Part 4: Creating a reliable installation in a Real Smart Home

Reverse polarity protection

The majority of hardwired Loxone products work off 24VDC.

In order for you, as a Loxone Partner, to be able to guarantee a reliable and error-free installation, we’ve put a lot of thought into reducing room for error in the installation itself.

Each hardwired Loxone peripheral device is equipped with reverse polarity protection so that if you accidentally swap the 24V and Ground pole, you don’t risk damaging the actual device.

Short-circuit protection

Another way in which using Loxone components offers a reliable and safe installation is that our power supplies have short-circuit protection. This means that if you were to accidentally switch the plus and minus connection, neither the Loxone device or the power supply itself will be damaged – this is because the power supply itself automatically shuts off in the event of a fault.

Built-in voltage regulators

The Loxone lighting products can all be operated in so-called wide voltage range. This means that variances in the supply voltage of between -10%  and 5% will not affect the quality of light or the lifespan of the LED itself.

Operating voltage protection

The operating voltage of components in a Loxone Smart Home is 24VDC which comes under the category of extra-low voltage. Even though extra-low voltage is considered to carry a low risk of dangerous electrical shock it is still addressed in the regulations and therefore care should be taken to ensure a compliant installation. The use of fuse terminal blocks is a good way of reducing the risk of overloading cables from a fault in the installation. They so provide a perfect landing board for terminations in the panel.

We recommend using terminal blocks for all cables being brought back to the cabinet in a Loxone installation.

We recommend that you have separate 24V power supplies – each on its own protected circuit – for the controls (Miniserver and Extensions), the peripherals (Touch, Motion Sensors, etc), and the Loxone LED lighting.

Lightning protection

Even if you’ve installed the best equipment and followed all the standards and regulations, your customer’s home is still at risk if Mother Nature decides to strike. Offering a reliable installation means also taking this into account and including components (such as surge or overvoltage protectors) that mitigate the potential damage a lightning strike could cause by dissipating the surge.

Although you can’t completely protect a house from lightning, the above is still good practice to follow. This is one of the reasons that a true Loxone installation only uses extra-low voltage power supplies.

In many installations, however, the GND of the Loxone 24VDC can not be prevented from being connected to PE by external devices.

Normally devices such as patch panels, PCs, routers, access points or similar IT equipment causes this.

Fire protection switch

In compliance with wiring regulations, all circuits must be protected by an RCD and appropriately rated MCB. However, this protective measure on it’s own won’t be able to identify fault arcs.

Fault arcs can be caused by unsafe or exposed contacts or damaged wiring or cable insulation. We therefore recommend that the electrical installation in a Loxone Smart Home also has external electrical fault detection equipment (e.g. arc fault detectors). As Loxone, we don’t sell Arc Fault Detection Devices (AFDD) but using such a component in a Loxone Smart Home is best practice.

When it comes to fire alarm systems, you can already connect a fire alarm switch to the digital input of a Miniserver or Extension to trigger alerts through a Loxone Smart Home in the event of a fire.

We’ve taken it a step further. Using AFDDs for fire protection has long been standard, if not mandatory in industrial installations. Even though a Loxone system is designed for domestic installations, our system can now specifically take a signal from an AFDD and trigger a fault arc notification. You’ll find a dedicated Input (If) in the Fire and Water Alarm Function Block in Loxone Config.

Tree sensors

The way our Tree Technology has been designed allows for Loxone Partners to easily connect sensory peripheral devices in a Loxone Smart Home. All communication between security-sensitive Tree products is fully encrypted – offering peace of mind for both you and your customers.

Connect any Tree components that are installed outside the home (such as the garden, driveway or patio) to a separate branch on the Tree Extension. This aids in the reliability of operation due to separation from external variables.

CAT 7 Cable

We recommend that all Loxone Smart Homes installations are done with CAT7 for maximum functionality and in the interest of future-proofing.

The CAT7 cable is ideal for Loxone Tree devices. With four pairs, each of which is double-shielded, better protection from sources of interference is afforded, and with the thicker cores of a CAT7 less volt-drop will be experienced. It is typical that the requirements of a customer and the way they use the different rooms in their home will change over time. This, as it gives greater flexibility for programmable changes in the future, is another reason why you should be using CAT7.