January 2022 update of 2022 article with new thoughts. I think that I will update the article annually, since progress does not stand still. Based on the number of page views, the topic is of interest to everyone.
If you came here for the first time, I am designing modern engineering systems for apartments and country houses, including electrical systems, Smart Home systems, and low-current systems. In the header of this site there are links to what I have to offer.
First an important clarification. This site is called “Smart Home or Smart Home ”. And I write not only about home automation technologies and all sorts of interesting bells and whistles (they write a lot about this without me), but mainly about how to do everything during construction “in the smartest way.” What does “no nonsense” mean? Unfortunately, people still do stupid things often and willingly. Moreover, both the builders and the customers themselves.
Where does “no smart home” end and “smart home” begin? It's difficult to define the boundary. “Smart home” is not a specific technology or even a concept, but a rather vague concept, more of a marketing one. Often they write to me something like “I want to make a semi-smart house,” putting into it the idea that, for example, we control the light and climate, but we probably don’t need sound and curtains.
We need to stop thinking in terms of “there is a smart home” and “there is no smart home”; we just need to try to do everything reliably and modernly. If you need an automation controller to implement your wishes, then we use it. If a programmable relay is enough, that’s also a great option. The problem is that if you turn to smart home integrators, they will install a smart home, trying to make everything fit for it and, if possible, maximize the system budget. And the knowledge about modern electrics of some construction teams and electricians, unfortunately, is insufficient to implement reliable and universal systems.
Pay attention to electrical
This is task No. 1 - to draw customers’ attention to electrics. Every specialist in any field related to construction considers it his duty to say that his area of repair is the most important, and there is no way to save on it, from leveling walls and pouring floor screed to grouting, window sills, painting walls and baseboards.
I talked with a person who said that “in Russia there is no culture of fire hatches.” And he talked about this topic with great passion and understanding of the importance of these very fire hatches.
Everything is important, everything must be paid attention to, and no element should be completely neglected. I have seen apartments that fully fall under the category of luxury housing, in which the electrical panel was left over from the developer: small, with 12 seats, with one RCD and four or five dusty circuit breakers. Sometimes without any RCD at all.
Typical (unfortunately) apartment electrical panel
It’s just that the priorities were set during the repair in such a way that the electrics were moved to the very bottom. What does this mean, you ask? You can live your whole life in an apartment with three automatic machines in the electrical panel, and there will be no problems, this is wonderful. But most likely at some point something will pop up, for example, it will start knocking out a machine gun or, worse, an RCD, and you’ll have to figure it out. If everything in the apartment is on one RCD, then it will knock it out, leaving you without electricity at all. If it doesn’t crash immediately when you turn it on, but once every couple of days, then it will be extremely difficult to understand where to look for the cause of the problem. And periodic shutdown of some important equipment (file server, video surveillance, desktop computer, refrigerator, air conditioner) will be fraught with its breakdown.
There are some basic rules for organizing electrics in an apartment, which have already been rewritten a thousand times in different articles: remember about RCDs for electrical appliances, select machines according to the cable cross-section, install a voltage relay at the input, divide devices into groups by room and purpose. It is also normal to tighten all the terminals in the panel with a screwdriver and repeat this operation once a year. I would also add to the mandatory requirements normal, clear markings on the shield elements so that you can quickly find the machine you need.
And, although I am often criticized for this opinion, try to get rid of hidden mounting boxes altogether. In most cases, there is no need for mounting boxes; cable savings are not worth the maintenance-free system. I am in favor of all cable switching being done either in the electrical panel or in the socket boxes behind the sockets and switches, no hidden unattended boxes. Builders will say “it’s more convenient this way”, “it’s always been done this way”, “we’ll do everything right”, “we’ll leave the box serviced”, “otherwise you’ll waste a lot of cable”, “we’ll solder everything securely” - don’t give in. No boxes. The ideal option is that the sockets are connected in series, the left socket of the next block is connected to the output of the right socket of the previous block. The power supply from the intermediate block of sockets goes down to the block, then rises back and goes to the next block.
The exception is connections to one power cable coming from the switchboard, individual sections of LED strips, to the beginning of which I would like to route a thin cable - here it is most convenient to put a box somewhere in which to connect the cable from the switchboard and thin flexible cables from the strips. But it is very advisable to check the operation of the tapes or at least the presence of voltage at all terminals before sewing up the box if access to it is impossible.
