New Construction, am I on the right track?

For all of these reasons and more...that's why I use a dedicated PC. By putting something on there like...Homeseer (which I use) or CQC or Premise or (list goes on...sorry for leaving out the other 2 that I know of...but can't think of the names of), I can blend anything I want together. I have Z-Wave locks, thermostats and some modules. I use UPB for my lighting as well as most of my modules.

I tend to think of it as Z-Wave is the "X10" of the reliable world. From the stand point of they have lots of toys and accessories.

I only know of one UPB thermostat. Then there are light switches and modules. That's about it.

I think Insteon (correct me Lou) is about the same as UPB when it comes to TYPES of modules...but might have a few more (IR comes to mind).

Z-wave has a LOT. Way more than I can mention. Things like drapery controls, lighting, modules, Remotes, IR controllers, thermostats, Locks (Schlage / Kwickset / a few more in the pipeline), water shutoff valves, power monitoring modules / switches, motion/light level/temperature all-in-one sensors, etc. etc.

I tend to hit here:
http://www.z-wavealliance.org/modules/Products/
and
http://www.zwaveproducts.com/
and
http://store.homeseer.com/store/default.aspx

When I'm trying to see if it is worth my time to build something for my home, or just see if someone has MADE something.

After I decide I need/want something (instead of make), I tend to shop at Homeseer and Aartech's sites for Z-Wave stuff. For UPB it's Automated Outlet 100%. You just can't beat the service. I think both Aartech and AO are Cocoontech 5 star vendors. I'm not sure about Homeseer, but they are a good place to buy from.

I think the Elk has lots of offerings as well. Someone like Dan (Electron) could probably comment more, as I know he uses Elk with Homeseer.

--Dan
Here is my reasoning. I need security system anyway. The most important thing after that is remote HVAC control since this is not a primary residence. This is why I think Elk is a good fit. Next step would be automation where I could choose Zwave or any other protocol. You made an excellent point on the variety of the products available for Zwave, right now I am not committing to anything. But Elk is capable to do UPB or Zwave. I have bad experience with X10 reliability ever since CFL were introduced. This is why I was thinking of UPB originally. But looks like Zwave night be a better choice. It could even be a mix, I am planning to have neutrals in all my switches anyway.

What do you guys thinking about placing this equipment under the staircase on the first floor. There is enough room, but I dont think it is a good idea since working in that space is not that easy, plus heat from the equipment, etc.
 
A couple of comments.

First:
I am not a big fan of a pc running the show, especially in a second home. I agree they offer very nice software solutions that do a ton and relatively easy to control. However, PC's have this nasty habbit of crashing, locking up, or just randomly doing something weird. If you live in the house, you can walk over there and reboot, but if it is your mountain villa. . . Also they burn anywhere from 60 to 300 watts depending on what model you are running.

I like hardware/firmware solutions. They virtually never crash and use very little electicity. This is why I love my Elk/ISY combo.

Second:
Insteon has quite a few gizmos. Things like relays, IR support, Drape controller, thermostats, Locks, Wireless remotes, and more. The only downside is that you are married to Smarthome. Sometimes that is great, sometimes frustrating. It just depends on how the stars are alligned. Insteon power line commands aren't as robust as UPB (like 99% vs 99.9 for UPB), however I have heard the dual band ones pretty much took care of those issues. I haven't bought any of those to know first hand. I have a feeling Insteon is going to continue moving to more RF in the future, kind of like zwave. For the most part, Insteon is appreciably less expensive.
 
Guys, could Elk integrate with whole house audio or would a whole house audio be a separate system all together? Would be nice to control everything from the same interface. Any recommendations on whole house audio? I am going back and forth between having stand alone receiver for each common area or a whole house system. Thanks.
 
If you think you might want distributed/whole house audio in the future, I suggest wiring for it now. The speakers could also be used for announcements, doorbell, and paging from the phone.

Some people put a speaker behind the security keypad for announcements, so you could add an 18/2 to your ethernet cable, for the KPs. However, you could probably 'double up' the 22/4 (use 2 pairs instead of 2 single wires) instead of the 18/2 for audio at the KP - maybe someone with more experience could chime in. I'm guessing that's a reasonable alternative to running an additional 18/2 to the KP.
 
If you think you might want distributed/whole house audio in the future, I suggest wiring for it now. The speakers could also be used for announcements, doorbell, and paging from the phone.
I am really having hard time getting motivated with this as opposed to just putting a receiver for each general open areas.

Some people put a speaker behind the security keypad for announcements, so you could add an 18/2 to your ethernet cable, for the KPs. However, you could probably 'double up' the 22/4 (use 2 pairs instead of 2 single wires) instead of the 18/2 for audio at the KP - maybe someone with more experience could chime in. I'm guessing that's a reasonable alternative to running an additional 18/2 to the KP.
Since Elk has voice announcements I am planning to have a speaker behind each keypad and then a couple more (based on recommendations on this forum, thank you). I am planning to double up 22/4, two 22/4 is more copper than single 18/2. If someone knows that this is not going to work please let me know.
 
Just to be clear, 'doubling up' means you use a single 22/4, but you twist together the ends of the 2 pairs to essentially create 2 conductors out of the 22/4 cable.
 
I'm not an audiophile.

My whole house audio consists of 9 zones. 9 USB sound cards.
I take that audio 3.5mm to cat5 (not IP), that goes into the room, cat5 to 3.5mm, then plug in some decent PC speakers.

TO be honest, the only rooms that sound "bad" are the rooms that have the crappy speakers (bathroom - since I bought water resistant speakers...and they didn't sound great...but if I'm in the shower, I don't care). The 3 rooms that have really good PC speakers sound fantastic.

After I wrote the control software for Homeseer, my total cost was ~$100 for all the USB sound cards and the connectors (3.5mm to Cat5 and Cat5 to 3.5mm).

It's not for everyone...and some people on here ARE audiophiles, but I really can't tell the difference...or just don't care that much! ;-)

So again, my vote is MORE cat5!

--Dan
 
It'll work just fine - I've done some pretty creative things running audio throughout an office building by using a combination of splitters and custom made RJ45 to 1/8" stereo (mix of male and female) cables - I took one computer, split the source coming out to speakers and a spare cat5 jack in the wall - down to a wiring closet to a couple more splitters then back to the patch panel then up to several offices in the building and back to sets of amplified speakers - everyone thought I was crazy but it worked great with no noise!

Also many people who don't have the extra wire have gotten by separating the unused Blue pair out of the DBH connection on both ends and used that to drive the SP12's and haven't reported any problems despite us all knowing that's technically insufficient gauge.

I personally liked 18/2 for the audio just because it was there and easier to work with - but to each their own - it'll work either way, and it certainly never hurts having a couple extra pairs around for future use.
 
Welcome to CT,

Sounds like a thought out plan. Two things that I would mention is from what you said about the audio capabilities in the house you might as well have WHA that integrates well with the controller you decide to go with.
HAI and ELK would be my top two choices, they are both effective for what you want to do. In this particular scenario I would recommend HAI Omni Pro II because it will work beautifully with what you are wanting to do, and the reason I mentioned whole house audio is because the Nuvo integrates flawlessly with the HAI and allows you to control all of your systems together as one with an Iphone, or Ipad.
 
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