A lived-in house, plastered walls, no refurbishment in sight — and still the wish for lighting, roller shutters and heating to work together. Within the KNX standard there is a route of its own for that: KNX RF, the radio side of the standard. Push-buttons and sensors run on batteries, the switching and dimming devices find room in existing back boxes or directly at the appliance, and everything is planned as with a wired KNX system — wireless and cable devices form one system together. That opens two routes: the way into a smart home while the walls stay closed, and the addition to an existing KNX system wherever no bus cable runs. We plan both — and we also tell you where a cable remains the better choice.
By the bed a switch for the ceiling light has been missing for years, at the terrace door one for the roller shutters, and behind the new sofa the existing one sits in the wrong place. A wireless push-button in the KNX standard needs neither cable nor back box: it runs on a battery and sits where you need it; its counterpart, the switching device, works at the light fitting or in the existing back box — without a wall being opened for it.
The functions of everyday life can be controlled wirelessly: switching and dimming lights, moving roller shutters, controlling the heating room by room, plus sensors for temperature or open windows. The devices for this are fitted into existing back boxes by our own electricians at elektrofabrik — our sister company — or by your own contractor. The walls stay closed throughout, and the furniture stays where it stands.
The other case: a wired KNX system is already at work in the house, only no bus cable runs to the converted loft, the garage or the repurposed room. Wireless devices close that gap without a cable — in the same standard and in the same project; a media coupler, a small device that translates between cable and wireless, links the two sides. Scenes and schedules then treat the new rooms like all the others.
A start may be small: one room, a handful of devices. Because KNX RF is part of the KNX standard, every step stays something you can build on — the system grows further later on by wireless or, if renovation does happen at some point, by cable within the same project. So there is no isolated solution with an app of its own that knows nothing of the rest of the house, and no stopgap that would have to be replaced at the next step.
At the beginning there is no technology, but a walk through your home: which rooms we are talking about, what gets in the way day to day, what should be better — and who operates it, guests and children included? Out of that comes a list of functions first and a list of devices only afterwards. That keeps the system as large as your needs — and every function has a reason that you have named.
KNX RF is the radio route of the KNX standard: planned and programmed in the ETS — the software in which every KNX system is created — and in the same project as the cabled devices. For you that means one system, one way of operating it, one set of documentation, whether a device works wirelessly or sits on the cable. Several manufacturers carry the standard; the choice of wireless devices is smaller than on the cable, but you are not tied to one brand.
Walls and ceilings absorb wireless signals, and solid building elements absorb more — so part of the planning is where devices sit and how they reach one another. Where one path is not enough, a repeater is added to pass the signal on; that way even a large house can be covered. How far a signal carries depends on the building — so we look at the building.
Wireless push-buttons and sensors run on batteries — which is why they need no cable and no back box. Those batteries last several years, and part of the honest picture is this: at some point they get changed. We plan for that — devices that report in good time, before a battery is empty, have priority when we choose. The switching and dimming devices need none: they sit on the existing power cable.
Wireless is the route for walls that stay closed — not a substitute for every cable. Where refurbishment is happening anyway or a wall is open, we plan the bus cable: it needs no batteries and no wireless planning. If you have a renovation coming up before long, waiting can be the calmer route — even though the wireless job would reach us sooner. A no to wireless is also a result of this planning.
Battery-powered push-buttons need no connection, the switching and dimming devices go into existing back boxes or close to whatever they switch — both are fitted by our own electricians at elektrofabrik, our sister company, or by your own contractor. The programming comes from us: every device is given its place in the project, and at the handover we explain to you what reacts where. The documents that go with it belong to you.
Beyond the detached house, too: in listed buildings and in rented spaces, opening up walls and ceilings often rules itself out — there KNX RF allows planning within the standard without intervening in the building fabric, and the system behind it stays the same as on the cable.
What can be solved wirelessly and what is better left on the cable is decided by your house and your project — not by the device. Four questions, then we sort it out together.
Even "in your case this is not worth doing" is a result we will tell you. Both cost you nothing.
Rather talk straight away+49 211 838 66 870Yes. KNX RF is the radio route of the KNX standard and is made for exactly this situation: push-buttons and sensors run on batteries and need no cable — they go to the spot where they are needed. The switching and dimming devices need power and therefore sit where power already is: in the existing back box, at the light, at the roller shutter motor — fitted by elektrofabrik or your own contractor. New cables, chases or opened walls are not needed. Two limits belong to an honest answer: where there is no power at all, at an awning without a supply for instance, wireless does not help either. And the wireless coverage is planned, not assumed.
Yes. Wireless devices become part of the same system and the same project, joined by a media coupler that mediates between bus cable and wireless. For operation, scenes and schedules the room is then one like any other in the house. This is the right route for the one place a bus cable never reached. Two things we settle beforehand: whether the ETS project for your system exists — if it is missing, the route starts with the system readout, which has a page of its own — and whether the wireless connection carries as far as the planned place. If it is about more than that one place, energy systems for instance, our page on extension describes that.
Several years. A more precise figure depends on the individual device and on how often it is used — which is why we give none. If a battery runs down, nothing comes to a standstill because of it: only that one control point pauses, the switching and dimming devices are on power and carry on working. There are two ways to change it, and you decide: at a service visit, when someone is at the system anyway, or by yourself — it takes only a few simple steps, and we show you them at handover.
With planning: yes. Walls and ceilings weaken a wireless signal, solid building elements more than light ones. That is why we promise no range in metres but plan the coverage on your particular building: where the devices sit, which distances they have to bridge and at which point a repeater carries the signal onward. A large house over several floors can be reached this way too. If the planning shows that a place cannot be reached reliably by wireless, we tell you so — for that place the cable then remains, or a deliberate decision to do without, but not a system that only responds sometimes.
For that we would have to know what is to be built — and that is exactly what we settle first, which is why no figure appears here. The scope runs from a single wireless push-button on an existing system to a whole house fitted out room by room; a flat rate would do neither case justice. After the walk-through and the list of functions the effort can be stated, not before. The invoices remain separate: planning, programming and documentation lie with us; devices and installation lie with our own electricians at elektrofabrik — our sister company — or with your own contractor. The project file and the documents are handed over to you at the end.
Wireless is one of several routes for a system — whether it already exists or is only just being built. The overview sorts them by your starting position.
To the KNX service overview →smartfabrik is a smart home planning practice based in Düsseldorf (Reisholzer Werftstr. 31A). We plan for private clients and companies in Cologne, Düsseldorf and across North Rhine-Westphalia — and, where wanted, nationwide and internationally. A selection of the places we have already planned and delivered in:
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