Whats up with Zwave

[syous]

Anyone know what is going on with zwave switches? Are they in such high demand?

I have been looking for some 3way switches that can handle 600W loads but can not find any. They are either on back order or not offered. Anyone know where I can purchase some?

Also, does the companion switch have to be zwave or can it be a standard 3way switch?

Thanks
syous

 

[IVB]

Depressingly, martin/automatedoutlet has had very few issues fulfilling my orders. I believe I've bought close to $1200 worth of stuff in the past 4 weeks, including 2 of the 800W ACT switches plus 2 companion switches ($15 each, how can you go wrong) that are due at my house tomorrow.

And I would like to take this moment to curse Martin yet again for having that running total on his site. Thank god Brian/TechHome doesn't have that, cuz otherwise I'd really be screwed if my wife happened to look over my shoulder at the wrong moment.

 

[syous]

Thanks as alway IVB.

I just spoke with Martin and he confirms that, due to manufacturing changes, a lot of the Zwave switches are not currently available.

He did however convince me to try UPB. I got the same recomendation from the Cinemar team as well.

Thanks again
syous

 

[IVB]

Ha! I've cornered the market? I sense an arbitrage opportunity.

I'll sell you my switches, for, let's say, $599 each? If you buy 4 or more, i'll throw in free shipping via USPS, 4th class.

 

[George West]

Anyone know what is going on with zwave switches? Are they in such high demand?

I have been looking for some 3way switches that can handle 600W loads but can not find any. They are either on back order or not offered. Anyone know where I can purchase some?

...

Thanks
syous

From your message it seems that you are looking at the ACT/HomePro products...

Don't be too surprised if ACT and/or RCS exit the Z-Wave business. No prediction or even comment on the quality of the products, just a hunch based on some other information.

Both RCS and ACT carry other products based on LONWorks. Neither company is large like a Leviton that they can afford to carry a broad range of products based on different technologies.

Couple this with the fact that Echelon is in the middle of a rebranding and refocusing of LONWorks specifically towards the home market. Echelon also dramatically reduced the price on their chips. When I first heard the number I didn't think it was competitive. After the most recent Z-Wave announcement of $4.50/chip it doesn't look too bad.

Echelon is also selling a reference design for a lighting control device. It is supposed to auto-sense if the controlled device can be dimmed or not and behave accordingly. It is also specifically designed to be installed into electrical systems with no neutral (switch in loop). There are also the usual announcements with words like eco-system and open standards and such.

My first thought was "just what we need, another HA technololgy." Echelon makes the point that they have been selling this technology into different applications since about 1990 and they have considerable experience putting it into products. They say that the Phast system used LONWorks.

I could see RCS and ACT making a hard decision to place their bets on LONWorks while dropping one of their other product lines. Like I said, not a prediction and not a bet, just that I wouldn't be surprised if it happened. I also wouldn't be surprised if X10 got the axe instead.

George West

 

[ChrisWalker]

George,

Just curious--where did you see a $4.50/chip price for Z-Wave chips? The 200-series was $3.00/chip in volume, and the 4th-gen chip (300-series) is $2.xx/chip. Or at least that's what Zensys has been quoting

Chris

 

[macromark]

I mentioned this thread to Phil Kingery at ACT and he expressed surprise at any rumor that ACT is considering getting out of the Z-Wave business. He went on to say that while ACT does manufacture a few LonWorks products, the sales of their Z-wave products far out-distance any sales of their LonWorks products. ACT now produces over 35 different Z-Wave enabled products and have over a dozen due for release in the first quarter of 2007. More Z-Wave products are also on the way from ACT. ACT also makes OEM and proprietary products for other Z-Wave companies. They have not been without their problems, however. They recently had to stop shipments on a few products while they updated their design. Now, they are finding it hard to keep up with demand.

Anyone who would like more information can email Phil at [email protected]. I am sure he would be happy to give your more information.

-Mark

HomeSeer Technologies