pete_c
Guru
This weekend one of my mini-projects was to replace two sets of three way switches (Insteon today) with 6 UPB switches. Two of these switches being the primary and 4 being the secondary virtual slaves. I have have both hot, neutral, ground and travelers in each of the virtual slave boxes.
A little history.
1 - I converted all of the HA switches to Insteon about 7 or so years ago.
2 - The metal boxes initially were double boxes with single covers on them.
3 - because I was painting each room I cut out the single metal mud plate cover and installed a double metal mud plate covers in many switches.
4 - I added many switches when I did this; such that now most of the double boxes (almost all of them) have two Insteon switches in them. A bit of a tight fit but not really an issue due to the thin metal front plate of the Insteon switch and the "shallowness" of the Insteon switch.
The concerns
1 - Yesterday decided to do two sets of 3-way lights.
2 - first box was easy in that it was a double box but only had one Insteon switch in it.
3 - The metal boxes are standard depth with at least one conduit going to it but mostly with 2-3 conduits in each box.
4 - The depth of the UPB switches are about 50% greater than the Insteon switches.
5 - The depth of the UPB switches caused me some grief during installation; such that I had to rearrange the position of the switch.
6 - Most of the switch boxes in my home have the conduit connected on the top with multple wires coming from it.
7 - One that I was working with had the conduit coming in from the side with 4 14 guage wires coming from it. Made it very difficult relating to placement of the switch. I had to swap the switch with the other switch in the box to get it to fit. (this became a WAF issue)
8 - Next issue was getting two switches to fit in one box. They didn't fit too well and the cover plate doesn't fit too well on the two switches.
Needless to say I stopped with the first set because of issues relating to installation of one switch with an existing Insteon switch in the same metal box; I fit them both in the box but the fit is very tight and I had to swap the position of the two switches for the fit as the Insteon switch was 1/2 in depth of the UPB switch. The one I had the least problems with was a 4 gang box with only two insteon switches in it.
I am now seeing that in order to fit more than one UPB switch in a box I may need to remove the metal mud plate (once again) and put a single mud plate in the box combining two switches to one. This will involved cutting the drywall on each of the switch boxes that I need to upgrade. This alone is kind of a major endeavor as I do have the original paint utilized but will make the conversion a very lengthy process.
To date all of the switches that I have converted over to UPB on the second floor were plug n play as they were mostly either paired with regular switches or single switches in double boxes with single metal mudplates. The last switch that I installed yesterday was one of two in a box. It was paired with an older Insteon switch. It fit but not easily. Looking at the wires in the metal box I will not be able to remove the Insteon switch the paired Insteon switch and replace it with a similiar UPB switch. It was a UPB slave switch being used in a virtual 3 way with main switch.
This endeavor has put a damper on my migration to UPB as to now the migration will involve some drywall work, new mudplates and combo switches (of which I haven't purchased yet - except for one).
One room / endeavor is the dining room. Two primary double cans each with four Insteon switches controling two loads in the room. I was hoping to be done with this room as the last endeavor was a custom wood floor (which in itself took over a week to install)
Any suggestions relating to continued use / installation of UPB would be welcome.
I have a mix of sorts relating to UPB; using HAI, SA and PCS. Yesterday's endeavor was to install two 1000 Watt PCS and 4 600 Watt SA's as virtual slaves. Configuring the switches were the easiest part of the endeavor.
A little history.
1 - I converted all of the HA switches to Insteon about 7 or so years ago.
2 - The metal boxes initially were double boxes with single covers on them.
3 - because I was painting each room I cut out the single metal mud plate cover and installed a double metal mud plate covers in many switches.
4 - I added many switches when I did this; such that now most of the double boxes (almost all of them) have two Insteon switches in them. A bit of a tight fit but not really an issue due to the thin metal front plate of the Insteon switch and the "shallowness" of the Insteon switch.
The concerns
1 - Yesterday decided to do two sets of 3-way lights.
2 - first box was easy in that it was a double box but only had one Insteon switch in it.
3 - The metal boxes are standard depth with at least one conduit going to it but mostly with 2-3 conduits in each box.
4 - The depth of the UPB switches are about 50% greater than the Insteon switches.
5 - The depth of the UPB switches caused me some grief during installation; such that I had to rearrange the position of the switch.
6 - Most of the switch boxes in my home have the conduit connected on the top with multple wires coming from it.
7 - One that I was working with had the conduit coming in from the side with 4 14 guage wires coming from it. Made it very difficult relating to placement of the switch. I had to swap the switch with the other switch in the box to get it to fit. (this became a WAF issue)
8 - Next issue was getting two switches to fit in one box. They didn't fit too well and the cover plate doesn't fit too well on the two switches.
Needless to say I stopped with the first set because of issues relating to installation of one switch with an existing Insteon switch in the same metal box; I fit them both in the box but the fit is very tight and I had to swap the position of the two switches for the fit as the Insteon switch was 1/2 in depth of the UPB switch. The one I had the least problems with was a 4 gang box with only two insteon switches in it.
I am now seeing that in order to fit more than one UPB switch in a box I may need to remove the metal mud plate (once again) and put a single mud plate in the box combining two switches to one. This will involved cutting the drywall on each of the switch boxes that I need to upgrade. This alone is kind of a major endeavor as I do have the original paint utilized but will make the conversion a very lengthy process.
To date all of the switches that I have converted over to UPB on the second floor were plug n play as they were mostly either paired with regular switches or single switches in double boxes with single metal mudplates. The last switch that I installed yesterday was one of two in a box. It was paired with an older Insteon switch. It fit but not easily. Looking at the wires in the metal box I will not be able to remove the Insteon switch the paired Insteon switch and replace it with a similiar UPB switch. It was a UPB slave switch being used in a virtual 3 way with main switch.
This endeavor has put a damper on my migration to UPB as to now the migration will involve some drywall work, new mudplates and combo switches (of which I haven't purchased yet - except for one).
One room / endeavor is the dining room. Two primary double cans each with four Insteon switches controling two loads in the room. I was hoping to be done with this room as the last endeavor was a custom wood floor (which in itself took over a week to install)
Any suggestions relating to continued use / installation of UPB would be welcome.
I have a mix of sorts relating to UPB; using HAI, SA and PCS. Yesterday's endeavor was to install two 1000 Watt PCS and 4 600 Watt SA's as virtual slaves. Configuring the switches were the easiest part of the endeavor.