Contents Basalte Home 7
A good KNX visualization combines all the systems of a smart home building. This includes lighting, shading, electric doors/gates, heating and climate control as well as surveillance cameras. Multi-room audio, (remote) access control, home cinema and pool control are mandatory in the high-end segment. Curtain up for the Basalte Home 7 test!
Brand new is the Basalte Core Plus Serverwhich we have used in an initial practical test. This makes the Basalte Core Plus the successor to the Basalte Core S4 server and the new top model among KNX servers.
The first approaches to this could already be seen at Light & Buildung 2018 in Frankfurt. In contrast to other high-quality multi-room audio systems on the market (Crestron, Control4), the entire KNX building system technology is native and fully integrated.
Of all the KNX visualizations available on the market, Basalte Home on tablet and smartphone currently conveys the most coherent and modern impression in terms of usability, look & feel, speed and value.
Basalte Home version 7 has been available for all Basalte Core Servers since June 2024. Functions have been gradually added to the KNX visualization, making it the best and most highly integrated home control system. What does this mean for the building owner or user?
Basalte Home App: Control Basalte Core Plus Server
A single app, the Basalte Homeapp, is available for all functions on smartphones (iPhone) and tablets (iPad) to control a house or a larger apartment. What impressed us right from the start was the very simple and clear operating concept via the graphical user interface, which is also very tidy and minimalist.
Both the menu structure and the design of the individual icons and control elements clearly show that the manufacturer has worked with great attention to detail and with real design professionals.
Basalte Core Plus: Successor to the Basalte Core S4
We have subjected one of the first Basalte Core Plus servers to a practical test. It is currently being used in one of our projects. More details can be found in the article “Introducing Basalte Core Plus: KNX server with multi-room audio and Matter wireless standard“.
KNX scenes: Room, floor or whole house
As in many of our video contributions shown and mentioned, today the lighting within a house is controlled via KNX scenes realized. With Basalte Home, individual KNX scenes can be defined within a room as well as within a floor or an entire house.
Basalte Core Mini: Small KNX server for home control
The Basalte Core Mini is the small version of the KNX server for controlling the entire KNX smart home. Compared to the “big” Basalte Core S4 server, the Basalte Core Mini offers the same options and features for controlling an entire house or a larger villa. With one restriction: the control of multi-room audio is limited to Sonos devices and a maximum of 4 rooms.
So if you want to provide sound for 5, 8, 12, 16, 20 or more rooms (a maximum of 256 rooms are possible), the “big” Basalte Core S4 server for native KNX multi-room audio control is the best choice.
Basalte Ellie - Mini touchscreen KNX home control system
The competitor product to the Gira G1 is Basalte Elliewhich was presented at Light & Buildung in 2018 and for which we also published a video article. Basalte Ellie is a classy touchscreen control unit, which in any case supports the Basalte Core S4 server as it also accesses it.
Compared to the cheaper Gira G1 touchscreen, which uses a normal TFT display, the Basalte Ellie uses an OLED touch display. This has the advantage that the colors appear richer and more contrasting. At the same time, Basalte Ellie has a faster integrated processor, so that there are some speed advantages in practical everyday use. Both the Gira G1 and Basalte Ellie can be used simultaneously as a door intercom station in the entrance area or at several points in the house.
Basalte Ellie: 12 variants of the luxury touchscreen
The elegant Basalte Ellie touchscreen is available in 12 different versions with the highest quality of workmanship and material appearance. Most clients opt for either the “satin white” aluminum version or the “black” brushed aluminum version.
The following versions of the Basalte Ellie are available:
- Aluminum satin white
- Aluminum brushed black
- Brushed aluminum dark grey
- Bronze
- Brushed brass
- Brushed nickel
- Fer Forge Bronze (forged)
- Fer Forge gray (forged)
- Fer Forge gunmetal (forged)
- Fer Forge rose (forged)
Basalte Home is compatible with the following door communication systems:
Compatibility Status: March 2022
Compared to the early days of Basalte Home, the Smart Home KNX system is compatible with more and more door stations and door communication systems. While the Siedle Vario, Siedle Steel Classic and Siedle Compact door communication as well as the Gira door communication system 106 could be integrated right at the beginning, Doorbird door communication, 2N IP Verso door station and Residium Door Unit door communication followed.
Recently, the TCS door control systems in the form of the TCS Argos, TCS AVD, TCS ASN and TCS AVN IP door communication systems can also be used. All the door intercom systems mentioned are IP-based and equipped for the future.
- Gira System 106
- Gira DCS Gateway
- Siedle Vario / Steel Classic / Compact door communication
- Siedle Smart Gateway SG 650-0
- DoorBird door communication (DoorBird IP Video Door Station D210x and D2102V)
- 2N door communication (2N IP Verso door station)
- Residium Door Unit
- TCS door control systems Argos, AVD, ASN, AVN
*Up to 12 Basalte Ellie touchscreens are possible within a Basalte Home system
Basalte Core Plus Server: Highlights and control functions
The Basalte Core S4 Server is the heart of Basalte Home and controls the entire KNX network in a house or apartment. If a Basalte Asano amplifier (see table above) is also connected, voice announcements such as “The washing machine is ready” or the “Dingdong” ringtone can be displayed during music playback.
To do this, the music playing is gently faded out briefly – the individual ringtone sounds – and then faded in again. We have published a short video about this.
The sound and volume can be individually adjusted for each zone, i.e. for each room.
- Complete KNX home control including graphical KNX visualization (Basalte Home)
- Multiple user profiles (multi-client capability and access rights)
- Output of ringtone and messages via multi-room audio system (incl. night-time muting etc.)
- Television TV integration: Sony TV IP Control
- Television TV integration: Samsung TV IP Control
- In-home streaming with Basalte Home, iPad
- Integrated Internet radio
- Integrated music streaming: Spotify, Deezer, Didal
- Control of all KNX functions (heating, ventilation, shading, lighting, scenes, etc.)
- Integration of many door stations with video and audio
Basalte Home: Functions in detail
Unlike any other KNX system currently on the market, Basalte Home combines all the functionsfor controlling a house or apartment as a KNX smart home in a single app. This includes:
- Individual room heating control with cooling function in summer
- Air conditioning separately adjustable
- Multi-stage ventilation system can be controlled automatically or manually
- DALI lighting can be controlled both as warm white/cold white and colored light DT6/DT8
- KNX scenes can be individually compiled across all trades
- Opening electric doors, garage doors and windows via touchscreen or app
- Any schedules / schedulers can be applied to the entire building
- Timer function for any number of devices
- Graphical energy management and energy monitoring
- Very extensive logic functions with individual logic editor
- Ringtone via multi-room audio loudspeaker with music fade-out in selected rooms
Logic functions in Basalte Home (Basalte Studio)
Basalte Home offers a wide range of logic functions that can be defined and programmed in the backend. This makes it possible to implement individual and complex functions in a building and automate processes that would not be possible with KNX networking alone.
The following logic commands are available (selection):
- AND
- Compare to
- Gate
- Interlock
- Lookup Mode
- MUX
- NOT
- OR
Frank Völkel & Smartest Home Team
Since 2007, we have been testing KNX components for functionality and practical suitability in order to use only the best products in our customers' homes and villas
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