Rewire house and something a bit high-tech ?!

[IceBoy]

Hi All,

In the new year (I'm going to get quotes) the house is going to get a full rewire.

I would love the lighting in each room to be controlled by something a bit more high-tech, than just an on/off switch or conventional dimmer.

So what options do I have?

Are there touch sensitive switches?
Could I have some sort of panel, which controls certain lights?
Could I have an Ipad style thing on the wall controlling the lighting?

I have also thought about mood lighting but again have no idea?

Help appreciated.

Iceboy

[IceBoy]

Anyone?

I have just read about Philips Hue lighting, which could be a solution, with a wall mounted ipad?

What other options are there?

IceBoy

[tactical lizard]

It all depends on your budget and how far you want to go,

If it's just simple lighting then stick with something cheap,

If you have money to spend then look at something like Loxone and automate your entire house.

[hairyben]

tactical lizard said:

It all depends on your budget and how far you want to go,

^That

If you want something that looks cool, fit something retro-fit that can be easily removed and reverted to "standard" in the future. the z-wave protocol looks well supported although I've not worked with it myself.

On the other hand, someone like lutron will happily send a rep to spec up your house for various levels of automation but you'll need deep pockets... several of my customers have the latest lutron systems and can't adjust their own programmed lighting scenes without the £300/hour lutron man.

[smckeown]

I have just planned and completed a rewire. Mood lighting to me is having control of different light sources in the same room. This is my setup in lounge.
4 gang dimmer,controlling:
Dimmable led down lights in ceiling
Dimmable lamp sockets in 2 corners of room
Dimmable led wall lights
Dimmable led down lights above fireplace

I also have remove control led light strip behind tv

The effect is superb.

Other advice is to run Cat6 network cable to most rooms,that allows me to run fast internet,HDMI to any room and POE (power over Ethernet) for the 2 external security cameras (will add more when we extend next year)

Sean