Well this weekend I installed 7 Simply-Automated USR240 dimmers, and ~7 slave switches along with a fixture module. This is my first UPB experience, I have ~80 various x-10 devices at my house, and have a lot of experience there.
Here are my quick first impressions:
Here are my quick first impressions:
- Hardware
- The dimming switches are of very nice construction, the interchangeable faceplates are real cool, up to 8 buttons available.
- The LED's are cool, although why only green and blue (light blue does not count)
- Setup is easy, although you must have the software.
- Out of 8 switches one did not work, the software would not see it for setup, I tried everything
- Why do only the slave switches come with wire nuts?
- The fixture module, what kind of mounting is this? It is non-standard and impossible to mount clean.
- The slave switch LED, worthless, lights green, on all the time or on with load, this depends on how you wire it. No other options
- The slave switches only support 2 buttons, a side by side full length rocker
- Slave switch, why have a white/red wire if it is unused, the electrical boxes are full enough as it is.
- The documentation sucks, they reference things that are not there, like relay mode.
- The white/brown wire looks white/black
- The switches are slow, I thought my Switchlincs and keypadlincs were slow, these babies take a long time for a simple on/off command, not a good response time, and for a switch that is directly controlling a load to be 1/2 second to respond this feels unprofessional.
- Software
- The UPBStart software... where do I begin, the person that thought this up and programmed this apparently had no real world experience, and obviously has not seen the light of day in years. This thing just plain sucks... I mean a requester that says 'In Understand' instead of O.K.?
- Software: Links? what and why are these, why can't I just have a button linked directly to a device? I mean I have devices and links, but I can only activate the link, so now I have redundant devices, redundant devices, redundant devices...
- If you change/add/move a room the software looses it's brain.
- The update/program option is very slow
- You can do all kinds of things on each button, on/off/activate/deactivate/dim.... but you have to do it to a link and not a device
- I can no way found out how to make a button just send a command/key/something to HS
- HomeSeer Integration
- It does not see the devices automatically, you have to export in the UPBStart then HS imports it, so any changes are not real time
- You have to stop and exit HS to start UPBStart to add/change/more devices
- You get the devices listed in the rooms as locations, this is fine and good.
- The only options available to dimming devices are on/off/dim
- The links are imported to a location called UPB Device Link, then everything is dumped here, all the devices because the UPB software made you make a link for every device
- For each link you have all kinds of options, like:Activate,Deactivate,Fade On,Fade Off,Snap On,Snap Off,Dim to 10%,Dim to 20%,Dim to 30%,Dim to 40%,Dim to 50%,Dim to 60%,Dim to 70%,Dim to 80%,Dim to 90%,Blink,Restore Last On Level
- I can default the switches to come on to a set dim level when pressed, but in HS if I send an on command it goes to 100%, this is different and less preferred than the way the Switchlincs work. As with them I set them at a preset on of 60%, if I send an On they go to 60%, I can then send a dim 100% to go to full on. This allows me to set each switch to it's preferred preset on. These UPB's will loose that ability
- Where are all the options? I see nothing, no real settings, polling or anything, seems very simplistic.