Have you recently installed UPB, zWave or Insteon?

kimvi

Member
I would like to hear from someone who has used recent installed a lighting solution. Please share what the challenges were/are, surprises and dissapppoints.
 
I put in zWave in my heavily wireless unfriendly house. I had to put in about 12 devices in a 25' x 75' footprint in order to get decent mesh strength.

Now that it's up & stable, I'm pretty happy with it. Works great, integrates great with CQC.
 
Yes to all. I have Z-Wave, UPB, Insteon, as well as X10 all working together using HomeSeer. The Z-Troller that HomeSeer sells is the best Z-Wave interface available and is a combined remote and PC interface, meaning you do not need a separate remote and PC interface to learn and control your devices. All of my newest switches are Z-Wave and I really like this protocol.
 
IVB said:
I put in zWave in my heavily wireless unfriendly house. I had to put in about 12 devices in a 25' x 75' footprint in order to get decent mesh strength.

Now that it's up & stable, I'm pretty happy with it. Works great, integrates great with CQC.
what brand did end up going with? What was the cost per unit? Was it plug and play? I am looking at the levitin Vizia.
 
Rupp said:
Yes to all. I have Z-Wave, UPB, Insteon, as well as X10 all working together using HomeSeer. The Z-Troller that HomeSeer sells is the best Z-Wave interface available and is a combined remote and PC interface, meaning you do not need a separate remote and PC interface to learn and control your devices. All of my newest switches are Z-Wave and I really like this protocol.
Same ?'s as IVB about zWave to you.
 
IVB and RUPP: I see u are both using CQC. For a newbie to CQC. How steep is that learning curve? Will I run to my mama? Keep in mind that am MCSE and CCNA Certified and willing to invest 4-6 hours a day to configuration. How long will it take me to get AV, Audio, Security and Cameras (DVR) to all be holding hands and playing nice?
 
This forum has a gazillion posts related to the question. The answers can almost be a religious experience for some folks. While I use UPB as my primary protocol, I think a hybrid is the ultimate. No one protocol is going to have absolutely everything you want, so pick a primary and you can always use another to fill niche needs. Todays HW or SW platforms allow to to easily manage all of them simultaneously.
 
I installed about 48 UPB switches. I've used the Simply Automated switches, which I think are good quality and value. If you are going the UPB route, I'd recommend you buy a few switches and play because UPB has a lot a features, many of which aren't apparent right away. If there is a downside to UPB, its that the documentation sucks. Half the features aren't documented. Its like a scavenger hunt.

With UPB as with X-10, the goal is a strong signal everywhere. Unlike X-10, with UPB you just have to make sure the signal gets from one phase to the other. Once its strong on both phases, your set. I have three bridges in place and still marginal signal on the opposite phase, and I'm working on that.

UPB may seem a bit more expensive at first, but once you see all that it can do, you'll be impressed, but with features comes some more added complexity. For example, most UPB switches can control both fluorescent lights and dim incandescent lights with a quick reprogramming from your PC. You also can reprogram the indicator light many color combinations with just reprogramming. And another cool feature is that any switch can be programmed to directly control any other, basically a virtual 3-way switch. You can even, with some programming, program what a single-tap and what a double-tap does. For example, in my house, single-tap sets the light at 85%, double-tab to 35%.

You can get started without buying a thing. Just download the free UPStart program, and you can start building the your switch network without actually having one.
 
kimvi,

I do not use an integrated security system, I do have an automated lighting and small-appliance control system.

I am currently using Z-Wave, I have a mixture of Intermatic and HomePro devices and have some VIZIA-RF devices on order. If all goes well, all of my switches will eventually be VIZIA-RF. I only have about 1500 square feet of house. I have not had any operational problems with Z-Wave. My wife and I love the little hand held RF remotes.

I have used the ControlThink ThinkEssentials control software and that works well.

I recently purchased HomeSeer HS2 with a Z-Troller interface, only because the HomeSeer software/interface has more 'bells and whistles' available. I also recently purchased the HomeSeer 'Z-Seer' Z-Wave diagnostics tool. That software is very cool for someone like me, who just has to know about things like signal speed and transmission integrity.

Prior to Z-Wave, I used INSTEON hardware with some home made software. I started with INSTEON in November of 05 and decided around June 06 that I needed something different. I still have a few INSTEON devices in use.

