UPB, here I come

Greetings, all.
 
I've mostly lurked here for the last few years, but with a new home nearing completion questions will be coming soon.
 
While I may delve in to some more advanced HA at some point, we're primarily interested in lighting control for the new home. Every room in the house can benefit from scenes, and some entry/exit paths could benefit from multiple circuit control as well as "all off."
 
Based on feedback here and elsewhere we're going with SA UPB. Had the electrician wire things up accordingly, but I should have done a bit more homework...we've several areas where a bank of UPB switches will go, but also wired in an extra single gang box nearby thinking we'd want separate scene controllers from the bank of switches. In retrospect, we probably could have eliminated all the scene controllers and simply used US2's - but the function of those didn't sink in until just now, and I'm ready to start ordering and hooking things up.
 
Thanks to all who have shared here - it's a great resource.

Welcome syspig.  I think UPB is a good choice both with and without a full automation system.  Even stand-alone, UPB has great scene capabilities and can easily be reprogrammed for different scenes as your usage changes.  I don't think you'll be disappointed.
 
I've done some areas with separate boxes for a scene controller and now we usually just use the scene controller and never touch the individual switches.

I'm wondering if you put a bank of UPB switches in a multiple gang box on the same line/neutral supply will there be any interference between the switches? Would you be able to switch two at the same time or in rapid succession?
 
Mike.

I've heard reports of an issue with switches trying to send simultanous links (to control other devices), but never experienced it.  Any issue would only be in relation to trying to have two switches send out links - not controlling their connected loads simultaneously (I do this all the time).  In my mind, I would think that having a scene controller would be the more logical way to control things than trying to press multiple switches to send multiple links.  I don't recall who it was here on the forum that has reported on this issue, but it is rare and I think only comes from trying to use switches in the method I described.

mikefamig said:

I'm wondering if you put a bank of UPB switches in a multiple gang box on the same line/neutral supply will there be any interference between the switches? Would you be able to switch two at the same time or in rapid succession?
 
Mike.

Click to expand...

 
There would be no such concern.  They could be turned on in rapid succession or simultaneously via a scene command.  
 
The concern that would exist however: If you place 2 600 watt UPB dimmers side by side in a 2-gang box, each one would then be “de-rated” to 500 watts, due to the extra heat generated by the devices being in the same junction box.  3-gang = 400 watts.  Full de-rating guidelines are listed in the product documentation found inside the product boxes.