ELK Least Cost Way To Control Lights and Know Status

[GadgetNerd]

I have my new (to me) ELK M1. I want to control a few flood lights, porch lights and an outlet or two. Having experience with X-10 I know the value of the status being known at all times. Based on that, I am looking for what the typical entry cost is to get UPB, Insteon or Z-Wave to a functional and status checking level.

 

[tmbrown97]

With UPB, status is fine until you use links. Then the Elk loses status. I have the $99 version of Elve running on a computer with its own PIM and when it sees a link, it requests status and the Elk sees this - so my status is accurate. I didn't use links in my last house and status stayed accurate even without Elve.

Basic costs with anything are for the XSP, the PIM, and whatever switches. I think they're comparable between the 3 big technologies.

 

[GadgetNerd]

It sounds like for the M1 to control anything beyond X-10 it needs an additional Elk expansion device. Would that be a correct statement? Is the only way to have status of devices updated by a third party controller or PC software?

 

[tmbrown97]

The XSP is pretty basic - its a way to add serial ports to your M1 any time you need. Serial is the basic integration method for most things interfaced with the M1.

Unfortunately I don't know how well the M1 handles status updates with the other technologies; it's just UPB I know well.

 

[GadgetNerd]

I was looking at the various switch offerings and it would appear to me that Insteon is currently the lowest cost ones. UPB seems to be a little less for 3 and 4 way switches. Hard to choose between the two. Perhaps I should be asking about bulk pricing.

 

[wuench]

Yes, the only built in lighting protocol without a module is x10. The Elk is a becoming a bit dated.

UPB = M1XSP + UBP PIM
ZWave = M1XSP + ZWave Serial Device OR Elk ZWave Module (OR Maybe M1XEP + Vera)
Insteon = M1XSP + PLM OR M1XEP + ISY/PLM (Recommended if you do Insteon)

 

[drvnbysound]

For Elk + Zwave, I'd suggest the M1XSLZW (rather than the XSP), which can also interface with the Zwave locks - assuming you'd want to add this capability. If you want to stay with lighting alone, I suppose the XSP is fine.

The M1XSLZW interfaces with the Leviton VRCOP-1LW. You will need a Leviton VRUSB-1US (primary controller) to get everything setup.

Regardless, without regular polling, you only get instant status updates from devices which support Instant Status updates (such as Leviton Vizia RF+ and Cooper Aspire RF). However, neither of these support the security class needed to repeat messages for the locks; other devices such as receptacles can be added to support the network for the locks.

Zwave (even including the Leviton and Cooper devices) don't report status when using Areas/Groups (which I believe is similar to Links with UPB).

Homeseer has a pretty decent comparison (of the devices they sell) here: http://store.homesee...trix-W7C37.aspx