“Paying attention to electrics” is not so simple. This entails replacing the standard electrical panel with something larger, this is at least additional work + purchasing a panel + allocating space. You can save money and do nothing, but then something somewhere will eventually stop working or require maintenance, and then the lack of a project will play a role, and no one will want to work with a panel in which it is unclear which wires go where. I am writing as a person who often tries to deal with someone else’s switchboard or organize some electrical maintenance work.
Acceptable savings are to install all the elements from some inexpensive Russian or Chinese company. Much better than reducing the number of elements in the shield to a minimum.
When I made an electrical plan for a one-room apartment “for rent”, I got a panel with 60 modules: RCD of sockets and 12 circuit breakers of sockets, RCD of light and 3 circuit breakers, separate circuit breakers for the refrigerator, circuit breaker for the router, input switch, voltage relay, block LED strip power supply on DIN rail, LED strip controller. Everything is very convenient and spacious, with zero busbars on the DIN rail, no twists or terminal blocks in the wires lying at the bottom of the panel or hanging in the air. No frills.
The same situation, by the way, as I have already seen a dozen times, is with plumbing - we save five hundred rubles on pipes and the work of a plumber, who decided that he didn’t want to go to the store to get the necessary connection, and would connect it with what he had, and a year later we would break it urgently tiles and look for the accident site. I have already developed my own algorithm for how to explain to a plumber the importance of his work for you and the need not to skimp on pipe connections.
We end up with two extremes: people who don’t take into account electrical costs at all, since the new apartment already has a panel, and people who ask to assemble a panel like in the photo, which appears in the search for “beautiful panel.”
A shield that looks like a work of art, with perfectly straight cables and a precise arrangement of elements is, of course, cool, but not necessary. The difference in labor costs between a simply reliable and convenient shield and a shield “the pride of the owner” is approximately twofold, here the choice is yours.
By the way. You can’t always blame an electrician for a poor apartment electrical system. For example, someone will run a cable with a cross-section of 1.5 to a socket, because the customer promised not to plug anything powerful into it, he will honestly install a 10-amp machine, and after 5 years the person will buy a 2600-watt kettle and knock out this machine from him. Call an electrician, change the machine to 16 amps - problem solved. And if you honestly tell the customer that you can’t connect a kettle to this wire, you might not even get paid for the work. So such simplifications and unforeseen things develop into problems over time.
MaskFone - protective mask with headset
Binatone has introduced a reusable mask that includes a Bluetooth headset and a replaceable PM2.5 filter. The mask has a five-layer cleaning system and meets all safety requirements.
To talk on the phone, you do not need to remove or move the mask, while your hands are free. When the headphones are not needed, they are attached to a special magnetic mount and do not interfere with the owner.
The mask will have an affordable price of $50. This is a low price considering the service life - the mask can be washed if you disconnect the headphones from it, the headset's operating time is about 12 hours.
MaskFone - protective mask with headset
Difficulty Level 1 - Basic Rules
I will write a few rules, quite simple. How you feel about a smart home - it doesn’t matter whether you plan to rent out or sell an apartment - it doesn’t matter either. But follow the rules , this is not such a capital investment. Not more expensive than health.
Starting from the most obvious, but with non-obvious nuances.
- The machine protects the cable! It is selected based on the cross-section of the cable, and not the powered device. Cable 1.5 - automatic 10A. If you want more security, install a type B machine, which is more sensitive. But it’s better not to place such machines on LED lamps; the inrush current can knock them out. I met a person who, for reasons of reinsurance, installed 2 or 6 ampere breakers on the light cables and sockets, since nothing more powerful would be plugged into these sockets. More precisely, for each socket he prescribed what would be plugged into it, and what power this device would have, and based on this he chose the machines. There is no point in this. If you want to install a 3x0.75 cable to the light, install it, but install a 6 ampere circuit breaker.
- A voltage relay at the input is required. It has already been written a thousand times that this thing for 2,500 rubles saves a hundred thousand in one fell swoop in the event of an accident such as a zero burnout and power surges.
- All power electrical appliances must be protected by an RCD of no more than 30mA. Both lights and sockets. Let there be only one RCD from some inexpensive company at the entrance to the apartment, if you really want to save space and money, but it should be there for everything. But if there is only one RCD and it works, you will be left without sockets and without light until you find the problem, and a problem with current leakage can be difficult to find. So it's better to have at least two. Is RCD expensive? Use IEK or Dercraft, it’s much better than nothing at all. RCD for wet rooms 10mA - at your discretion, there are no such requirements, I usually just install a separate RCD for 30mA. Low-current equipment such as a Wi-Fi router and alarm system do not require an RCD.
