ChrisWalker
Active Member
kwilcox said:Well, I too am a little surprised by your installation difficulties and ongoing noise issues. I'm also suprised to see you actually had UPStart go "belly up" on you. What version were you using? I noticed it happened as it was searching for a PIM... Does it always crash when its searching for the PIM? For that matter, what PIM are you using? Maybe that is part of the problem. I myself use a PCS USB PIM and I haven't had any issues with it.
It's the latest version, which we downloaded from the Simply Automated website: v4.2, build 71. I spoke with one of their techs, and he indicated that he had experienced crashes as well. The crashes also occured in other situations, such as trying to turn a device on or off. I am attaching another screenshot. For the PIM, it's the standard Simply Automated serial module. I wish it were USB.
kwilcox said:I use UPB switches to control low voltage tracklighting - I have halo tracklighting with transformers on the individual lights - and haven't noticed any problems, nor have I encountered any of the noise problems you are seeing. I use the US11 switch body however so it may be that SAI is having issues with the newer version that you are installing.
It's interesting that almost all of the track lighting (low voltage) works great with the newer SA US2-40 switches. It's just a few of the circuits that have problems, and it's really bad on one in particular.
kwilcox said:What do you mean by "real time status updates" btw? I set my switches to ACK on successful command completion, but I don't know of a way to get my devices to periodically send a status out without being polled. Is this what you refer to as being potentially problematic?
The switches can send out a message when they are turned on manually, which is important when designing a GUI/event-driven software package to show which lights are on vs. off, to fire off events (like a timer when a light or fan is turned on). But in a situation where a UPB command is already being transmitted when a person flips a switch, or a user turns on a number of UPB switches at the same time, especially ones who have their retransmit count cranked up, a lot can get lost. So it becomes necessary to check up on all the switches in the background (which then adds more traffic, unfortunately).
But for installations where the switches are self-contained and don't need to interact with other smart systems which need status updates, UPB should work much nicer. And with enough software wizardry, I imagine that a good compromise could be made with the way it works now. Also, if UPB gains collision avoidance intelligence, this whole issue may become less problematic.
kwilcox said:I'm also intrigued by your reliability issues. I have a virtual 3 way set up for the library spiral staircase which controls tracklight stair illumination as well as a recessed overhead and haven't had a single problem. Did you install a phase coupler? This is recommended for all UPB installations btw... perhaps you had the same issues I had with computer UPS devices. Does the entertainment system have a UPS in it? Also, just a wild thought, but this house has standard split single phase service right? I'm using the PCS coupler attached to my dryer circuit but would go with the SAI version that installs as a double gang circuit breaker if I could only find one somewhere...
Yes, yes--very good advice. The house does have split-phase. We did install the new SAI wire-in phase coupler (since there was no room for the circuit breaker one) across one of the 220-volt appliance set of circuits. The virtual 3-way works nicely--it's the status update on the LED of the "virtual switches" that needs the retransmits to make it through mostly. 2 attempts didn't cut it, but 4 attempts seems to work well, at least in our time-limited testing.
Chris