PaulD
Active Member
Been reviewing earlier posts related to wiring new house switches and I am looking for feedback on my approach. I desire to use UPB widely but want to retain the ability to move back and forth between UPB and conventional switches for resale purposes. I anticipate using an HAI Omni Pro II system for HA and I am not interested in including some other Brand X controller specifically for lighting control. Also, 100% of all electrical boxes of any kind would be deep boxes to aid future changes.
If I understand UPB switches correctly, you have one master load control unit somewhere (does not have to be in area of the load) and all the other switches are slaves which use low voltage wire (Cat5e/etc) to communicate with the master to tell it what needs to be done (on/off/dim).
If true, it appears to me that:
- you have the option of using Cat5 in a daisy chain from master to all slaves OR home running a Cat5 from master and each slave back to wiring closet and doing the interconnect from there.
- only the master needs 120v to directly control the load. Slaves are not directly connected to the load via 120v.
If I have that straight, my dilimena is how to wire the house in the begining so I minimize wire runs yet retain the option to go conventional or UPB. I would like to start with mostly conventional and move to UPB over time as budget permits. Also, I suspect that building inspectors in my area have zero famialiarty with HA and I might run into probems with UPB application that they are not familiar with. To do this, it appears to me that my strategy should be as follows.
1) Let electrician wire house in a totally conventional manner for all switches including all 3 or 4 way switches
2) Run Cat5 wire in daisy chain from master to slaves with Cat5 wire in an adjacent low voltage gang box (helps deal with inspectors)
3) When converting to UPB switches, electrical connections between master and slaves would be disconnected and use Cat5 to connect slaves to master
Question....is it feasable to use abandoned 110v wiring between switches for communication in lieu of running Cat5 wire? I suspect it may be too noisy for reliable communication between switches.
If I am off track, please educate me. If other/better options exist, educate me.
Paul
If I understand UPB switches correctly, you have one master load control unit somewhere (does not have to be in area of the load) and all the other switches are slaves which use low voltage wire (Cat5e/etc) to communicate with the master to tell it what needs to be done (on/off/dim).
If true, it appears to me that:
- you have the option of using Cat5 in a daisy chain from master to all slaves OR home running a Cat5 from master and each slave back to wiring closet and doing the interconnect from there.
- only the master needs 120v to directly control the load. Slaves are not directly connected to the load via 120v.
If I have that straight, my dilimena is how to wire the house in the begining so I minimize wire runs yet retain the option to go conventional or UPB. I would like to start with mostly conventional and move to UPB over time as budget permits. Also, I suspect that building inspectors in my area have zero famialiarty with HA and I might run into probems with UPB application that they are not familiar with. To do this, it appears to me that my strategy should be as follows.
1) Let electrician wire house in a totally conventional manner for all switches including all 3 or 4 way switches
2) Run Cat5 wire in daisy chain from master to slaves with Cat5 wire in an adjacent low voltage gang box (helps deal with inspectors)
3) When converting to UPB switches, electrical connections between master and slaves would be disconnected and use Cat5 to connect slaves to master
Question....is it feasable to use abandoned 110v wiring between switches for communication in lieu of running Cat5 wire? I suspect it may be too noisy for reliable communication between switches.
If I am off track, please educate me. If other/better options exist, educate me.
Paul