what are the best options for smart dimmers for small house..caseta?

[capall]

I'm remodeling my 1500sq ft, 3 bedroom house in San Francisco, back to the studs, and am thinking about getting some type of HA hub such as an ELk, Omni pro, homekit, homeseer , CQC, or even loxone next year,
 
As part of this I'd like to automate some of my lighting. Is Caseta the best option ?
 
thanks
derek
 
 
 

 

[mikefamig]

I think that Caseta is wireless and wouldn't require any special wiring. I would definitely make sure that each electrical outlet and switch has all three (Line, Neutral and Ground) power wires.
 
Mike.

 

[cobra]

It really depends on what you want. Have any likes about what the switches look like, what equipment they work with, or any budget desires?

 

[capall]

I'll confirm the wiring but its all new wiring and to code, so should be 3 wires there.
contemporary look for sure, budget conscious but not cheap, up to approx $50 a switch.
 
I would prefer to tie back to a hub rather than the lights being the hub/controller, which I think radioara can do?
 
 
An important question I should have asked, Given I am back  to studs  with all new wiring, am I at least on the right track to be looking for wireless or cat5 wired switches ??

 

[picta]

For a small house wireless should be fine. The wired will be 2x more expensive, but on par with RadioRA2. If you like Caseta, make sure your choice controller can integrate with it. That would exclude HAI, Elk and Loxone. Homeseer or CQC could help. My friend's house of similar size uses Centralite Jetstream with HAI, and that works well. What you may consider is to run a wire for sensors and other equipment. The wired sensors are much cheaper and more reliable than wireless.

 

[mikefamig]

In addition to installing wires for security sensors you will want to install cat6 cable between the security panel location and each keypad/expander location. You really need to first choose your security system and then diagram all of it's wiring. Each installation is unique.
 
For lighting I recommend UPB which uses existing AC wiring as long as you have all three AC wires at each UPB device. I have four UPB dimmers in my detached garage and two more in my house and they work very well.
 
Also know that metal J-boxes can interfere with wireless light switches and outlets.
 
Mike.

 

[capall]

thanks guys, possibly putting the cart before the horse here, so I've taken a step back and asked a new more general question