Ken

edit: corrected grammar
 
I have about 20 self-installed UPB devices, all made by Simply Automated. Having no experience with this kind of thing, I guess the biggest surprise for me was how easy it turned out to be to install the switches, although, it did take me a lot longer on the first few than it does now. Being a software guy myself, the programming of the switches was easy. Also, I haven't had any need for phase couplers as the signal is strong all over the house. The only problem I have had was some electrical interference over the powerlines that was apparently caused by a laptop connected to a PIM during hibernation.

I use UPB in conjunction with HomeSeer, which enables me to integrate with X10 RF for motion sensors and door sensors and remote controls. I think more importantly was that HomeSeer has allowed me to use virtual UPB links the same way you would use virtual X10 codes, which has helped out with some of the logic.
 
kimvi said:
IVB and RUPP: I see u are both using CQC. For a newbie to CQC. How steep is that learning curve? Will I run to my mama? Keep in mind that am MCSE and CCNA Certified and willing to invest 4-6 hours a day to configuration. How long will it take me to get AV, Audio, Security and Cameras (DVR) to all be holding hands and playing nice?
Rupp is HomeSeer, I'm CQC. For CQC, it's all based on how "natural" it feels to you. We have monthly CQC User Group webex'es, more often if the demand is there. With a technical background, you'd probably pick it up quick, esp at 4-6 hours per day. It wouldn't take more than a few days to get all the software setup, but the issue isn't the software - it's the hardware, the wiring, making sure all that is ok.

- I've walked folks through AV & Audio setup in <1weekend, and not at that many hours/day
- CCTV is typically just webbrowser integration, so that's all of 5 minutes once you get your DVR software up.
- Security could be very little or could be tons, based on what you want to do inside CQC. It could take a while to get the security system configured though, ie it took me several weeks to figure out how to best setup the Elk via the ElkRP configuraiton software.

Of course, in the end the beauty of CQC is going to be it's ability to let you custom-fit it to your solution. That means that you would usually take one of our template set just for reference purposes, spend the few days/week/etc getting it all working, then learning how to use CQC, then throwing out all our stuff and building your own to *exactly* how you want the system to look, feel, and flow.

Long story short, with us helping you out, you'd know before the 30day free eval period is up how to make it do exactly what you want. You'll then tinker with it until the end of time.
 
I installed a few dozen Aspire RF Z-Wave switches in my home and another dozen or two Intermatic plug-in modules, and the network is working great.

I also have a Sirius Conductor, and that's a very nifty device.

For software, of course I'm running ThinkEssentials, some custom-built code using the Z-Wave PC SDK, and some not-so-public software :unsure:

For USB sticks, the Intermatic HA22 is great because it lets me get real-time status from various devices in my home, including the in-wall controllers. I'm also playing with a Vizia RF Foyer and, while I know it hasn't shipped quite yet, it's definitely something you'll want to look at if you're doing a large install.

My home's a pretty small install though. Among others, we're currently working on an install with 70+ devices and one with 232 devices (6 RCS HVAC units, 200 Vizia RF switches, and more...)

Chris
 
IVB said:
kimvi said:
IVB and RUPP: I see u are both using CQC. For a newbie to CQC. How steep is that learning curve? Will I run to my mama? Keep in mind that am MCSE and CCNA Certified and willing to invest 4-6 hours a day to configuration. How long will it take me to get AV, Audio, Security and Cameras (DVR) to all be holding hands and playing nice?
Rupp is HomeSeer, I'm CQC. For CQC, it's all based on how "natural" it feels to you. We have monthly CQC User Group webex'es, more often if the demand is there. With a technical background, you'd probably pick it up quick, esp at 4-6 hours per day. It wouldn't take more than a few days to get all the software setup, but the issue isn't the software - it's the hardware, the wiring, making sure all that is ok.

- I've walked folks through AV & Audio setup in <1weekend, and not at that many hours/day
- CCTV is typically just webbrowser integration, so that's all of 5 minutes once you get your DVR software up.
- Security could be very little or could be tons, based on what you want to do inside CQC. It could take a while to get the security system configured though, ie it took me several weeks to figure out how to best setup the Elk via the ElkRP configuraiton software.

Of course, in the end the beauty of CQC is going to be it's ability to let you custom-fit it to your solution. That means that you would usually take one of our template set just for reference purposes, spend the few days/week/etc getting it all working, then learning how to use CQC, then throwing out all our stuff and building your own to *exactly* how you want the system to look, feel, and flow.

Long story short, with us helping you out, you'd know before the 30day free eval period is up how to make it do exactly what you want. You'll then tinker with it until the end of time.
When is the next WebEx? I am interested in seeing and learning more. I want to learn each of the major HA packages out there.
 
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