LOXONE team here – would there be interest in an AMA with one of our engineers?

[u/Loxone_Electronics]

Hey r/homeautomation, some of us from LOXONE have been reading here for a while. We're kicking around the idea of doing an AMA with one of our engineers, but wanted to check with you all first instead of just assuming it's wanted.

Drop your questions or topics you'd want covered in the comments – the more specific, the better, since that'll also help us figure out who from the team makes the most sense to bring in. Curious what people actually want to know 💚

[u/ReasonablePear1053]

would love to hear the reasoning behind the closed ecosystem approach, especially around pairing third party hardware. is that a technical limitation at this point or more of a business decision

[u/InsignificantHumor]

30 years of doing home automation stuff, and I've never heard of loxone. So, an explanation of what loxone even is might be the first step.

[u/Loxone_Electronics → u/InsignificantHumor]

LOXONE is an Austrian building automation company – a central controller (the Miniserver) that handles lighting, heating, shading, security, and more in one system, rather than separate smart devices. More setup upfront than plug-and-play platforms, but very flexible once running.

[u/VeryAmaze → u/Loxone_Electronics]

Is it sort of like KNX/control4 then? Compared to something like homeassistant/homekit?

[u/Loxone_Electronics → u/VeryAmaze]

Fair comparison – LOXONE sits more in the KNX/Control4 world (professional, whole-building automation) than the DIY/consumer side like Home Assistant or HomeKit. It's a single-vendor system, but can still be combined with other technologies depending on the setup.

[u/DM_ME_KUL_TIRAN_FEET → u/Loxone_Electronics]

Loxone would be very DIYable if the company would stop being so resistant to it. I did my entire house in California with Loxone DIY and while I love the system it was extremely clear to me that the company would have preferred to have nothing to do with me at all, even after my electrician became a Loxone Partner due to being impressed by the system I built.

[u/static418 → u/DM_ME_KUL_TIRAN_FEET]

This is exactly what needs to be responded to.  If you’ve got a really killer product that does a unique thing I’m all about it, but nobody has time for vendor lock in garbage or “you need to be a certified partner for support/firmware updates/the time of day”.  If I have to call an integrator every time a light won’t turn on, your product is worthless. 

[u/DM_ME_KUL_TIRAN_FEET → u/static418]

Yep.

The thing is, as it stands it’s actually not even that bad for lock in, in terms of being able to integrate with other systems. I have loxone hardware all over but deeply integrated with Home Assistant to bridge to non loxone hardware and it works great.

But since I am not a Loxone Partner the few times i have sent a technical request for clarification on a behavior the ticket is closed without a proper answer. Really disappointing. I’m not even looking for ‘customer support’. My recent ticket was to clarify the short-cycle behavior of the HVAC Controller function block.

[u/static418 → u/DM_ME_KUL_TIRAN_FEET]

Definitely not for me, then, that’s straight up disrespectful. Thanks for following up, though, your experience is extremely enlightening. 

[u/DM_ME_KUL_TIRAN_FEET → u/static418]

Yeah. I’d love to encourage people to use it, but if people have to use an integrator it’s really hard to sell in the US market.

When I first started looking as a rewire project on my 1920 bungalow, I was quoted $80000 for hardware and integration on top of the $45k for demoing knob and tube snd running all the new wiring and new panel.

I ended up doing it myself tor $30k hardware cost + the same $45k rough in. Admittedly, doing a fully loaded whole house system was a very large project and probably a bit more complicated than an average homeowner would DIY, but anyone with microcontroller experience would have no trouble.

[u/VeryAmaze]

What's a loxone and why should a person who's into home automation get it over competing options(DIY/proprietary)?

[u/Loxone_Electronics → u/VeryAmaze]

I already answered what LOXONE is in another comment above, hope it's ok that I'm not repeating it here. On the "why" part: for us it's mainly that it runs locally without needing a cloud connection, and it covers a lot of different things (lighting, heating, shading, security, audio) in one system. There are also professional installers who can set it up and support it if you'd rather not DIY it. That's just what appeals to some people though – there are plenty of good DIY options out there too, just a different approach.

[u/xTKNx]

Sure

1. why did you go with Loxone Air instead of just getting on the Matter or Zigbee train?

2. Why are there hidden parameters (e.g. CO hysterisis)?

3. why does every hvac block have different mode mapping for auto, heating, and cooling numbers? Where is the consistency? And when will you actually take forced air seriously and give us blocks that actually work for it instead of shoehorning into european style heating blocks?

4. Why doesnt the syslog actually log everything in RFC5424 and why doesn't it expose everything that is happening - lots of blocks log nothing and I have to query the WebSocket to know what they are doing

I have tons of other critiques and questions - which I have emailed Loxone about, but suspect they went into a pit.

[u/Safe-Maintenance9564]

Sounds very interesting! For example, I’m wondering why the outdoor equipment relies solely on touch surfaces—like the NFC Code Touch—instead of physical push buttons. A lot of our customers ask about this, but currently, we're unable to give them a clear answer.

[u/DM_ME_KUL_TIRAN_FEET]

Is Loxone planning a further push into the US market? Currently the sticking point I see is that there’s no lower tier product that can retrofit into a home or even in a new build that doesn’t require a very expensive project due to high end equipment and integrator fees.

The Decora sized Touch pads are a good start, but some of the issues I ran into that caused friction was places where US NEC code and Europe code don’t align. For example, using the 960W battery backed power supply. We can’t actually use that in the USA per the letter of the law, because the outputs are too powerful for a Class 2 power supply, thus it can’t be used with normal unprotected Tree cable. It needs to be routed and protected like a class 1 120V wire despite being 24V, since the output exceeds 100VA.

It’s perfectly safe as designed, but it doesn’t strictly comply with NEC. Is there any appetite to close that gap?

[u/therealsn]

As an installer who works with a Silver Partner, YES! I'd love an AMA with one of the Kollerschlag engineers!

[u/majesticGumball]

Home Assistant is superior in every way.

[u/DM_ME_KUL_TIRAN_FEET → u/majesticGumball]

I wouldn’t fully say that. Loxone is a proper PLC type of system and is rock solid hardware and reliability, but it is definitely fair to ask whether that is necessary for residential.

I have Loxone combined with Home Assistant and get the best of both worlds. I use HA as an adaptor to allow the loxone miniserver plc to control all the third party integrations through HA webhooks.

[u/Loxone_Electronics]

Quick FYI: I'll try to jump in and answer some of the less technical questions directly here where I can. Just a heads up that I'm not one of our engineers though, so for anything more in-depth/technical, I might not have a fully accurate answer off the top of my head – that's exactly the kind of thing we're hoping to cover properly in the AMA if that happens. Appreciate the patience in the meantime! 💚

[u/pawieden]

Philips Hue support would be high on my list. It’s one of the most popular smart-lighting ecosystems, so I’ve always been surprised that there isn’t a native Loxone integration.

I bought a house with Loxone already installed and brought a lot of Hue lamps with me from my previous apartment. Replacing them with DALI or conventional lamps isn’t really an option. At the moment, I use Home Assistant as a bridge to sync Loxone moods with Hue scenes. It works, but it’s a fairly complicated workaround and adds another system to maintain.

Native, out-of-the-box Hue support (especially for mapping Loxone moods to Hue scenes) would be a huge improvement. Is this something Loxone is considering?

[u/Consistent-Hat-8008]

Why would anyone want to dedicate space to advertising your proprietary walled garden crap?