rako lighting

[jonybee89]

hi ive just bought house with needs a rewire so im going to go all out and go for some 'smart lighting,scene lighting,mood lighting' not sure he correct term I mainy do commercial work and have installed ex or lighting systems witch control all the lighting via dali pair from one mw sensors and all mw sensors connected together via bus with are then programed to work with each other controlling banks of florescent fittings havent done anything with rako systems and am looking for information of how they work/wired

if say I wanted spots wall lights and some 5 amp sockets switched in the living room
a few banks of spots some plinth lights and some fancy back lighting in the kitchen

and want I all controlled from a point in the kitchen and living room and my phone

would each bank of lights be fed from a rako ' controller ' and then all controllers daisy chained in a cat 5 including the control points and then programed to turn on and dim as wanted

like I said ive done nothing with rako before and just looking or some advice
does any body have an example of a drawing of how the system is wired
also what fittings are compatible
thanks

 

[Octopus]

Yes - you need 1 controller (over a ton + VAT per unit) per "bank" of lights you want to control and yes 1 switch can control multiple controllers, and these, as the switches are radio linked can control lights across different circuits.

NEVER IR lighting circuits with Rako devices on them as they don't like 500v up them.



How deep are your pockets? This stuff isn't cheap and the specialists who install it charge about double what a sparky charges per day.

It's clever stuff but don't do anything too hasty or it could bite you in the wallet!

 

[jonybee89]

Yes - you need 1 controller (over a ton + VAT per unit) per "bank" of lights you want to control and yes 1 switch can control multiple controllers, and these, as the switches are radio linked can control lights across different circuits.

NEVER IR lighting circuits with Rako devices on them as they don't like 500v up them.



How deep are your pockets? This stuff isn't cheap and the specialists who install it charge about double what a sparky charges per day.

It's clever stuff but don't do anything too hasty or it could bite you in the wallet!

I woukd rather have mine hardwired instaed of wireless controlls and have read its got to be wired in cat 5 what imm really looking for is a drawing so i knwo what cables i need to run in i want to install it myself still doing my homework on it all at the moment

 

[Octopus]

I would rather have mine hardwired instead of wireless controlls and have read its got to be wired in cat 5 what i'm really looking for is a drawing so i know what cables i need to run in i want to install it myself still doing my homework on it all at the moment

Hum.... me thinks you have got to do a lot more reading to be done.

I think the switches are on CAT 5 but the rako devices are all wireless (in the house where I come across them).

 

[Simlec]

Rako has a wired, wireless and hybrid of both.

 

[egg67]

Does it have to be rako?
If your going to do it yourself have a look a loxone easy to fit and they will help in the design

 

[telectrix]

or lightwaveRF.

 

[D Skelton]

For what you want to do fella, stick with the wireless Rako kit. It's easy to install, easy to program and easy to alter at a later date. Also, for your set up with only a hand full of zones, it will work out far cheaper than a wired solution.

You start running wires in you'll have headaches in no time.

As Murdoch says, each circuit/zone has its own controller which just sits in line (similar to a SELV tranny) and your wall plates just communicate directly with these.

To use your phone you'll need an RTC bridge set up on your wireless network.

 

[atm84]

Contact Rako they should tell you how to do it.