Which system for me? Lighting for today, with the potential for further HA.

Well, kinda both. CQC will control a device on Elk/HAI via the Elk/HAI driver. But it obviously needs to be something that the Elk or Omni supports directly. Examples would be lighting or a stat. Neither supports a stereo receiver directly afaik. Nuvo or Russound, yea, but like a Denon receiver you would have to control via serial port on a pc.
 
Ok, I thought maybe it worked as just a pass through.

I guess I need to then figure out how many possible serial ports I could ever use.
 
No, CQC can only control PC serial ports. The Elk serial ports are for whatever the elk can control.
 
Steve said:
For your exact purposes to start that may be sort of fair, but to really be fair you need to include 4 additional M1XSPs (serial ports) and the M1XEP (Ethernet adapter) to compare to the OmniPro, since the OPII has 5 serial ports and ethernet standard. I strongly recommended the XEP for the M1, and as for the serial ports, sure, you may save a few bucks up front if you don't use them right away. But, if you add it all up apples to apples they come out around the same.
Click to expand...
Indeed, now within the price difference of who cares when I add the XEP and XSP's. I am curious what everyone is using all the ports for though.


Further trying to nail this down so I can place an order, I have been searching the site like crazy and trying to utilize the spreadsheet tool to compare the Elk & Omni. I have not managed to see what differences that I would utilize between the two. I reduced the HA Comparison spreadsheet to the fields where there were differences to help me make a decision.

On top of the fields that were the same, considering I will be using CQC, I also removed features that CQC will control. These are:
1) The Remote Access section
2) Multi-zone Audio
3) Interfaces

What I am left with are not a lot of differences that I think are pertinent to me, but considering I haven’t done the install yet I am not sure that I am making correct assumptions.

Here is the reduced spreadsheet via jpg
elkvsomnidifferences.jpg


I think what I am really wondering is if you currently own an Elk are there things on the Omni that would make you buy the Omni if you were starting over? If you don’t currently own either are there features on the Omni that would make you lean that way?

I am also curious as to how friendly the respective software solutions are. I am not overly concerned with learning a new protocol, but considering this is just a DIY install and I won’t be doing this for a living my decision could be influenced by software as well.
 
I'd love to read Spanky's comments on this, e.g. justifications and future plans.

But I know he can't comment much on what's coming down the pike - industrial secrets and all.
 
Personally I think that if you are going to be using CQC or a similar automation system, the two units will be nearly identical. I think HAI can integrate video better than the ELK, but that is about the only thing I can think of.
 
is there a spreadsheet shown? I think my company's ratcheted up our internet monitoring thingey, I can't see anything.
 
As for lighting, I am leaning towards Jetstream Zigbee or UPB now.

I am curious, in this thread (Post 4, SPeacock)
http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php...amp;mode=linear
says, "Centralite Jetstream has status update and firmware limitations." What limitations is he referring to? I thought they were field firmware updateable and gave effective status updates.

In the March EHX review, Steve references that they are adding at least a couple of the missing pieces for me onto the Jetstream line.
http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12947
He also alludes that this may be a growing technology. This brings me to a question. The Jetstream uses a variety of frequency ranges to try and make sure that communication reaches the controller. While they are different ranges than the RadioRA is there some reason that the RadioRA should be "more reliable"? It seems to me that using a similar technique that the Jetstream might be the poor man's RadioRA.

I like the options with UPB, but am concerned about power-noise. There is definitely some stray voltage on my grounds and being my house was built in 1974 I don't expect it to be done exactly right. I do have an acre lot and so do all my neighbors, but about 1/2mile away there is a very small substation.
 
Deephaven said:
In the March EHX review, Steve references that they are adding at least a couple of the missing pieces for me onto the Jetstream line.
http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12947
He also alludes that this may be a growing technology. This brings me to a question. The Jetstream uses a variety of frequency ranges to try and make sure that communication reaches the controller. While they are different ranges than the RadioRA is there some reason that the RadioRA should be "more reliable"? It seems to me that using a similar technique that the Jetstream might be the poor man's RadioRA.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure what pieces you need on Jetstream. You can easily use any PIR and stat with Jetstream switches with your panel. I have been evaluating Jetstream and it is really a mixed bag for me. I really like everything about it except for the switch paddles. They (especially single button) just don't have a good crisp feel to them. I think its because of the way the bezel is designed with all plastic 'fingers' to regulate the pressure/feel. But they have been 100% reliable and the software and setup is great.

I like the options with UPB, but am concerned about power-noise. There is definitely some stray voltage on my grounds and being my house was built in 1974 I don't expect it to be done exactly right. I do have an acre lot and so do all my neighbors, but about 1/2mile away there is a very small substation.
Click to expand...
If you have noise on the powerline, a powerline technology can be a bitch. Of all of them I would only consider UPB and Gen II at that. While SAI believe more in finding and controlling your noise makers, that is a constant fight and not worth the hassle. PCS offers a guarantee that their stuff will work, so I would probably go that route, but HAI or Web Mountain stuff would work under the same conditions. If going with UPB choose a mfg and vendor that will let you trade back in or something if you run into noise issues that kill your system.

Both UPB and Jetstream are very nice and I would not hesitate to recommend either, but UPB will require a little more testing and tweaking for noise, plus you will need either a coupler or repeater. There are many that will say SAI switches work great, and they do, but not in a noisy environment. If someone has SAI/UPB and they have never experienced failure due to noise then they have no idea how frustrating it can be.
 
All you need is a UPB PIM/CIM. If you can get your hands on one you can use UpStart to look for noise.
 
Deephaven said:
Is there any good way to measure the noise before doing a UPB installation?
Click to expand...


I carry a UPB pocket programmer in my tool bag just to check for noise before I decide which way to go as far as a lighting protocol, but like Steve says you can just a standard computer module and a copy of upstart to see what you're noise is.
 
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