OnQ/Legrand ALC Lighting Status

[rbroders]

Is anyone still using this system?  OnQ/Legrand stopped developing the product and sold it to Stewart Electronics.  They maintained it for many years, but now they have also dropped this product line.
 
My house has 104 switches and when a few failed I decided to reverse engineer replacement switches.  After about a year of development I can now repair both Relay and Dimmer switches (by replacing the circuit board and case).
 
I'm rather pleased with the new switches which are better than the old in several ways:
Power supply: UL Listed encapsulated SMPS (old switches used a capacitive dropper) allows microcontroller and AUX wires to be fully grounded
Relay: bi-stable relay only needs power to change states (old relay used ~1W when on)
Relay: zero-crossing switch - microcontroller times relay transitions to occur when line voltage is zero
Dimmer: MOSFET operated trailing edge dimmer (old dimmer used TRIAC leading edge dimmer)
Dimmer: smooth ramping (45,000 intermediate levels vs 127) probably won't notice but it was a lot of work so I must brag about it.
 
Anyway, let me know if you have an ALC system and if you need any switches "repaired".  I don't really intend to go into production with these things, but I put a lot of effort into them and I would love to see my efforts help you folks out.  Oh, it is also possible to build new (improved of course) hubs if anyone is interested.
 
--Bob

 

[SierraTech]

Hi Bob,
 
I'm definitely interested, I just had to replace Relay unit, which I originally installed around 2003. I had to repair one of my original Omni-Stats which never communicated, nor did I ever find the time to send to HAI (I have 8 of them).  Turned out to be a bad opto-coupler, after reverse engineering communications of serial link.
 
The failed ALC unit I removed was an older design with comm wires connecting in the back (not on top). Are you interested in repairing or replacing unit?  I just haven't had the time to open and see what burned up (does have a carbon odor). The Relay switch worked manually, but stopped communicating with ALC controller.
 
I purchased both Relay Switches and AUX switches from Stewart Electronics, and when I last talked with owner several years ago he was having difficulty getting parts out of China. Let me know how I can get a hold of you.
 
Let me know!
 
-Bob

 

[JayH]

Bob & any other ALCers,
 
I changed many years ago to UBP and just boxed my ALC.  If anyone is interested, I'll get a full list together, but I'd rather find someone that needs them than drop them in electronics recycling.
 
Summary:
18-20 switches, a few relays.  Some new in box, about 8 damaged by a lightning strike - switch works, comm doesn't - I didn't feel like repairing.
Several home lighting controllers, a lighting manager + 3-way breakout
Some active hubs (2 gang box)
Te demo box (dimmer, relay, program + socket)
Programming adapter
Software on floppies ;-)
 
This is mostly original Onq, a few Legrand.  No Stewart Electronics.
 
All I'm looking for is to cover shipping.
 
Jay

 

[SierraTech]

Jay,
 
I sent you a private message.  Definitely interested, not familiar with Programming Adapter,  can you fill me in!
 
Thanks!
 
-Bob

 

[wirekat]

I am still using them though I'm getting ready to swap out my HAI Omni for an ELK M1.
The only unknown (to me) at this point is if I will be able to control my OnQ-ALC switches.
I have the AMP Lighting control board plugged into my old Omni but I'm not sure if I can
use it to plug into the ELK-M1XSP as the AMP draws power from the Omni and is
piggy backed to a serial interface expansion board off of the Omni.

Thanks for any info advice.

 

[sic0048]

I looked at the system years ago, but never pulled the trigger.  Then when Stewart Electronics picked them up, I actually went by their showroom (they are local to me) and talked with them.  I never did buy into the system (mainly because I would be retrofitting it into an older home), but I enjoyed talking with them about it.  They had a really neat training center too.