Installing a UPB UFD and UFR

[Jim Doolittle]

I finally got to finishing this project up. I should be working on the walls of the bathroom rather than this UPB lighting stuff as the "tile guy" is coming on Monday to tile walls and floor. I am sure he would appreciate me putting the lights back!

Anyway, the UFD ended up within the vanity lights. I enclosed it in a box and mounted it on the back of the top portion of the vanity lights where the wiring is. Didn't have to crawl into the attic for that.

UFR is in a single box with wires going from the box in the attic that I earlier said was very hard to reach. Instead of crawling all that way, I worked through the hole where the exhaust fan / light combo will go (about 8" square) and will now only need to go up there to secure fan/light box to joists and mount the UFR box on the side of a joist.

The new problem is at the darn wall switch. I am trying to put a US2-40 and a GCFI outlet (for blow dryer) in a double box and am not sure I will fit those and the existing wires. The box is one of those drywall boxes and I have to cut the tabs out of the corners to even get the US2-40 and GFCI to fit. Aaargh...if it isn't one thing it is another.

BTW, I did end up building a UPB programming jig using a lamp and an old computer fan. I used the lamp to program the UFD and fan to program the UFR. I know I could have used lamp for both but I also ended up using the jig for a functional test before installing the actual light/fan combo.

 

[acdcelectric]

Hi Jim,

Have you thought about using a metal box? You can get one without mounting brackets and push it all the way into the hole until it rests up against the inside of the wall. Then you can add what we call an extendion ring. Basically it is a box with the back cut out. This would give you more depth and squared off insides, with knock outs in the top and sides for wire entry.

You may have to drill a hole or two in the side of the box to allow you to put a mounting screww into the stud.

You can also get two gang mud rings for the box that will add up to 1 inch in depth if the extention ring is too deep. the mud rings are available in 1/8 inch increments from totally flat up to one inch. You probably will have to go to an electrical supply house if you need to fine tune it as most home stores only carry the standard 1/2 inch depth.

 

[Jim Doolittle]

acdcelectric,

I'm glad I gave up on the wall switch last night and worked on other stuff. Your last post gave me some ideas that are better than what I had been thinking.

The existing double gang box has 4 thin wall conduits running to it. I do not think that will be fun to remove. However, the mud rings might well be the solution here.

The existing box already has a mud ring but it was not sufficient as the previous owner used the plastic spacers to bring switches out flush with wall. In addition to this, the previous owner also had the old wall tile stop about 1/2 above the bottom of the box and then cut the plastic switch plate! Did not look good at all but I lived with it for 10+ years.

So, if the new wall tile will surround the entire box and the existing box was already using 1/4" spacers, I probably can add almost 3/4" inch. The key is to be able to stack another the mud ring because the old 1" thick plaster (hard stuff!) covers part of the original mud ring and would be a mess to remove.

Well, it will be a couple more hours before I start again. Daughter has a basketball game this morning. Looks like a trip to the hardware store after that.

Even though I have been frustrated with this, ultimately I do like doing my own work. I probably should hire professionals more often but I suppose that if home automation is your main hobby, carpentry and electrical work become secondary hobbies B).

Thanks a lot for your help.

 

[Jim Doolittle]

Used dremel to cut a nice square around box and got old mud ring out. Off to local electrical supply for a thicker one.

 

[bfisher]

Sorry for asking - but I'm struggling to determine where you would use UFR and UFD devices.

I read the datasheets and website info - but I'm missing something because I don't see when I'd need these. If you are automating lights - why wouldn't you just automate the switch itself?

 

[Steve]

Bruce,

The UFD and UFR are inline modules. They are typically used when there is no switch. Here is an example of a few things I have done with them.

I needed to control a string of 2 outside outlets for lighting control (typically holiday stuff). The first outlet was piggybacked off an inside outlet that was never used. I removed that inside outlet and wired in a UFR with a blank plate. Now one signal control both outside outlets.

Put flouresecent lighting up on plant shelves where there was no switch to control them. Since they are typically just automated, just used a UFR to turn them on/off. You can always manually switch them thru Elk keypads, the XEP, or RM (or external like CQC).

Installed 6 recessed lights where there was 1 switch. Wanted the cans controlled in 2 separate banks of three. Put a UFD on 1 bank and wired the other bank to the load on the switch. Use a dual vertical plate on the US240. One side toggle controls 1 bank (load directly) and the other side control the other bank (via link to the UFD).

Hope this gives you a few good examples of their usage...

 

[bfisher]

It does... thanks. so far I don't see a need for me, but good to know it's there.

 

[Jim Doolittle]

In my case, I needed three switches (ceiling light, vanity light, and exhaust fan) and a GFCI outlet. I had purchased a triple switch but decided that since I was going to be putting in a new exhaust fan and ceiling light that I might as well take the opportunity to automate. I am not aware of any X10, Insteon, UPB, or ZWave combo switches and I didn't want to tear out part of the wall to add another double gang.

So, I opted for inline UPB and they are controlled via links from a US2-40 with a quadrocker plate which gives me one free button that I will likely use for "Night Mode" which will only turn on ceiling light at < 50%. The problem will be remembering to use that button in the middle of the night. B)

 

[ano]

With the US2-40 you can make an auto night mode. Set a different link for the switch and light, then have Homeseer decide how bright to turn on the light when you switch based on time or some other criteria.

 

[Event5]

ano,
Cool idea!!!
Dave

 

[Jim Doolittle]

With the US2-40 you can make an auto night mode. Set a different link for the switch and light, then have Homeseer decide how bright to turn on the light when you switch based on time or some other criteria.

ano,

You mean I could create a dummy link that does nothing in UPStart but in HomeSeer I create a event that triggers on that link being activated? Then I would add time of day conditions that perform different actions on the UPB devices?

 

[Jim Doolittle]

Guys,

UPStart is not seeing the UFR that I bench configured and then installed in attic. The fan is now constantly on so I cut off the power. I crawled up in the attic and saw that the neutral was loose. OK, easy enough fix but UFR still not recognized. I will check wiring again and then just go ahead and reconfigure.

I am now regretting not locating the box next the attic access panel but I used lengths of wiring that I had lying around. Once I get this configured and running, shouldn't UPStart recognition errors be rare. BTW, signal strength is good for US-240 and UFD nearby on same circuit.

 

[Jim Doolittle]

OK. Reconfigured UFR and it is working fine. All UPB items are working as planned. All done! Well, I now have to set up some HomeSeer events such as what ano suggested . WAF is high!

 

[Steve]

I've never had a problem 'preconfiguring' a device and not having it work. Only problem I ever had was a stubborn appliance module.

 

[ano]

On the HomeSeer control of your lighting, first, this only works with US2-40 switches because these switches can be controlled by a different link then their switch transmits.

To do it, create one link that the switch transmits, and another that the switch receives to control the light. Then you need two events in HomeSeer, one when the transmitted switch is activated, the other when its deactivated. Then with your choice of script or event, send a dim to the link that controls the light.

This all sounds like it would be slow, but UPB is pretty quick. I've tried it and the delay really isn't that bad.