- The size of the electrical panel is determined by its contents! We make a diagram of the shield assembly on paper or on a computer, not forgetting about the zero buses and space for cables and reserves, we understand which shield everything will fit into. There is no need to do the opposite - choose a shield based on the place for it on the wall, and then think about what will fit in it. You just need to draw the shield, you don’t just count the DIN space and add 10-20%; the elements are not always distributed in the shield in even rows right next to each other.
LG Transparent OLED Smart Bed - a transparent TV that folds into a roll
The second generation TV is built into the headboard and can be removed partially or completely. In the first case, a display is shown that shows the time, news, weather and other notifications.
LG Transparent OLED Smart Bed
The manufacturer proposes to make it a mandatory element of the bedroom interior, and then install it in shopping centers, stores and public transport.
A 55-inch OLED monitor has a maximum transparency level of 40%, while in modern models this figure does not exceed 10%.
Difficulty level 2 - For advanced
- Remember about non-switchable devices. If there is an accident somewhere that triggers an RCD or an automatic circuit breaker, then what should remain working? The most obvious answer is a refrigerator. It is also possible, if there is one, an alarm system and video surveillance. Wi-Fi router, since remote access to video surveillance and some devices depends on it. We install separate protection on them with an automatic or automatic + RCD powered from the input (after the voltage relay). If there is a good short circuit, it is possible that the input circuit breaker will also go out, but there is no way to insure against this. The likelihood that such a short circuit will occur when you are not at home is not so great; you just need to plug something seriously faulty into the outlet.
- Make more power supply groups. Sockets in each room have a separate cable. Kitchen - usually at least 5 cables: countertop sockets, hob, dishwasher + chopper (filter) + microwave, oven. Sometimes countertop outlets are split into two or even three separate groups. The more groups, the fewer cable connections, fewer devices are turned off in the event of an accident, less cable heating, and it is easier to localize the problem. But there are also more costs for cables and installation.
- We add voltage and power indication to the panel. VAR-M02 or a similar device shows the voltage of each phase and current consumption, as well as the number of power outages. Helps control consumption and phase balance.
Cove - a vibration bandage that relieves stress
The device is attached to the ears and creates vibrations that activate alpha waves, which are responsible for positive emotions and promote relaxation. At the same time, beta waves, which create a feeling of anxiety, are blocked.
Cove - a vibration bandage that relieves stress
It is recommended to use the gadget daily for at least 20 minutes a day. If used irregularly, the effect of the bandage is minimal. You can track your results through a special application on your phone.
Difficulty 3 - Adding simple automation
But here there is already room for imagination in the realization of various wishes. What can be done, in order of difficulty:
- Function to turn off lights and/or sockets with one button. To leave the house and immediately turn off all the lights and sockets. We have separate batteries for the refrigerator and low current, so they will not turn off. How to turn it off is up to you. You can have a card switch, like in hotels, you can make a hidden button, you can have a code keyboard or a contactless key reader. You can use a fingerprint. Or you could put a big red button on the shield. Read Turning off the lights with one button, Turning off the sockets with one button.
- Walk-through lighting groups through simple automation. For example, impulse relays or programmable relays. An excellent option is programmable relays ARIES PR or any others, they cost very little and are easy to program. You can connect motion sensors to the relays, light sensors in the corridor or on the stairs (in a private house) and configure the cunning switching on of the light at different brightnesses at different times of the day according to the motion sensor. Or just convenient control of light from different places, without bothering with pass-through and cross switches. And most of all, I recommend using Wirenboard relay modules and dimmers; they can be used to implement light control of any complexity, very flexible and convenient. It is not even necessary to understand module programming; it may not be needed.
- Programmable relay for controlling bathroom hoods and ventilation. By turning on the lights, by timers. Read Control of hoods via a programmable relay. Or also via Wirenboard relay modules.
Similarly, through programmable relays, you can control street lighting, create a presence simulation mode and other things. It is enough to try to program the Aries PR relay according to the instructions once to understand how easy it is to create different scenarios on it. There are many analogues, for example, Siemens Logo or X-Logic, EKF.
