Building a new home or remodeling? One of the most common questions Smarthomes tech support department receives is how to cable a home for automation. There are a number of different theories on how it should be done and what type of cables should be used. Smarthome will describe what they believe is the most widely accepted and most practical method based on thier experience and industry knowledge.
Wiring for X10
By design, X10 equipment does not need much in the way of special wiring. The following are six items Smarthomes recommends for all homes with X10 installations:
Neutral Wire at Each Wall Switch
Ask your builder/electrician to run the neutral wire to each wall switch location (the neutral cable is optional in many light switch wiring schemes and unless you specify it explicitly, it may get omitted). Most enhanced X10 wall switches including the Leviton and SwitchLinc 2-Way X10 switches require a 3-wire (hot, neutral and load) connection. |
 |
In-Wall Transmitters
You are likely to want a number of X10 In-Wall Control Panels throughout the house.
These In-Wall transmitters can control groups of lights or execute complex lighting macros. With one touch, you can quickly adjust all the lights in a room to match the occasion or mood.
Plan these locations and have a hot and neutral wire run to a J-box at these locations. |
 |
Use Deep Junction Boxes
Specify the installation of deep J-boxes in all locations that you are likely to want to use X10 switches, receptacles or transmitters. While X10 products fit in the spacing offered by all electrical boxes marketed in North America, the deep models have extra working space and make the installation go a little easier. Deep boxes only costs a few cents more than normal depth models. Look for single gang boxes that are 22cu or higher (cubic inches) and double gang boxes that are 36cu or higher. |
 |
Whole House Surge Protection
Install a Whole-House Surge Suppressor to protect your electrical appliances and home entertainment products. If you are going to be using a significant number of X10 components in your home adding one of the whole house surge protectors will give you a good insurance policy against costly damage to both your X10 system and other delicate electrical equipment in your house. |
 |
Signal Bridge or Coupler-Repeater
Install an X10 Signal Bridge or Coupler-Repeater at the incoming electrical service. One of the common problems with X10 signals is getting them between the two legs of electricity that service your home. We like to recommend using a Coupler-Repeater (amplifier) if the home's square footage is 3,000 or greater. Smaller homes will work well with a passive signal bridge like 4815 or 4815AC. |
 |
Isolate Non-Automation Loads
Work with your electrician to isolate non-automation loads. Ask the electrician to place the non-X10 carrying lines on one of the two incoming lines. Having the kitchens and laundry appliances plus the heating systems on one phase will help keep potential noise off the X10 carrying lines. He probably won't be able to accommodate 100% of the loads on one phase or another, but an attempt should be made. |
 |
Wiring for Data
The first stage in planning is to select the location of the central wiring hub location. This is where all the cables from all the different rooms come into and where all the external cabling (cable TV, phone, antenna, satellite, etc.) feeds into the house. Ideally this should be located next to the audio/video equipment since the speaker cable and video cable will feed to the other rooms from here.
The equipment housed in this location usually includes:
- Video Distribution Panel
- Telephone System
- Intelligent Home Automation Controller
- Multi-Zone HVAC Controller
- Security Panel and any other home automation related central controllers/hubs
Homeowners who want to have their audio/video equipment on display will usually locate this hub in or next to their home theater or music listening room. The Equipment Rack will usually house not only the home theater equipment but all the amplifiers, CD jukeboxes, DVD players and DSS receivers for the entire house. This can make for quite an impressive display and conversation piece.
A popular design is to have the hub located in a small room next to the home theater. The A/V equipment is mounted through the wall separating the home theater and hub room. The front of the A/V equipment is flush with the wall in the home theater room but fully visible and accessible. Easy access to the rear of the A/V equipment is available through the hub room. Rack mount systems are ideal for mounting A/V equipment in this type of installation. If you don’t have a spare room to allocate, another option popular in a remodeling situation is to build a false wall in your home theater room. Building a custom drywall partition that will allow you to flush mount your big screen TV and A/V equipment as well as house your wiring hub may be more affordable than you may think. Get some quotes from your local building contractor or drywall specialist. When planning this false wall make sure that you have enough depth for the largest TV you are planning on buying and for the A/V mounting systems. Equipment access is usually a problem in this situation so Slide Out Racks are a good mounting choice. Make sure you purchase and plan for a mounting system that has room for future equipment additions. There is nothing worse than wanting to add that hot new DVD player or 200 CD Jukebox and finding that you are out of rack space and have to cut a new hole in the wall. Some homeowners prefer to have everything hidden away. In these installations, a spare closet or the basement may be a suitable location for the hub and A/V equipment. Now list all the locations that you expect to want either telephone/modem, TV/video, speakers, intercom, equipment control or security sensors. This typically will be at least every bedroom and major living area (living room, kitchen, dining room, etc.). In addition to these locations you may want to add bathrooms, hallways and outdoor areas. Remember that there is no reason why whole-house audio/video should not extend to the garden or pool. Even if you don’t plan on installing equipment at every location right away, make sure the cable is run. It is far more costly and sometimes almost impossible to retrofit cable later.
How to Wire Your Home for Automation - Part 2 | What is Whole House Audio/Video? | Whole-House Video Distribution Cabling | Designing Your Own Distribution System
