New Start Retrofit in House UPB vs Z Wave

[guy999]

I'm thinking you might be a little confused about the store - it sounds like you're buying from Automated Outlet - which is a distributor for Simply Automated, HAI, PCS, Elk, and a bunch of other products... there's no direct relationship to Simply Automated other than them being one of the products they distribute. They also sell Z-Wave and other products. Problems in your media cabinet are likely explained by the fact that AV Equipment is noisy... a noise-filtering power strip or power distribution device will often help, or filtering out the whole power strip.

yes i buy from automated outlet and they are very helpful.

but i think i am going to buy some new switches that will work with the repeater because signal strength at the repeater is like 90 with noise 5.

i have everything running in my av closet running into one outlet, which is on one breaker in the box, so i need to put a filter on that, I'm actually adding a ups this weekend so i really need to put that filter on.

I just don't understand why when I run the comm test it doesn't show much noise, maybe 5 or 6, and signal strength varies from 35-45 that noise would be the problem, but I will do what needs to be done.

 

[guy999]

so i spoke to automated home today and they had called simply automated and apparently their dimmer switches now do repeat. I guess the old ones didn't but the new ones do?

anyways that's good news I guess.

 

[guy999]

well i guess everyone else was aware of simply automated using a repeater, but I was suprised, but anyways

today I bought a pcs 600 watt dimmer, i'm going to install this one this weekend in the media room and if it works much better I can try something else.

 

[guy999]

is it normal upb behavior for a device to be found with good signal strength on upstart and then a few hours later when you come back it can't be found unless I toggle the switch?

These are SA switches.

 

[tmbrown97]

I'll have to check into that repeating thing - as far as I understood they don't. Simply Automated makes an inverted phase coupler that works pretty well - and you can run multiple without them causing interference, so you can run one in every panel if needed. Turns out I have to run two even with a single panel.

One thing that could cause a switch to show up then disappear is if you have 240V appliances running. When your oven or dryer or pool pump is running, it effectively bridges the two phases.

Also many times with UPB you won't see any noise but will see lower signal numbers caused by attenuation. I will say that if you're having trouble you should give Simply Automated a call directly - they're extremely knowledgable and helpful - you can get their number from simply-automated.com (totally separate company than automated outlet).

 

[guy999]

clearly i need some help. i'm going to give simply automated a call tomorrow, they aren't open on the weekends. I do appreciate all of the help. Hopefully i get to be as good as you are in this in the future.

 

[guy999]

well i put in the pcx switch, wow what a difference, no noise, and signal strength is 87 at the device, up from 21 on the sa switch that is immediately next to it, and not even using the repeater, guess I need to put sa switches in there, i wouldn't think it would make that much difference but it sure does.

it worked right out of the box, quickly programmed and worked incredibly well, basically what everyone had been describing upb as supposed to work like.

I'm going to pull out all of the sa switches and trade them out.

 

[drozwood90]

Read your whole thread...sounds like you have some noise in the line from something that is periodic.

Probably why the PCX switches were a bit happier...they attenuate the noise (i.e. Gen 2).

--Dan

 

[guy999]

actually and this is pretty odd, but i upgraded to the new version of upstart that's on the pulseworks website and not the simply automated one and now I never get a failure,

I have run some tests and in 9999 tests I have very very few failures.

 

[batwater]

actually and this is pretty odd, but i upgraded to the new version of upstart that's on the pulseworks website and not the simply automated one and now I never get a failure,

I have run some tests and in 9999 tests I have very very few failures.

I'm looking on the PulseWorx website and not finding any download links, where did you get the newer version of Upstart?

Thanks

 

[dos46]

How does Z-Wave get affected when you are forced to use a metallic metal box for your line voltage applications? Would UPB be the better option in this scenario?

 

[JonW]

I'm looking on the PulseWorx website and not finding any download links, where did you get the newer version of Upstart?

Thanks

Click on "Support" from the top menu, then "Software Downloads" from the left menu.

 

[guy999]

I'm looking on the PulseWorx website and not finding any download links, where did you get the newer version of Upstart?

Thanks

http://pulseworx.com/Downloads_.htm

 

[guy999]

How does Z-Wave get affected when you are forced to use a metallic metal box for your line voltage applications? Would UPB be the better option in this scenario?

i don't think it works as well.

yep to second question

 

[ddennerline]

The distance for metallic boxes is only slightly impacted in my experience. I changed just a few metallic boxes to blue plastic versions. The replacement boxes now act as concentrators as they have the most links to other metallic boxes. A metal box will not deny Z-Wave operation only minimize its range.

The bigger problem is not metallic verses plastic - it’s box size. Metallic switch/lighting boxes are typically much smaller than plastic versions. Leviton Z-Wave switches have a minimum size requirement.