Recent content by adt2

Okay, well, the HAI Omnibus system looks promising but I'm having a hard time finding any meaty information on it. There's a bunch of vague marketing stuff on their website but nothing that indicates how you actually design a system with the stuff.

Okay, I'll give that a look. Thanks for your input.

Quick, totally unscientific tally puts the count at something like 60 loads.

Is this assuming a dealer installed system? I think I have a distributor that will sign me up as a dealer, which should save me money on gear, and I'll do all the non-HV stuff myself.

So what does something like a Centralite Elegance system cost in relation to 40 or so UPB switches? Is it possible that a portion of the cost of the hardwired system would be offset by the smaller amount of copper to be run by the electricians? Is a controller still required to interface between...

Not sure I agree with that. If I wanted to see them without being seen, I wouldn't turn on anything but the exterior lights, and then I'd wait for them to silhouette themselves (while I stayed away from the doors and windows). Our master bedroom is downstairs (I live in the south; we don't savvy...

Okay, slow day here at work, which has given me time to surf the internet. On a whim, I checked out the Omni Pro II controller. Leviton's website isn't great, but from what I can tell, the Omni includes a lot - if not all - of the stuff that's an "extra" with the Elk. Am I reading that right...

  Yeah, I knew it was a long, drawn-out topic, but I prefer to keep it all in a single post so I can easily reference it later. I don't really need to know every nut, bolt, and screw required for every possible permutation in advance. I just want to make sure when I place my order, I've got...

Thanks for all the replies. I think I'm sold on the usefulness of the security/automation/lighting marriage (and, more importantly, the inability to easily get that marriage without an intermediary controller), but frankly, reading the installation manual linked above wasn't all that much help...

I'm thinking specifically of light+fan combinations in bedrooms (although we tend to just leave the fans on all day long). Is the problem remedied if I hard-wire a load (not sure of the correct term here) to a switch, instead of making a link? In other words, if I had a dual rocker switch on one...

After reading the article in your signature about the Smart Automation switches, I'm more confused than ever. Hopefully the starter kit and programmer I ordered will clear things up a bit.   One potentially huge problem I see, if I'm reading your article correctly, is the "can't turn on multiple...

Okay, I ordered a 3-dimmer starter kit and a programmer thingy from Amazon. I'll try it all out at the rent house we're currently living in, and then determine whether to add that to the new house when construction starts. Thanks for the kindly advice. Anything else I need to know?

And this is all done through the HAI OmniPro II? (From your avatar.)

So what is the "minimum initial investment" to get the lighting control? A controller, some software for programming (or is that included?), specialty switches/dimmers/bulbs or something else? What's the interface between the controller and the programming computer? Another piece of hardware, or...

It sounds like I need to come up with some realistic use cases for each of these systems, and then get some advice on what hardware I need that provides a common denominator to all of them. Open the garage, turn on the breezeway/mud room/kitchen lights, disarm the alarm system, unlock the back...