Trova Home - smart safe
This is an elegant safe that will become a real decoration of your home. It is compact in size, designed for storing small items: watches, jewelry, banknotes, etc. Inside, the safe is divided into compartments for easy sorting. Great for hiding dangerous items such as medications from children.
Trova Home - smart safe
To unlock, not a standard code is used, but a special application. The safe can be opened from your phone using a fingerprint sensor, PIN code or facial recognition.
The cost of such a device is $549.
Most importantly, consider this level 0
Whatever you do, always ask the performers for a diagram! And talk about this not after the work is done, when no one remembers anything (they will draw at random in order to at least give something away), and those who remember have already been replaced, but before the start of work. Payment only after transfer of the scheme. Print out a dozen floor plans for an electrician so that he can mark on it with a pen what goes where, and then redraw it completely, at least let it be that way. It should be completely drawn; there is no need to accept scribbled, dusty, crumpled pieces of paper for another electrician to understand later. It is important to identify all cables, both electrical and low current, with cable markings and the location of all elements.
Example. You don’t want to implement any automation now, but install twisted pair cables along all power cables to make it happen. Five years later, you decide to install something like a Smart Home and call different integrators. What's the first thing they ask? Cable diagram, of course. But there is no diagram. Someone at this stage will immediately refuse, since he will already begin to understand how the end will end, but someone needs money more, he will offer to check all the cables and draw this very diagram, only for quite a significant amount of money.
A Smart House is a Smart House, and the electrical work must be done correctly. With all the necessary elements, a normal panel and installation diagram.
I can complete an electrical supply project with any elements of modern electrical and Smart Home systems. Read more about project options and costs here.
267, total, today
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Square Off - chessboard for online games
A new chess board was presented at the conference. It is made of soft, flexible material and can be rolled up and easily carried. But in favor of compactness, the company abandoned self-moving figures; now users will have to move them themselves.
Square Off - chessboard for online games
However, this is still a smart board that can arrange a game with any opponent over the Internet, and you can also play with the built-in artificial intelligence.
The cost of such a board is approximately $199, sales are planned in mid-March of this year.
You can't do without grounding
When assembling an apartment switchboard, a TN-CS grounding circuit is used instead of the outdated two-wire one. In the new system, an additional PE conductor appears - grounding; now three conductors should come to the consumer: L phase, N zero, PE grounding. Each electrical appliance that has a special PE contact must be grounded. If your house or apartment does not have grounding, then this circuit is not difficult to make with your own hands. In a series of articles on the site, the design of a ground loop for self-installation was discussed in detail. All you need to do is study the section: .
What else is important to know is that it is prohibited to carry out zeroing in apartments of old housing stock. Those. use additionally zero N (without upgrading all common house wiring) as a PE grounding wire. The reason for this is that in the event of an accident (break of the neutral wire on the floor below), the wire acquires a dangerous potential and objects connected to such a conductor may receive an electric shock. In such cases, it is better not to connect the PE conductor anywhere until better times, until the home network is modernized.
Electric unicycle
The innovation is an electric motor. Its body is made of impact-resistant plastic. The weight of a unicycle is on average 10-20 kg, and its height is half a meter.
It is equipped with a system of gyroscopes and control electronics to maintain the vehicle in an upright position. A person is only required to master the skill of maintaining balance on it. The wheel can change speed, regulate the position of the body in space, and give signals in case of danger on the road. It is easy to operate, maneuverable and safe.
The unicycle comes with a charger. The battery is charged by connecting to an outlet for a couple of hours.
JLab JBuds Frames - wireless speakers with eyeglass mount
These are miniature Bluetooth speakers that can be attached to any glasses, both sunglasses and vision-correcting ones. The devices are installed on the arms and can operate independently of each other.
The speakers don't completely cover your ears, so you can listen to music and be aware of what's happening around you at the same time.
The devices have built-in batteries that provide up to 8 hours of continuous use.
"Electronic nose"
Everyone knows that cats and dogs have a unique sense of smell that is able to recognize volatile chemicals released by humans during illness.
Scientists at the University of Cambridge decided to create a so-called “digital nose”. This is a spectrometer on a crystal microchip the size of a small coin. It is equipped with sensors configured and calibrated to detect odors. If danger is suspected, the device will sound a signal. In the future, all information will be displayed on smartphone displays.
