Hello from GA - PLEASE HELP

[alex422]

Hello, i am new to this forum. I am a master electrician, and am in the process of building a new home and stumbled across this forum (and glad i did!). My plans are to add a lighting control system (hardwired), security, audio, hvac, and intercom in the house. My base controller will be an HAI Omni Pro II.
 
As for hardwired lighting control, i was looking into Jet Lite; however, i do not want to use home run wiring to control lights. This proves useless for future sale without taking costly and pre cautionary mesaures when wiring the home. I am looking for something along the lines of the old OnQ ACP dimmers that are Cat5 controlled with for the most part normal wiring.
 
 
Any insight would be appreciated

 

[dgage]

I agree that this is a great forum with a few pros dispensing invaluable advice but this is primarily a DIY oriented forum, usually around DIY type products.  So you will see some mention of Jet Lite and systems like Control4 but those are primarily dealer installed systems and therefore few have them on this board.  You will find a lot more discussion about UPB, Zwave, Insteon, and some Zigbee for lighting control but I went for a more dealer oriented product in Lutron's RadioRa 2.  I'd recommend looking up some of my posts as I recently installed a handful of switches and before that discussed my thoughts when I was leaning toward purchasing RadioRa 2.  I wasn't excited by the unknown future of UPB or the sometimes problematic Zwave.  I think Lutron's RadioRa 2 is one of the most robust wireless systems on the market and they have a nice selection of addons including thermostats, occupancy/vacancy sensors, light sensors, etc.  I would recommend you take a look and see if it meets your needs.  And no, I'm not associated with Lutron on any way, just a satisfied consumer that recently installed a half dozen switches and have about another half dozen to install soon.
 
Also, the HAI Omnipro controller is a great system but many also add a home automation package with some of the  most popular being Homeseer, Elve, CQC, Premise, and a few others but the only one with support for RadioRa 2 right now is CQC.  A separate HA software package isn't required as the HAI system is powerful but not like a software package with many more drivers and flexibility of different hardware.
 
 
David

 

[electron]

hi Alex, welcome to CT!
 
David pretty much nailed it, and I agree with his Lutron RadioRA2 recommendation.  The good news is that the HAI Omni Pro II supports most of the popular (but robust) protocols out there.  I personally would not homerun anything, with wireless tech really taking off now (ZigBee, RadioRA2 (and the other Lutron platforms), Z-Wave). HAI's implementation of UPB (HLC) is pretty solid as well from what I can tell.

 

[alex422]

Thanks for the insight.

 

[Ranger Digital]

Love UPB. Simply Automated brand is priced right.

 

[picta]

Search the forums for ALC lighting, it has been re-branded but is still available, this is the product that uses cat5 for control and conventional hi voltage wiring. Of course you have to make sure it will pass inspection in your area as many counties would not like the low voltage and hi voltage wires mixed in the same box.