General questions on new home automation setup

[pete_c]

I have a setup which has all masters and one of three two way switches is high wattage (1000 Watts for the Chandelier). The other two are normal. (Insteon) but similiar. The two other switches are linked to the higher wattage switch but are not directly connected. The 3rd traveler wires are just capped from the old switch. I have a few set up in this fashion. The electrician in this house put in a switch for the second floor hallway lighting next to each door of every bedroom. Same for the kitchen having a light switch by every entrance. He also put in double boxes with single box mudplates in. A bedroom will have separate overhead fan, light and a switch (for the right side of all of the outlets in the room). I separated out the switch carving out the single duplex mudplate and installing a larger mudplate for two switches.

Whats nice about the new powerline is that you can do virtual 3-way lighting versus conventional with a traveler wire. It would be confusing though for an electrician checking and wondering how maybe three light switches talk to each other without a traveler.

 

[dzirkelb]

That brings up a question I was going to ask. how do you know what wattage to get for your switches?

 

[kd5crs]

That brings up a question I was going to ask. how do you know what wattage to get for your switches?

Well, what is the total load you are switching? If it is a light just add up the lightbulbs.

I can't speak to UPB or Z-wave, but Insteon comes in 600W and 1000W flavors. If I was above 500 watts, I'd go with the 1000, just to be on the safe side.

Mostly it is an issue if you are turning on a hot tub or something. I would think situations with more than 600W of lights on one switch are unusual.

Edit: Lol, you have made almost as many posts in two days as I have in two years! Well done. :+D There is something to be said for lurking and reading old posts, you know.

Brian

 

[dzirkelb]

k, it shouldn't be an issue then because most, if not all, of my lightbulbs are the energy ones, so they are like 8 watt each

 

[pete_c]

Most of my switches are for 1-2 lights except for the Chandelier (18 or so lights) and kitchen cans (8 or so). Originally had a 600W switch for my chandelier. It flickered. I replaced it with a 1000 watt. I should have done that in the first place.

I couldn't get the 8 Watt dimmable CCFL lamps to dim. They would flicker like a strobe light when I would dim them down so I went back to regular lightbults where ever I have a powerline switch. I don't believe you can get reasonable with the dimmable CCFL's unless you feel like spending $70 or so on a CCFL lamp.

 

[dzirkelb]

I would have lightbulbs like this:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=prod...&lpage=none

would they be able to be dimmed worth a darn you think? I'll find out this weekend, just want to know if it flickers, that would be the reason why.

 

[kd5crs]

I would have lightbulbs like this:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=prod...&lpage=none

would they be able to be dimmed worth a darn you think? I'll find out this weekend, just want to know if it flickers, that would be the reason why.

That will almost certainly NOT dim like you want it to. In keeping with the whole "start simple" theme, I suggest incandescent bulbs for locations you plan to dim. CFLs are fine for relay switches.

Brian

 

[dzirkelb]

Gotcha...I have those also, they are just mixed and matched right now. i was making the slow change over to all of the ones I listed, but I'll stop that now for the rooms I want to dim

 

[pete_c]

Bought similar at Lowes. I installed them on all of the outside lights. All the outside lights are on Powerline switches. The day after I installed them the neighbor came by to ask what the strobe flickering was from.

Yes I would keep it simple as Brian mentioned swapping the testing lamps for regular incandescent bulbs.

 

[dzirkelb]

ya, that sort of sucks, but I think in the long run it will even out with power consumption...the lights will be turned off more opposed to on all the time.

 

[pete_c]

I currently dim almost all my powerline lights to about 20-30%. I have three commercial landscaping transformers hooked up to "appliance" style powerline switches. These do not dim.

Dimming a 60 watt lamp will save some on energy.

Something to think about for the future is you can now monitor your energy usage with a device that the computer can talk to.

Initially and many years ago did the motion sensor thing with the powerline switches. That got old really fast.

You will see a mention of WAF - "wife acceptance factor". My wife has been patient even sometimes when the HA system starts to talk at 03:00 AM. I want to put a touchscreen in the kitchen replacing the combo TV / Computer flip down LCD. She will have none of that. I automated the garage door and synced it a bit to the alarm panel. This caused a major problem with WAF. She is very patient. It can be difficult sometimes to justify buying three electrical switches for XX amount of dollars. Easier when I do a little bit at a time...she doesn't notice. She does notice things like when I turn up the car radio when she's talking...

IE: Buying a black component for the stereo shelf. All the components are black so its usually a few months later that she will notice it....so whats one more powerline switch if they all look the same...

 

[dzirkelb]

hahaa, too good.

I will probably not use any motion sensoring as we have 3 cats, I can just imagine the chos that would cause...