Is there a DIY cat5 solution?

[Gabeloooooo]

Hi,

Building a new house and was looking for automation of lights (maybe thermostats as well, but nothing more, audio/video is separate).

Is there a DIY pre-wired solution for such a use-case? I find it so wasteful to not run extra wires to the switches while everything is in the open...

I've looked at the spreadsheets and a bunch of posts, but it seems hardwired solutions are mostly non-DIY offers. Any thoughts?

Thank you.

 

[DavidL]

Where there's a will, there's a way. Any "Pro" system can be "DIY", just that it can be difficult to get all the hardware/ software / learnings in place to get an end to end system together.

So, you can certainly wire everything yourself but make sure you have a complete plan of how to get all the pieces together so you can actually turn lights on / off when you are ready to move in.

Pick a technology avenue and see what pieces are needed for that path and if you can put together all the pieces.

Once you have the technology path established, then you can start a wiring plan.

Note that some of the systems (like Crestron) would like to be installed with their own flavor of wiring (not Cat5).

 

[Gabeloooooo]

Note that some of the systems (like Crestron) would like to be installed with their own flavor of wiring (not Cat5).

That's my fear, which is why I wanted to know if there's a "crowd favorite" DIY cat5 solution. And indeed, finding hardwired hardware seems more complicated than ordering insteon-like stuff, especially in a remote area like ours.

I'll run the cable anyways, just in case. Will see later if a solution presents itself...

 

[apostolakisl]

You are pretty much correct. Insteon/UPB/Zwave work very well and don't require any special wiring. Aside from costing massively less, being DIY friendly, working just as well, and having many more third party integration options, they don't require any special wiring. Special wiring, in my opinion, is a liability. It is one thing to do special stuff for the non-essential (security, video, phone, internet) but when it comes to bread and butter stuff like electricity, stick with the wiring that 99.999% of people do.

 

[Neurorad]

Crestron, Lutron, Vantage, and Centralite are all big manufacturers that offer systems which require 'home-run' wiring of the lighting loads. Each zone's line voltage wires run to the controller area. It isn't very special. You can replace one system with another.

ALC was/is an option for cat5 control of switches. Search on cocoontech and google for mixed reviews, and availability. SetNetPro sells the hardware, formerly sold by OnQ.

Lutron also offers a system that uses low-voltage wires run to the dimmers/switches/keypads, HomeWorks 4. HW4 (and HW8) are being phased out, replaced with HW QS. Not sure how QS is wired. Not an easy DIY option.

IMO, if you want to DIY, then go with UPB or Z-wave. Lutron RA2 (RF signalling, like Z-wave) is another to consider, but slightly more difficult to DIY - updates for the programming software are not easily obtained, AFAIK. The person selling you the RA2 hardware may give you a copy of the programming sw, but not sure how updates are handled.

Insteon had some QC issues a few years back, though some people swear by it.