RAKO advice for extension / renovation

[Gouni]

Hi All,

I hope this is posted in the right area as I am new here. I will shortly be embarking on a home renovation / extension and am looking to have Rako installed to control whole house lighting (mainly 12v LED). I have a question about the wiring for this. As I understand I will need one 10A supply for each RAK4 and I will need 8 RAK4s to switch / dim 32 light circuits. Home run CAT5e for each controller position (in place of old switches) and 2 core to each LED light source back to RAK4. Normal T&E to switch bathroom and on suite fans will be home run too.

As I am trying to plan the cabling side when the building commences is there anything else I will need to consider before I start?

Really appreciate advice or pointers if I have this all wrong! Want to have a wired installation rather than wireless.

Thanks for your help

 

[Murdoch]

Where are you planning to put the rako devices? Are you testing this or is somebody else? 

 

[Gouni]

RAK4s to go in the garage as I don't have room near consumer unit. This project is for my own home and I am self managing the contractors. I guess when we are close to finishing the actual build I will need to find someone to help with completing the installation.

I have thought of possibly moving all the electrics to the garage but I don't know what is involved in getting the meter moved. Distance from meter to garage is approx. 8 - 10m

 

[Kurt]

If you have not done this before. Buy a roll of T&E, assume you want to use 1.0mm or 1.5mm and cut 32 lengths say a foot long. This will give you some idea of the volume of cable involved and the issues you need to address in getting them to a common point (your rako rack) and plan out the containment of cables. That also goes for the cable route out of the garage before they all split up into their separate routes. You will also have the cat5 to deal with as well and recommend a different route for that. As its LED you will only be using a fraction of the Rakos power so by all means run separate 10A feeds but don't worry too much about total power.

 

[Gouni]

If you have not done this before. Buy a roll of T&E, assume you want to use 1.0mm or 1.5mm and cut 32 lengths say a foot long. This will give you some idea of the volume of cable involved and the issues you need to address in getting them to a common point (your rako rack) and plan out the containment of cables. That also goes for the cable route out of the garage before they all split up into their separate routes. You will also have the cat5 to deal with as well and recommend a different route for that. As its LED you will only be using a fraction of the Rakos power so by all means run separate 10A feeds but don't worry too much about total power.

Hi Kurt

Would it not be 8 runs of T&E in (8 x 10A supplies for each Rako) and 32 out (to each lighting circuit)? I assume I can use thinner 2 core for the LV supply to the lights.

Is a separate supply required for the RAK Link also or can that be taken from one of the RAK4 boxes?

Sorry I am just trying to get all the cable runs required in my head... and there is not a lot of space up there!

Cheers

 

[Gouni]

Just had a thought, would it not be a good idea to run a second cu from the garage for all the lighting needs and just update the current cu and add the new socket circuits to that?

 

[Murdoch]

Hi Kurt

Would it not be 8 runs of T&E in (8 x 10A supplies for each Rako) and 32 out (to each lighting circuit)? I assume I can use thinner 2 core for the LV supply to the lights.

Is a separate supply required for the RAK Link also or can that be taken from one of the RAK4 boxes?

Sorry I am just trying to get all the cable runs required in my head... and there is not a lot of space up there!

Cheers

I'm guessing you are not a spark as you refer to "thinner 2 core" - so I would recommend you consult the spark who will be doing the wiring and the rako man who will be doing the programming ,,,,

Are you doing away with all the "traditional" switches ?

 

[Gouni]

I'm guessing you are not a spark as you refer to "thinner 2 core" - so I would recommend you consult the spark who will be doing the wiring and the rako man who will be doing the programming ,,,,

I haven't got one yet. I have only just had my party wall agreement through so I am hoping to start works soon. Just looking for a bit of advice.

 

[Murdoch]

I haven't got one yet. I have only just had my party wall agreement through so I am hoping to start works soon. Just looking for a bit of advice.

They are fun aren't they. People think they only apply to flats, maisonettes, semi's and terrace houses - but no! If you are building within 6 meters of your neighbours property the act may apply!

 

[Kurt]

Hi Kurt

Would it not be 8 runs of T&E in (8 x 10A supplies for each Rako) and 32 out (to each lighting circuit)? I assume I can use thinner 2 core for the LV supply to the lights.

Is a separate supply required for the RAK Link also or can that be taken from one of the RAK4 boxes?

Sorry I am just trying to get all the cable runs required in my head... and there is not a lot of space up there!

Cheers

Depends how you want to do it, I,m not attempting to provide a design, just throwing thoughts out of my head.. you will know what load you want to put on each cct out of the Rak4 and you may want some basic elelctrical separation for upstairs and downstairs or east and west. If you really want 8 ccts worth of supply, that's one way of doing it. My point was to think about all the cables you need before drilling holes and sizing containment cos its a pig when you figure out you have run out of space. For the price you could easily ditch the rako and use KNX and dali drivers that way you can get rid of most of the cables