I’ve made the switch to UPB after 10+ years of X-10. Presently have about 45 switches.
I considered Z-Wave and a few other technologies, but I picked UPB because once you do some debugging, it can be very reliable, I liked the switches, and my HAI panel supports it natively.
Here are my thoughts. First, replacing switches is a big pain, which my wife had to endure for three weekends. I picked the Simply Automated switches because the changeable faceplates allow you to change functions very easily. I mainly use single rockers, but the twin rockers have come in handy, for example, when adding a ceiling fan with a light. Need two switches but only have the space for one. No problem, add a split switch. The switch controls the light, and the second switch controls the fan using a junction box switch.
I have to say that the HAI switches seem more solid, and don’t make a loud click like the SA switches, but the SA switches are much more flexible. Both types are build very well with the exception of the SA remote switches. I don’t recommend those. There plastic, bend, and the LED on them doesn’t even match the color or brightness of the regular switches. Plus, the LEDs on these switches are always on and green. Instead of these, us a regular switch and don’t hook up the load. With simple programming, you can make this switch a remote to any other switch.
So I installed the switches, downloaded the free UPStart program to manage my switches, and my fun began. I had NO signal on the opposite phase. UpStart lets you talk to each device, and see the signal level at every device. Great for debugging.
I added a signal bridge in my box (the new Inverting type) and my signal was better on the opposite phase, but not enough to be reliable. SA was very helpful helping me to debug the problem, and they recommended a second bridge. That helped, but I’ve actually ordered one more to get the signal up there. Now keep in mind, I DON’T have a giant house, maybe 3000 sq. ft. max., next to other houses, etc. The moral, don’t believe that UPB will be instantly reliable for everyone. It definitely wasn’t for me.
As for signal suckers, haven’t really found any. I had about 8 X-10 filters in my house, and they are not needed for UPB. Its very robust, at least once I got the signal strong on both phases.
Once the switches were installed, getting them all to talk together was rather easy with UPStart. The hard part was that there are MANY features for each switch type, and documentation is POOR. Once I figured it out, it’s pretty cool.
With UPB (and maybe Z-wave does this as well) rockers on any switch can be linked to any load. Maybe that’s not unusual, but how smooth they work together is unusual. When you dim the remote switches, you’d never know they weren’t directly wired, its that smooth.
Rockers and keypads are really flexible. You can program what clicking the top or bottom side of the rocker does, what double clicking does, and what holding does. Keyboards support real toggling of lights, whereby turning on or off the light changes the indicator on the keyboard, and pressing a button toggles the light, even if the light wasn’t turned on or off at the keyboard. Very professional.
So far, I’m very happy with UPB, and I haven’t even connected my switch network to Homeseer and my HAI Omni yet. That will make it even better.
I considered Z-Wave and a few other technologies, but I picked UPB because once you do some debugging, it can be very reliable, I liked the switches, and my HAI panel supports it natively.
Here are my thoughts. First, replacing switches is a big pain, which my wife had to endure for three weekends. I picked the Simply Automated switches because the changeable faceplates allow you to change functions very easily. I mainly use single rockers, but the twin rockers have come in handy, for example, when adding a ceiling fan with a light. Need two switches but only have the space for one. No problem, add a split switch. The switch controls the light, and the second switch controls the fan using a junction box switch.
I have to say that the HAI switches seem more solid, and don’t make a loud click like the SA switches, but the SA switches are much more flexible. Both types are build very well with the exception of the SA remote switches. I don’t recommend those. There plastic, bend, and the LED on them doesn’t even match the color or brightness of the regular switches. Plus, the LEDs on these switches are always on and green. Instead of these, us a regular switch and don’t hook up the load. With simple programming, you can make this switch a remote to any other switch.
So I installed the switches, downloaded the free UPStart program to manage my switches, and my fun began. I had NO signal on the opposite phase. UpStart lets you talk to each device, and see the signal level at every device. Great for debugging.
I added a signal bridge in my box (the new Inverting type) and my signal was better on the opposite phase, but not enough to be reliable. SA was very helpful helping me to debug the problem, and they recommended a second bridge. That helped, but I’ve actually ordered one more to get the signal up there. Now keep in mind, I DON’T have a giant house, maybe 3000 sq. ft. max., next to other houses, etc. The moral, don’t believe that UPB will be instantly reliable for everyone. It definitely wasn’t for me.
As for signal suckers, haven’t really found any. I had about 8 X-10 filters in my house, and they are not needed for UPB. Its very robust, at least once I got the signal strong on both phases.
Once the switches were installed, getting them all to talk together was rather easy with UPStart. The hard part was that there are MANY features for each switch type, and documentation is POOR. Once I figured it out, it’s pretty cool.
With UPB (and maybe Z-wave does this as well) rockers on any switch can be linked to any load. Maybe that’s not unusual, but how smooth they work together is unusual. When you dim the remote switches, you’d never know they weren’t directly wired, its that smooth.
Rockers and keypads are really flexible. You can program what clicking the top or bottom side of the rocker does, what double clicking does, and what holding does. Keyboards support real toggling of lights, whereby turning on or off the light changes the indicator on the keyboard, and pressing a button toggles the light, even if the light wasn’t turned on or off at the keyboard. Very professional.
So far, I’m very happy with UPB, and I haven’t even connected my switch network to Homeseer and my HAI Omni yet. That will make it even better.
I should mention that I use many compact fluorescent lights that have their own delay, so maybe were used to a delay. I'd say the delay is probably less than a 1/2 second, so yes its there, but not a real problen. The SA switches make a pretty load click (which I really don't like) but it does tell you it was pressed. If the switch didn't click, it might have been more a problem.
