Smart home
Loxone explained: the smart home from a single source
One Miniserver, one manufacturer, one piece of software: Loxone promises home automation without a babel of protocols. What the system can do and where its limits lie.
Loxone was founded in Austria in 2009 and in a good fifteen years has become one of the most widely installed systems in the German-speaking world. Here you can see how the system is structured, what it can do and where its limits lie.
What is Loxone?
Loxone is a smart home system made by the Austrian manufacturer of the same name. Unlike KNX, the intelligence does not sit in every device but in a central computer in the distribution board, the Miniserver. It controls lighting, blinds, heating, music, access and energy throughout the house. Hardware, software and app all come from the same manufacturer.
How does Loxone work?
The Miniserver is a small device in the distribution board. It processes all inputs, such as buttons, motion sensors and temperature probes, and controls the outputs through extensions: lighting, blinds, heating, music, access. It is programmed with Loxone Config, free software in which functions are connected graphically. To change a rule, you move blocks instead of writing code.
Three routes to the devices
- Tree: Loxone's own bus, laid as a green cable, for buttons, sensors and actuators in new builds.
- Air: radio on 868 MHz for retrofits and anywhere no cable runs.
- Link: the connection to the extensions in the board, for relays, dimmers, DMX, Modbus or KNX, for example.
Through interfaces, Loxone also integrates third-party systems: KNX devices, blind motors, heat pumps, wallboxes, photovoltaics. Its own products range from glass buttons and presence sensors to the audio server for multiroom music.
The autopilot
Loxone markets its installations with the image of an autopilot: the house should do as much as possible by itself. Lighting follows the time of day and presence, blinds follow the sun and room temperature, heating follows the calendar. The goal is a house in which nobody needs an app any more. In practice this works where the integrator takes time over the settings and the residents can describe their habits.
Strengths
- Everything from one source: hardware, software and app fit together.
- Very fast implementation of logic, scenes and automation.
- App, visualisation and remote access are included.
- Good price per function, especially in a detached house.
Weaknesses
- Proprietary: the system depends on the manufacturer Loxone.
- Centralised: if the Miniserver fails, the installation stops. Buttons then no longer work in the conventional way.
- Changes need Loxone Config and experience; the software is powerful, but it is not a toy.
- For remote access, the connection runs through the manufacturer's service.
Who Loxone is right for
Loxone is the right choice if you are building and want plenty of automation, energy management and a good app, and you prefer a well-thought-out complete system to an open standard. It fits new builds as well as renovations, because Tree and Air can be mixed. If a building has to stay independent of any one manufacturer for decades, however, KNX is the better choice, or a combination in which KNX forms the basic installation and the Miniserver takes over the logic.
More on this: smart home control and lighting control.
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Philip Fiumi
Managing Director
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