know, if the windows are closed at the end.
In order to deter potential burglars, it is helpful to simulate a presence by light in the house. At least one lamp should be automated. This is done by a flush-mounted radio switch that replaces the light switch. Last but not least, a central unit must control the entire installation and communicate with the Internet.
Since there is neither DSL nor fixed line in the holiday house, mobile services such as UMTS and / or LTE (Long Term Evolution) must help. LTE is built by the providers first in rural areas and then in the city and offers enormous bandwidths. 200 Mbps and more will soon be available.
Family Lehmann has chosen UMTS and the UMTS EasyBox 803 with UMTS-Stick and a contract with small data volume. This box is DSL modem, WLAN router and telephone system in one and works with VDSL, DSL, UMTS and LTE. A UMTS stick with USB interface connects to the Internet. Lehmann family uses RWE SmartHome.
The electricity company RWE brought its own house control system to the retail market a year ago: thanks to many presets, RWE SmartHome enables the control of electrical appliances and the heating system - that is just the right thing for our project "Ferienhaus"
RWE SmartHome can be used anywhere in the United States and independently of the electricity supplier, ie without a RWE electricity contract. The solution offers a well-balanced combination of heating control and electrical appliance control for homeowners, homeowners and tenants.
Sensors and actuators can be linked or linked in an intuitive way. The system is modular, easy to expand, can be installed by the end user by itself and is attractively priced.
If the term "Plug & Play" applies to any building system, then to RWE SmartHome. High-performance additional services, such as a connection to the RWE SmartHome Back End, are available over the Internet. This keeps the software up to date.
The radio-based solution is easy to retrofit. The transfer uses high encryption standards for security and data protection.
The device
The heart of the solution is the RWE SmartHome center, an inconspicuous white plastic box measuring approx. 20 cm x 14 cm with a small monochrome LCD display. It can be placed on a stand or screwed to the wall. Mounting material is included. The connection to the mains side is via USB or LAN, and the supplied 230 V plug-in power supply is used for the power supply.
As soon as the control panel is connected to the LAN and the power supply, the display will read "booting" and later "download". After a few minutes the box has an IP address from the router "worried" and the installed firmware is updated. A little later, an eight-digit number sequence appears on the display.
The window contact
In our test installation, it started with "0190", which caused fear, one would have to call a chargeable 0190 number. In reality, this is the free number for the online registration of the central office at the RWE central computer.
You can access the first login page via the browser. The computer wants to know the serial number of the control center (this is on the back of the box) and the number displayed on the display. Entering an e-mail address and selecting a password completes the registration process.
Now you get access to the newly installed control center via browser - but still over the relatively slow RWE central computer. With one click, you can install direct access from your computer, tablet or smartphone. This is the faster way, also works out of the local network and without internet.
What does the room thermostat bring?
Flush-mounted circuit breaker
Remote Control
Conclusion
Vodafone Surf instant package UMTS with hardware
As already mentioned, there is no telephone, DSL or broadband via TV cable, but UMTS is available at the location of the holiday home. Family Lehmann uses the Vodafone EasyBox 803.
It is at the same time DSL router and telephone system and can communicate via a UMTS or LTE USB stick with the mobile network. The UMTS USB stick contains a data card with the smallest data volume. The card has been configured so that there is no password query, as is the case with mobile phones.
The installation is easy: insert the UMTS stick into the USB port provided, connect the PC via LAN to the EasyBox and then plug the plug-in power supply and wait. After a few seconds the box will start and assign an IP address to the connected PC.
A browser window opens, informing us that DSL is not possible, and asks whether UMTS should be used instead. Then dials the box into the UMTS data network. Under Extras you can configure the UMTS access, for example the waiver of the password input.
Now we connect the RWE central unit with one of the yellow LAN connections of the EasyBox. We now only need the PC to set up the devices.
Now we want to set up sensors and actuators. We start with the three heating radiators. All devices are well packaged. The thermostat is supplied with various mounting rings to compensate for the mechanical incompatibilities of the radiator valves.
If the three 1.5 volt standard batteries are inserted, the microcontroller of the radiator thermostat starts and wants to log on to a control panel. To do this, the control center is called up via browser and clicked into the search mode. The "pairing" of the control unit and thermostat always worked perfectly in the test.
Next, we install the thermostat on the radiator. A water pump is enough. First the old thermostat is unscrewed. A tip: If water leaks when you unscrew, you have built too much.
In a few cases it can happen that the actual valve is connected more firmly to the thermostat by a mounting error than with the heating element. In such a case, the heating engineer has to put a hand on the hand, otherwise you risk that - unpleasant-smelling - heating water escapes.
As a rule, the old thermostat can be easily removed and the RWE pendant can be unscrewed. Pull the montage ring firmly, but do not overload it.
A look at the display tells you if there is a radio connection to the control panel. During the setup phase, various messages appear on the display. Further information can be found in the accompanying booklet of the thermostat. Switch now from manual to automatic - done.
