The system has been running for years, the ETS project is at hand — and now something is to be added: a building extension, a converted attic, the outdoor area, a heat pump. Whether this becomes an extension or a rebuild of the topology is decided not by the new device but by the system beneath it. We check what reserves it has today and plan the extension within the existing project.
A building extension, an added storey, a converted attic: lighting, shading and heating there should run just as they do in the rest of the house. Whether that is straightforward is decided by the line the new part is to join — whether it can still accept devices and how far the existing cable reaches.
Heat pump, photovoltaics, storage, wallbox — four devices with their own control logic that work individually and only play together once they know about each other. The existing KNX system can provide that link; whether it does depends on the devices' interfaces and on the data points they expose.
A carport with a charging point, garden lighting, a gate, a pool: outdoors, everything runs off a single bus cable that leads out of the building. That includes surge protection for this cable, the clearance from the 230-volt lines and the requirements for outdoor devices — questions that belong at the start of the planning.
The guest room becomes an office, one unit becomes two, a tenant moves in and needs a zone of their own. The devices stay, the requirement changes: different assignments, different time programmes, different reporting. With a complete project this can be planned — what remains open is whether the structure supports a further zone.
How many devices sit on one segment, how much bus current the KNX power supply delivers, and how high the telegram load is over a longer period — what counts is not the instantaneous value but the peaks, when central commands or shading runs trigger everything at once.
What is scarce is not the group addresses but the individual ones: they are limited per segment. If a line coupler is added, the addresses behind it change; the affected devices are re-addressed and reloaded. Older line couplers filter only main groups 0 to 13 — that sets the direction for the addressing scheme.
The limits are set by the hardware rather than the project: whether the actuator still has a free channel, whether the cable runs to the desired spot, how heavily the KNX power supply is loaded. Plus free module widths and terminals in the distribution board. It is opened by our own electricians from elektrofabrik or by your contractor — we take a look with them.
Heat pump, inverter, storage and charging point bring different routes with them: volt-free SG-Ready contacts via a KNX switching actuator, Modbus RTU or TCP via a gateway, EEBus, more rarely a manufacturer's own KNX module. Which data points a device reads and writes is stated in its data point list — the route determines the scope.
KNX coordinates, it does not control everything: the surplus is usually distributed by the inverter's energy manager, the hard limit at the house connection is enforced by the fuse protection, and grid-oriented control under § 14a EnWG runs via the grid operator's control unit. What sits on the bus: enable signals, priorities, time windows and the display.
If the segment is at its device limit or the KNX power supply is exhausted, hardware is added: a further segment via a line repeater or an additional line, each with its own power supply — planned by us, installed by elektrofabrik or your contractor. That is a rebuild rather than an add-on, and we say so as soon as we see it.
In commercial properties too: tenant fit-outs and additional zones are created in the KNX project itself — with their own segment, line coupler and power supply — while the connection to a building management system runs via a gateway, usually on BACnet, and the question there is which data points the system offers at all: functions that are currently parameterised only locally in the device first need a group address and a download.
Whether your system supports the new plans is decided by lines, addresses and reserves — not by the new 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, that is what the project is for. With the complete ETS project, new devices, additional group addresses and even a further line can be planned: we see the existing topology and the free address ranges and build on them. The limits are set by the hardware rather than the project — whether the actuator still has a free channel, whether the cable runs to the desired spot, how heavily the KNX power supply is loaded. If your project comes from a reconstruction, we additionally check at device level: Gira itself notes for the push-button sensor 2 with controller that changes made after a readout do not permanently reach the device, and recommends re-inserting and re-programming it.
Usually yes, but two checks are part of it. First, the ETS generation and the product data: devices whose application program exists only as an old plug-in often can no longer be parameterised with a current ETS — then what remains is replacement or working on an older version. Second, access: the project password, and for a KNX Secure system the keyring. Without the keys, a Secure device can neither be read out nor reloaded, and the printed FDSK does not help because it is replaced at first commissioning. If the project file is missing entirely, the path begins one step earlier — with reading out the system, which we describe on a page of its own.
Not continuously, and we do not promise that either. Every programming operation interrupts the function of the device concerned — seconds to a few minutes depending on scope, plus the restart afterwards. When individual functions are checked, real loads switch: lights come on, a blind moves. What we can promise is a device-by-device approach and agreed time windows in which it is clear which part of the house is currently not responding as usual. In occupied houses and properties in operation, we set these windows with you in advance.
Yes, but the sequence is then different. Once the device is chosen, we work with what it offers: via the SG-Ready contacts that is two switching commands and four operating states, no more — operating data and setpoints only come via Modbus, EEBus or a manufacturer's own module. The same applies to the charging point: surplus charging requires a controllable wallbox and physically starts at around six amps per phase. We clarify this per device against the data point list. If a device offers nothing usable, it stays standalone, and we tell you so.
We do not quote a flat figure. The effort depends on how many devices are added, whether the existing topology supports them and how well maintained the project is. That is why the capacity check comes first: after it, the scope can be stated; before it, any figure would be guesswork. The invoices also remain separate: planning, programming and documentation come from us, materials and installation from our sister company elektrofabrik — or from your own contractor if you already have one. The updated ETS project and the documentation are handed over to you.
Extending is one of several routes for a system that already exists. The overview sorts them by your starting position — and also leads to where things begin when documents are missing.
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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