HAI to Guest House

[evanlifetv]

Hey all, I currently have a OmniPro II feeding my main house, I am in the process currently of constructing a guest house and shop, that is attached to the main house. I need a little help, making sure I get the correct gear purchased, and am hoping someone can lend some advice. Here are some details:
 
Main House:
*  OmniPro II
*  2 thermostats
*  Bunch of HLC Switches and Dimmers
*  Ton of sensors etc. 
*  Fed with 400a Main Service (2x 200a Panels)
 
 
Guest House
* 1 thermostat
* Bunch of HLC Switches and Dimmers
* Ton of sensors
* Attached to main house, but 100' from Omnipro ii
 
 
I think I need an expansion enclosure and then tie it to the OmniPro II, but the bigger question I am running into, is this; the guest house is fed from a separate city transformer and its own 400a Service.  (I like Power) So how do I get HLC talking on that power network from my current Omnipro ii if they are on separate meters/services. Is it as easy as adding a second UPB Powerline Interface? Is there a way to feed that from the Expansion Enclosure, or do I need to have a custom cable built thats 150' ish long?
 
Any thoughts, advice, etc would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to ask more questions if you need more info. Thanks a ton in advance!
 

 

[pete_c]

I have one UPB Pim connected to my OPII panel and extended runs.  I have never tried two PIMs.  I do though have 3 UPB PIMs online.
 
I guess though you could maybe split the serial to two and have two PIMs talk on the two autonomous UPB networks at the same time?
 
Its not a big deal to extend the serial comm some 150 or so feet.  I have a few runs here that go up to maybe 100 feet or so (more?) using cat5e to RS-232 ends (8 wires minus ring comm wire).
 
I did make an extension recently for an HAI UPB PIM and only utilized 3 wires and it works fine.  You can also go virtual with it via a LAN connection.  I am today using one of the HAI UPB PIMs in this fashion with a Quatech 4 port serial to IP box in the basement talking to a floater wherever and another one on the second floor populated with stuff (one thing is my Davis Vantage view weather station).  I like the wired solution better than the serial to IP solution and better than a serial to IP to IP wireless solution.  I have noticed that every once in a while if I get a disconnect on the network then the drivers bind up and never reconnect.  That said when its just a wired cable disconnect and reconnect I do not have those issues.
 
I'm guessing you have trenched out some pipes between the two locations for wires?
 
I have a friend who built a new home on his farm.  He trenched right around 300 feet between the two homes and it worked for the networking connections.  We just ran outdoor grade networking cable and no pipes between the houses.  He is currently using a wireless ISP but owns a building in town some 3.5 miles away with Comcast connectivity.  The long term goal though is maybe to put an antenna on the building to another on the farm for internet access.
 
I am today splitting the Russound comm between the HAI panel and other and it works well.