Rako... the only way?

tobinharris

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Having dug around, trying to glean the HA options, I think I've decided the rather expensive Rako is the best way forward to achieve...

  • Retrofit ceiling modules for light separation (for 2 lamps on same wire track)
  • Inline lamp control for table lamps
  • Flexible wall switch options (2 button, 7 button)
  • No need for home server software, or master control unit (at first)
  • Future integration with Comfort Home Alarm or similar
  • iPad/iPhone options via ethernet module
  • Sonos control

Questions

Can you make other HA switches (like Niko) work with Rako? The Rako ones don't look quite to my taste (or the missus!)

Is Rako really worth the extra £££ compared to ZWave or X10 or Home Easy

How do you make Rako work with Sonos. Extra module?


Other HA options considered & rejected...

Home Easy - nice price, but no new modules this year. Needs RFXCOM to automate via software.

ZWave - looks great, good price, but no ceiling rose option to separate lights on same track. Vera looks cool.

ZigBee and RF - not sure what advantages over ZWave.

X10 - nice prices, loads of devices, but reports a bit flakey. Also, not sure our mains is up to it.

Enocean - looks like the way forward, but no real consumer story yet. Can't even find the products to buy to make a simple HA system!

Insteon - not many people talking about this, still valid option?

Niko - sexy stuff. But not good for retrofit.

Lutron - as above.

Thoughts welcome guys, it's a minefield out there :)

Looking for simple start, less than £1K, for (3 ceiling lights, 2 wall lights on same track, 2 lamps, 2 wall switches, and then plenty of forward compatibility for full-house retrofit in the future, plus alarm/remote TCP/IP access abilities)

Tobin
 
How do you make Rako work with Sonos. Extra module?

Hi Tobin,

This is the only one I can really answer. The APR Bridge which is the Wireless / home network interface does it(this also gives your iphone/pad/demopad control. You use the mapping function in the RAsoft software which comes with the bridge - to find all your sonos units on your network.

You then with the mapping function say when you press this button on this switch (make sure it has its own room number) then execute this function on this sonos device.

Possible functions are: set mute, clear mute, toggle mute, play, pause, set volume, volume step up, volume step down, next track, previous track and toggle play/pause.

Cheers

Stuart
 
Hi Tobin,

This is the only one I can really answer. The APR Bridge which is the Wireless / home network interface does it(this also gives your iphone/pad/demopad control. You use the mapping function in the RAsoft software which comes with the bridge - to find all your sonos units on your network.

You then with the mapping function say when you press this button on this switch (make sure it has its own room number) then execute this function on this sonos device.

Possible functions are: set mute, clear mute, toggle mute, play, pause, set volume, volume step up, volume step down, next track, previous track and toggle play/pause.

Cheers

Stuart

Thanks Stuart. So I just buy the APR bridge and setup the mappings in the software. Sounds pretty sweet (although I'm on a Mac, so will need a Windows boot partition or something).

Tobin
 
Hi Stuart

Quick Q. I take it I just need the APR Bridge module, and can ignore the PC Programming module?

Thanks
 
yup software comes with the apr bridge - you don't need anything else.

cheers

Stuart
 

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