UPS causing interference with UPB

[drozwood90]

I use 0 filters with no noticeable noise on X10 or UPB.

As for Z-wave, the issue is signal blockage (as mentioned above), or if you have an older house, and have metal junction boxes (as I had in my last house). That was REALLY why I went UPB...that and Martin over at AO gave a good speech to me over the phone, when I was having issues with my X10. Convinced me enough to switch. Been happy ever since!

 

[Deane Johnson]

I hadn't thought of the metal junction box issue. Thanks. Something to consider.

 

[Digger]

I use 0 filters with no noticeable noise on X10 or UPB.

As for Z-wave, the issue is signal blockage (as mentioned above), or if you have an older house, and have metal junction boxes (as I had in my last house). That was REALLY why I went UPB...that and Martin over at AO gave a good speech to me over the phone, when I was having issues with my X10. Convinced me enough to switch. Been happy ever since!

Martin gave me the same speech to go from Insteon hell to UPB heaven. He should put that speech on YouTube LOL.

 

[Steve]

Yup, every system is going to have its pros and cons. While I know all too well how UPB can be affected by powerline noise, it is certainly alot more resilient than x10, especially if using Gen II. I thin Gen II UPB will work in the vast majority of homes, all except ones with very severe noise issues. And alot of the time a really severe issue is cause by 1 or possible 2 devices and those can usually be addressed. There is a device that is not really marketed, kind of a choke of some sort I believe that is working fairly well on 220V noisemakers like some of the Pentair variable speed pool pumps.

I have been having great results testing out Zigbee based stuff, but certainly you can run into issues with that too.

It's true and I used to be one that said that hardwired is the best, but the problem is at least for retrofit you're pretty much locked into ALC and that leaves you with 1 choice of switch which imho is not as nice as some of the UPB or Zigbeee or ZWave switches.

Then you have the issue of not every protocol or vendor has all devices you may want, so you start getting hybrid system with 2 different techolgies, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

I've had both APC and CyberPower UPS and none of them really seem to impact UPB though.

 

[Deane Johnson]

Is there a difference between Zigbee and Z-Wave? Am I confusing them because the both start with a "Z"?

 

[Steve]

Yes, they are different. They are both wireless though. Z-Wave runs in the 900Mhz band whereas Zigbee is in the 2.4Ghz band. Zwave is currently more 'standard' (and I use that term cautiously) and interoperable. Zigbee products at the current time are typically limited to interoperability only within the same manufacturer but that may start changing soon. There's a ton of info here on both if you search around.