Fast-tracking building automation with Wireless Modbus
Upgrading the building automation system of this office building in Hungary was carried out with minimal disruption thanks to Wireless Modbus from LumenRadio.
A five-story office building, built in 2006 and continuously occupied, needed to upgrade its building automation system. The building’s heating and cooling are handled by four-pipe Fan-Coil (FC) units with wall-mounted displays and the HVAC control cabinet is located on the fourth floor.
However, the building’s constant use made traditional renovation approaches – like installing new cabling – impractical due to noise and dust. Additionally, integrating the existing Fan-Coil controllers into a new system via wired communication would have been technically difficult and time-consuming.
To overcome these challenges, system integrator, BAVAR Kft, selected LumenRadio’s W-Modbus technology through Hungarian distributor, SmartNode. W-Modbus allowed the control boxes to be pre-assembled off-site, drastically reducing the amount of on-site work. Installation was plug-and-play, allowing for seamless integration without disrupting the building’s operations.
So far, 20 W-Modbus units have been deployed across the building:
- 6 units each on the ground and first floors
- 6 units on the third floor
- 1 unit in a room on the fourth floor
- 1 unit in the fourth floor distribution cabinet
There are already plans to expand the system with seven additional devices (one for a chiller and six for individual rooms), highlighting the ease of scaling the wireless solution.
“I really appreciate this forward-thinking technological solution because in many places, cabling is either not an option or too complicated. Wireless Modbus greatly simplifies such projects”
Ferenc Baranyai Jr., BAVAR
The results were immediate. Installation time was significantly reduced thanks to the elimination of cabling work. The use of pre-prepared control boxes streamlined commissioning and the wireless approach ensures that the system is future-proof and easy to expand.
