Interesting Systems

owenhickey13 · April 13, 2020

Not too sure where to post so I’m sticking to off topic to be safe. I visited Vancouver last year for LTX19. I stayed at various different Fairmonts including the one across from the convention, but the one I’m interested in talking about is The Fairmont Vancouver Airport. The lighting systems in this hotel were very interesting. There were 5-button panels spread about the room and they each did different tasks. At the entrance I believe you had All On, All Off, and a button that toggled the entrance light only. The other 2 were Clean and privacy, turning a light outside the room green and red respectively. This seemed to be an attempt at replacing the door tags for the same purpose. Each bed had another control panel, consisting of all toggles: Lamp between beds, light above your bed (button by other bed for other bed), Toggle entire room, and rather conveniently, one for the Water Coset (toilet room) along with another one for privacy. The final one was in the bathroom and just did various things within the bathroom (sink, toilet, tub, etc). Interestingly, in the toilet room was a regular light switch that toggled the light as well. You could still use a 5-button thing even after flipping it though, so not an actual switch for the light.

Now I think I’ve given enough if not too much background info, so here is my question: What are these systems? I can’t seem to find any info on them online, although perhaps I’m not searching for the right thing. You could hear relays in the walls in the bathroom, so I’m assuming there is some kind of controller. This system also controls an outlet. (For the lamp) I’d like to know if anyone has experienced this before and any info you have would be great as I’m truly fascinated by it. I’m also wondering if it might be tied into some kind of central hotel system. Any ideas would be helpful! I’m looking forward to your contributions. I know it’s not the primary focus of the picture so a but hard to see but I’ve attached a picture of one of the bed units, hope it helps.

(BTW first ever forum post don’t make too much fun of my formatting, Thanks)

greenhorn · April 14, 2020

I would guess those are part of some smart home system. Since this is a hotel, it is possible it has a wired bus system installed. Those are a new type of electrical installation that makes sense mainly in commercial buildings. See for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KNX_(standard)

owenhickey13 · April 15, 2020

18 hours ago, greenhorn said:

I would guess those are part of some smart home system. Since this is a hotel, it is possible it has a wired bus system installed. Those are a new type of electrical installation that makes sense mainly in commercial buildings. See for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KNX_(standard)

Thanks for the good info! I wish there was a way of identifying the specific hardware but I highly doubt that that’s possible as I didn’t get any model #s or manufacturers.