I’ll be documenting here my Velbus journey. If you haven’t heard that name before – Velbus is the only one really open hardware home control platform. A “competition” to Velbus – KNX is an open standard, but there is no way of installing it and using without using proprietary ETS (Windows only) with an encrypted database. Velbus ticked all the open source software/hardware boxes. The configuration software VelbusLink doesn’t run natively on linux, but can be run under WINE/Lutris. The Velbus forum is fantastic source of information. There is a good set of modules – from lighting switches, through control panels (switch with display) and gateways to relays, dimmers, meters, occupancy sensors to a weather station. My plan is to retrofit an old house and use Velbus to control whatever possible – lights, window blinds, heating, air-conditioning, pool automation, energy generation, etc. The OpenHAB will be used for tasks that can’t be directly managed from Velbus. A great source of information about how to install Velbus is MDAR webpage: https://mdar.co.uk
Progress log:
- Bought and tested Velbus starter kit.
- Bought Finder 3 phase energy meter with pulse output and Velbus I/O module – it will be used to measure home energy production/consumption.
- Velbus cable from main fusebox to the external gate installed
- Velbus cable in bedroom installed.
- Velbus cable and CAT6 cable installed between the living room and the attic.