Radio receiver

Do you have an existing electrical installation and would like to automate it inexpensively? Do you want to retrofit or expand your smart home without having to open walls? Then high-quality radio receivers belong in your shopping cart. Find out here what options are available to you with the use of radio receivers.

What are radio receivers?

Radio receiver is the generic term for a variety of different devices that are capable of receiving signals. Within a communication system, a radio transmitter emits a modulated signal. The signal is transmitted via a carrier medium (e.g. air) and reaches the receiver. This very weak signal is picked up by the radio receiver's antenna and amplified inside the receiver. In addition, the received signal is isolated from noise or interference signals. Finally, the modulated signal has to be demodulated in the receiver in order to get back the original signal. This is reinforced again. We all know radio receivers from our daily life. A typical representative is the classic radio. Here speech or music is transmitted via long wave bands, medium wave bands and short wave bands. Their frequency is between 30 kHz and 300 kHz for long waves and 30 MHz to 300 MHz for short waves. Another recipient of our everyday use is the telephone. This so-called communications receiver is used to receive shortwave telephone signals.

Already knew?

The higher the frequency, the shorter the wavelength and the faster the speed of transmission.

A final example is the receivers of television signals. These signals are typically transmitted over VHF (very high frequency) and UHF (ultra high frequency) bands with a frequency between 30 MHz and 3 GHz.

But how important are radio receivers for you, your building automation or the electrical installation?

Radio receivers are used wherever there is no power line or bus line. In addition, radio receivers are suitable for anyone who wants an installation that is as flexible as possible. Our radio receivers are also suitable for retrofitting existing analogue installations and device controls. In this way, radio receivers offer an interesting and cost-effective solution for home automation and to increase living comfort.

For this reason we offer a wide range of radio receivers

for flush mounting (radio receivers, switching actuators and radio actuators)
for operation (radio buttons, antenna modules, universal displays)
for control (radio adapter, radio sockets and adapter plugs)

from all well-known manufacturers. These include top brands such as ABB, Bachmann, Busch Jaeger, Eltako, Grothe, Jung, Peha, Warema, Stiebel Eltron and numerous others.

What is a radio actuator?

Within building automation, a radio actuator performs the same tasks as a wired actuator. The difference is that the radio actuator does not require a bus line to carry out the tasks assigned to it. The device receives the working signals via a wireless radio link. In principle, it would also be possible to wirelessly implement the power supply in the near field by means of inductive energy transmission. However, wireless actuators usually have a direct power supply. The transmission frequency and reception frequency is usually 868 MHz.

What advantages do wireless actuators offer?

In order to recognize the differences compared to wired actuators, let's first look at their control. There are actuators that are controlled by switching the power supply on and off. Other actuators are controlled by switching the contacts. With these contact switching actuators, there is a permanent voltage, which the device draws from a machine, for example. The switching tasks are transmitted via an additional bus line. The disadvantage of both variants lies in the sometimes long cable routes and complex cable connections. These are expensive and may affect the mobility of automated machines. The radius of action is limited by the length of the line connections. In addition, with mobile installations there is always a risk of damage to the connections. A radio actuator solves many of these problems. By using wireless actuators, control cabling can be saved and the flexibility of the installation can be increased.

TIP:

With repeaters you can easily increase the radio range of your radio transmitters and thus expand the area of application of the receivers.

When using an inductive power supply, such a device does not require the use of fixed connections. Other advantages are:

Possibility to expand the functionality of already existing systems or home automation
Preservation of the aesthetics by saving on cables and cable management systems
Increased security in access systems or similar because no lines can be manipulated

What types of radio actuators are there?

In the eibabo® technology store you can get wireless actuators for a wide variety of tasks. These include, among others:

Blind actuators and roller shutter actuators (for sun-guided or timed control of your shading systems)
Dimming actuators (for the realization of different light scenes and for the optimal setting of the lighting according to time and other parameters)
Relay actuators (for switching circuits and the associated control of end devices)
Temperature controller (to regulate and display the room temperature)
Presence detectors and motion sensors (to trigger certain processes when detecting human presence)
Light sensors and brightness sensors (for automatically switching the lighting)
as well as staircase lighting actuators, impulse switches, universal actuators, time relays and others

Source: eibabo®, Eltako FUD61NPN-230V wireless actuator universal dimmer switch Image: Eltako FUD61NPN-230V wireless actuator universal dimmer switch

What do I have to consider when buying radio receivers and radio actuators?

Of course, a radio receiver isn't of much use to you if it doesn't receive any signals. You need appropriate radio transmitters or sensors that provide the recipients with the required data. These can be, for example, window contacts or door contacts, universal transmitters, remote controls, hand-held transmitters, weather stations, temperature controllers, motion detectors, thermostats, buttons or the like. In order for the communication between sensors and actuators to work, all components must be parameterized. As a result, each device knows which commands to send or receive and how to respond to them. The standardized 'Engineering Tool Software (ETS)' is available for this. This is a tool that you need for commissioning and linking KNX devices. You can obtain the software from www.knx.org. In principle, the ETS is also suitable for laypersons who are interested in the logic of the KNX, as programming knowledge is not required.

In addition, we generally recommend studying the applications (parameters and functions) provided by the manufacturer for the ETS before purchasing. This ensures that a specific device can also take on the tasks you want and carry them out correctly. This also includes the frequency with which the transmitter and receiver work.