In addition to the medical industry, the “electronic nose” is of interest to the food industry. A number of large companies (Nestlé, Coca-Cola) want to use the invention to determine the freshness of products.
Razer Project Brooklyn - the chair of the future for gamers
Razer has announced the development of an innovative chair that will be suitable for computer game lovers. It will be made of hydrocarbon fiber, have 4D armrests that move out when necessary, and when not needed, they are retracted into the chair.
Razer Project Brooklyn - the chair of the future for gamers
There is also a folding table that allows you to play comfortably - use a mouse, keyboard or gamepad. But the main feature of the chair is the built-in panoramic curved display, which also folds into the back of the chair when not in use. Manufacturers claim that the effect of complete immersion in virtual reality is created even without 3D glasses.
Special attention is paid to the ergonomics of the chair; it will be made taking into account all the anatomical features of the spine. Even with prolonged use it does not cause discomfort or back pain.
The chair is under development and a release date has not been announced. It is also unknown what the cost of such gaming equipment will be.
Electronic vacuum tubes
At the University of California, it was decided to create efficient computer processors using electron vacuum tubes.
To produce the first tube computers, they used bulky vacuum tubes. Then transistors appeared, which made a real revolution in the field of radio electronics. But they also have a significant drawback - the impossibility of infinitely reducing the size of transistors. For further development to occur, it was necessary to introduce innovation in the form of electronic vacuum tubes. The fact is that when passing through a semiconductor, the current begins to slow down and lose its efficiency. Vacuum elements do not have this problem because current flows freely through them. Such transistors are ten times more efficient than their semiconductor counterparts. The developments are not finished yet; they are actively continuing in the direction of reducing the size of the lamps.
Cadillac eVTOL - self-driving flying car
The future is closer than we think. General Motors has presented its model of a personal drone that can carry one person. It will be a vertical take-off and landing air taxi that will travel short distances at speeds of up to 90 km/h, powered by batteries.
Cadillac eVTOL - self-driving flying car
The company showed what design the quadcopter would be made in, but did not provide detailed technical specifications. The release date of such an air taxi is unknown.
Rectennas
At Georgia Tech, engineers developed rectennas. They have a unique ability - capturing light and converting it into direct current. This is done using vertical carbon nanotubes at the top of the silicon substrate.
Complex processes lead to the formation of a charge that converts alternating current into direct current. So far, the efficiency of the device is extremely low, but scientists are confident that in the near future it will be possible to reach higher levels.
Lithium-ion batteries
Leading electronics manufacturers have decided to create flexible power supplies. Panasonic has developed 0.55 mm thick lithium-ion batteries designed for wearable devices (tablets, phones, cameras).
They have a special multilayer structure and a special electrode placement design. Copper acts as the anode, and aluminum acts as the cathode. They can be of various shapes, most often cylindrical. Due to their mechanical properties, they can be bent and twisted without loss of power. There are several models, the strength of some of them is a thousand turns and bends.
Speeding up computers
American researchers have proven that instead of electric current, ultrashort laser flashes can be used to move individual electrons. This technology will allow the creation of quantum computers. They also plan to use the innovation in the field of quantum cryptography and to optimize chemical reactions.
The electron must be “pushed”, pumped with energy using pulses from a terahertz laser to the level of separation from the nucleus and the crystal begins to move along atomic bonds. Such laser systems are so fast that they can trap and hold electrons between two energy states.
BuddyPhones School+ - the best children's headphones
Gadget manufacturers continue to adapt to new living conditions with coronavirus. The Icelandic company Onanoff presented children's headphones at the conference, which received a CES 2022 award.
BuddyPhones School+ are great for distance learning: they have three volume levels and are safe for children's hearing - the power is limited to a safe level of 85 dB. The headphones have a sensitive microphone that picks up your voice and reduces background noise.
The headphones are made of safe materials; the headband is claimed to have a long service life. They fold easily and are convenient to store. There is a built-in BuddyJack adapter that allows you to simultaneously connect 4 cables and conduct a group lesson. The set includes replaceable ear pads, which are made of moisture-wicking and hypoallergenic materials.
The headphones can work offline for up to a day; both wired and wireless connections are possible. Available in 6 colors, you can purchase additional stickers to make your headphones unique.
This is our selection of the most interesting new products from CES 2022. Which new product from our selection interested you the most and why? Which new products would you like to buy and why - write in the comments.
