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I am looking into transforming the light switches, curtains, and ACs in my house to a KNX based system. If I understand correctly, KNX is an open standard that allows anyone to configure their devices. I am planning to get a contractor to do the installation for me, and he will select the actuators, install the wiring, and perform the initial configuration.

Many people around me are advising me not to do home automation in general because you end up with a black box that a contractor would give you that you don't understand, would be dependent on that contractor to make the simplest changes to configurations, and they would charge a lot and have a high running cost over time. However, I consider myself very tech minded (I am a computer engineer by trade), and I work with control systems for a living, so I think I can handle this stuff myself.

Is it possible, or practical, for me to maintain my own KNX system, or is this something that is best left to the professionals? What tools do I need to do this? What sort of effort is required?

(I hope I am posting this in the right place. Can't find a home automation stackexchange so this is the closest thing)

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  • Where are you on this planet? As far as "non-black-box" systems, I'm more familiar with Insteon than KNX... Sep 15, 2019 at 5:16
  • "left to the professionals" Dude! You are a professional. Check with wikipedia page for KNX if that doesn't scare you, you can probably manage it assuming you can get the documentation needed. If not here it might be on-topic in superuser.
    – Jasen
    Sep 15, 2019 at 6:20
  • Hello, and welcome to Home Improvement. Unfortunately, any answer to this question will be a matter of opinion. Please take our tour so you'll know how best to participate here. Sep 15, 2019 at 11:58
  • one thing to keep in mind is that the installation is often the major battle, while the control system is later modifiable. For example, my house came wired with door sensors and a long-defunct alarm system. I ripped out the old box and was able to hook right into the pre-wired sensors with an arduino-type device.
    – dandavis
    Sep 16, 2019 at 5:31

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