Lighting Control

[LightenUP]

As far as home automation goes do most customers have all the bells and whistles meaning audio,video,security, thermestat, etc.

All I'd like to do is lighting control. I currently sell and install lighting outside and have those systems running off UPB.

This does get me inside and during down months I could see myself working my way inside the home for some extra lighting controls.

I do occasionally get a request for driveway sensors, Motion controls etc. I try to steer them into automatic control with static times so there's really no need for some of that stuff.

Do any of you have suggestions on keeping home automation simple or should we dive into it meaning all the other stuff?

I'd like a Pro HA installer to coordinate with me on using UPB though it's a delicate line between losing business or gaining an alliance.

What do you think?

 

[opie]

I do know a few integrators who have scaled back to do lighting control only and it has worked well for them. They typically sub for others or bring others in depending on the nature of the job. The key is to work with people you can trust and as you know that's no easy taks. I am a "full service" shop, more or less, and often consider just doing lighting or maybe Distributed Audio to simplify my projects.

Do any of you have suggestions on keeping home automation simple or should we dive into it meaning all the other stuff?

That kind of depends on your learning curve and risk tolerance. You can try to wade in rather than dive but I found I got sucked in pretty quick as I have a hard time saying no.

Best of luck.

 

[LightenUP]

I don't want to step on toes of the HA guys in town that we work with. I also want to keep it simple.

My question is if a home theatre system salesperson even asks about controlling lights throughout the home?

Even though I mainly work in outdoor lighting some cold months I'd love to be inside the warm house installing UPB.

Any suggestions on peaking the interests of the prospect to expand controls through the home?

Thanks for the insite.

 

[Event5]

I don't want to step on toes of the HA guys in town that we work with. I also want to keep it simple.

My question is if a home theatre system salesperson even asks about controlling lights throughout the home?

Even though I mainly work in outdoor lighting some cold months I'd love to be inside the warm house installing UPB.

Any suggestions on peaking the interests of the prospect to expand controls through the home?

Thanks for the insite.

Hi,

How do you control the outside lights. Do your clients like the functionallity of your install? Would they like to control the inside lighting the same way....

Dave

 

[Edenlights]

Matt,

While you proabley wouldn't want to swap war stories with me since we are competitors in the same locale, I will say that our market is strong and everybody (various trades) wants a piece of the pie. Lighting control only companies can be successful, take a look at Doherty Design Group and yes they did just open a office in Nashville if that tells you anything. As far as UPB is concerned it is a love/hate relationship that I feel is only a short term solution as a protocol since more and more options are coming to market.

 

[LightenUP]

I don't want to step on toes of the HA guys in town that we work with. I also want to keep it simple.

My question is if a home theatre system salesperson even asks about controlling lights throughout the home?

Even though I mainly work in outdoor lighting some cold months I'd love to be inside the warm house installing UPB.

Any suggestions on peaking the interests of the prospect to expand controls through the home?

Thanks for the insite.

Hi,

How do you control the outside lights. Do your clients like the functionallity of your install? Would they like to control the inside lighting the same way....

Dave

We've used many combos when controlling the outside lights. Right now UPB is the main focus. They are intersted in more interior lighting control and can usually tie in couple of the external fixtures with the design. I want to use this as a way to get more interior business...just don't want to take more than I can chew on. Some of our other locations are reloctant to follow the UPB train, though even with it's challenges I feel it's the best choice at the moment for us.

The prospect has to learn about UPB advantages to expand on the system which is why we try to do a little at a time.

 

[LightenUP]

Matt,

While you proabley wouldn't want to swap war stories with me since we are competitors in the same locale, I will say that our market is strong and everybody (various trades) wants a piece of the pie. Lighting control only companies can be successful, take a look at Doherty Design Group and yes they did just open a office in Nashville if that tells you anything. As far as UPB is concerned it is a love/hate relationship that I feel is only a short term solution as a protocol since more and more options are coming to market.

Fancy seeing you in here. You know I do have to watch who's paying attention. I'm sure if we were honest to each other we'd both learn alot. Thanks for the Doherty Design Group name. I will check them out.

Have you done whole home automation yet? I may have landed a customer for a two floor install in MD. and may want to use a server instead of the stand alone timer. We'll see if it comes through.

UPB has been pretty solid. It's not perfect but pretty close.

 

[Edenlights]

Matt,

While you probably wouldn't want to swap war stories with me since we are competitors in the same locale, I will say that our market is strong and everybody (various trades) wants a piece of the pie. Lighting control only companies can be successful, take a look at Doherty Design Group and yes they did just open a office in Nashville if that tells you anything. As far as UPB is concerned it is a love/hate relationship that I feel is only a short term solution as a protocol since more and more options are coming to market.

Fancy seeing you in here. You know I do have to watch who's paying attention. I'm sure if we were honest to each other we'd both learn alot. Thanks for the Doherty Design Group name. I will check them out.

Have you done whole home automation yet? I may have landed a customer for a two floor install in MD. and may want to use a server instead of the stand alone timer. We'll see if it comes through.

UPB has been pretty solid. It's not perfect but pretty close.

I have followed pretty much everything UPB since our first use of it in late 2004, but things didn't take off until the inexpensive timers arrived in late 2005. We average about 10 devices per home on most installs with the least being a timer and appliance module all the way to a max of 175+ devices, four phase couplers, five upb filters, and two loads that had to be rewired due to power conditioners being to close to the devices. It's always great to talk to someone who has hands on experience with UPB. While I feel that UPB is still the most full featured system that's out there in the retrofit category, the system will still be outdone as fluorescents cause more and more problems due to noise as they become prevalent in the homes of our clients.