KNX helps Jewish family celebrate the Sabbath
Helping a Jewish family in Leeds comply with the rules of the Sabbath is KNX smart-home technology to control lighting and other services. The principal function of the installation is to control lighting for a period of 25 hours to comply with rules relating to creating or extinguishing fire (switching on any electrical items is considered to be a form of fire creation). The installation was carried out by Application Power Hire (APH), a member of KNX UK.
House lighting is programmed to be switched on and off automatically without any human intervention at specific times depending on sunrise and sunset. The KNX system manages over 60 internal and 10 external lighting circuits. It also controls a number of mains sockets so that, for example, cooker plates can be switched on/off at certain time to heat food and keep it warm.
A KNX gateway networks the equipment internally. It can set lighting scenes, run complex and large timed light sequences and enable the client to enter the dates and times of various Jewish festival and events that change from month to month and from year to year.
This gateway has a built in astral calendar that allows for seasonal variations and determines these times according to its location in the world. All such changes are carried out automatically.
A series of six Sabbath scenes has been created to commence automatically at the required time. Outdoor lights are included, and many circuits can be dimmed. Sunset is the trigger for the first and last scenes.
APH has a ‘model’ based on this installation that can be applied to similar homes.