The next step is in the browser. You will find a prepared line with rooms, for example overlapping, living room, bedroom, bathroom, hallway and kitchen. Since we have mounted the thermostat in the living room, we drag its symbol from the field Found devices into the living room.
From now on, the radiator is listening to our command, but we want to integrate a window switch and a room setpoint adjuster.
The RWE window contact consists of two parts: the sensor with the radio control and the magnet. If contact and magnet are close together, windows or doors are signaled as "closed". If both parts are disconnected, the contact will signal "window or door open."
If the magnetic contact is taught (see the previous section) and dragged into a room with a radiator thermostat, the software offers to combine both sensors. This means that whenever the window or the balcony door is not closed, the radiator is automatically turned back. This avoids the cost of expensive energy to the window.
According to scientific studies, this simple measure can save between 20 and 40 percent of heating costs. With today's and future energy prices, this function alone pays for the purchase of home automation after a short time.
Why do you need room thermostats, if can be adjusted via the control center or by mobile phone everything? The room thermostat is the heating controller on-site and in the room and exactly right for those who would like to adjust their desired temperature by means of a rotary knob, independent of temperature profiles and sensors
The devices connected to the RWE SmartHome room thermostats are controlled simply and centrally via radio. Use the built-in rotary or push wheel to set the required room temperature manually. The room thermostat sends this information to the connected radiator thermostats, which can be specifically controlled.
The SmartHome room thermostat has a time program. This means that up to eight temperature settings can be stored per weekday. This will help you save your heating and do not waste any energy.
The room thermostat is simply screwed to the wall or placed on the shelf. It also provides information on the room climate. It also displays the setpoint and actual temperature, time profile and humidity.
The room thermostat has a built-in child safety device, a temperature control barrier and an integrated frost protection: ideal conditions for the use in the holiday home of the Lehmanns
Installation is the same as for the other devices: Select recognition mode, insert batteries into the device and wait for them. If the control unit and the room thermostat have been found, the latter must be "dragged" into the corresponding room by means of the mouse - ready.
However, the family Lehmann does not only want to optimize the heating, but also to switch light from a distance and use it as a presence simulation to deter potential burglars. The easiest way to do this is to use the so-called interposers, which are inserted between the socket and the plug of the consumer.
With fixed lamps, however, this does not work. To this end, RWE has recently installed a flush-mounting light switch. These fit into the installation box and replace the standard light switch.
But beware! During installation, work on bare wires, which may lead to life-threatening 230 volts. Leave the work to someone who is familiar with it, and turn off your house for the work without power. After this work, remove the cables from the previously installed switch. It has proven useful to photograph the original condition.
The flush-mounted switches require the conductor L (usually black) and the neutral conductor (N, usually blue). Normal switches only use the conductor L. It may be that the installation location L and N you select are missing. If there is also a socket in the same block, L and N are certainly present.
The output line (L) is switched from the flush-mounted radio switch to terminal 1 or 2, depending on whether the switching process is to be opened or closed. Please refer to the instructions supplied with the flush-mounted switch. The key information is also printed on the switch itself.
If the flush-mounted switch is energized, it is detected by the control panel and, like the other RWE components, can be pushed into the corresponding room. The luminaire, which is connected to the switch, can now be operated manually by means of a flush-mounted switch / button or by radio.
For example, the external lights can be switched on or off at any given time - even remotely locally by hand, using a smartphone.
RWE SmartHome includes an unspectacular, but efficient remote control. With every device that has a browser, the house can be remotely controlled. To do this, the website is called. For iPhone and iPad, there is a special app. For Flash-enabled devices like Android smartphones, the normal browser is enough.
After the user name and the password have been entered, the entire installation of the holiday house is available. Temperatures can be adjusted by pressing or dragging the temperature display of the respective room, status information can easily be queried.
In addition, RWE SmartHome can also send SMS messages. The use of mobile access is free of charge in the first year, after which a usage fee is due.
The family Lehmann has achieved its goal. The installation was easy. The preconfigurations and the automatically offered aids, such as the combination of window contact and thermostat, are particularly helpful for SmartHome newcomers.
The individual building blocks are solid and yet handsome. The submerged elements are particularly interesting. The local and the radio remote control in a wall switch allows the inhabitants to switch the light at any time despite the automatic operation.
And the cost? RWE offers a very favorable entry into the SmartHome world. With a low basic cost through a low-cost central unit, SmartHome is particularly interesting for small projects.
3 RWE SmartHome radiator thermostats, each 59.95 euros = 179.85 euros, 3 RWE SmartHome door and window sensors, 39.95 euros each , 85 Euro, 1 RWE SmartHome-Unterputzsender, 59,95 Euro, 1 RWE SmartHome room thermostat, 69,95 Euro
10 GBytes inclusive volume, up to 7.2 Mbps, fixed network the United States, WLAN modem and UMTS, e-mail service, including 1 Vodafone EasyBox and 1 UMTS Stick
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