Getting Started With Home Automation Lighting Control (Part 4)

re: Getting Started With Home Automation Lighting Control (Part 4)

JoltElectric — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 17:38:18 GMT

Loved your reviews Chris, keep them up, I would love to see you tie in the Zwave as well. I am an electrician thinking of adding home automation, lighting controls to what I can offer my customers. I went to EHX long beach and went through the Insteon training, but never spent time with Mcontrol, which I now regret. I thought it was just another lifeware type expensive product so i skipped it. Ooops.

Ross, with Insteon the rf linc that Chris mentioned does the jumping for you. You do not need to link the different phases at the panel. The linc from Insteon blinks fast to tell you its on different phases.

re: Getting Started With Home Automation Lighting Control (Part 4)

Ross — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 03:38:58 GMT

Hey Chris, so I'd also read that you sometimes need to have some kind of special device installed in your house (maybe in the fuse box) to link the power circuits together such that the control signals can get to and from any room in the house. Have you read about such a device/need? Did you run into any problems along these lines? Or is the combination of RF and power line enough to overcome any such installation quirks?

Thanks, Ross.

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re: Getting Started With Home Automation Lighting Control (Part 4)

chrisl — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:14:11 GMT

Glad to know Ross, I'm glad the posts have helped. I was basically in the same boat as you, not really wanting to have to put loads of time in to have a working setup was important. When I want to turn on the lights, I just want them on. Simple as that. I don't want to have to shuffle around trying to find out what's wrong. So far, with my setup it was been great with no additional fiddling to get a light to turn on.

And of course, as with any other project, cost is very important. mControl is a great starter package, as is using INSTEON. If for whatever reasoning INSTEON doesn't do it for you, mControl also works with Z-wave which was my next choice. A little more costly, but one of the best things IMHO is that mControl can work with both at the same time. You can have some Z-wave devices, and some INSTEON/X10 and control it all with the same UI!

Thanks!

Chris

re: Getting Started With Home Automation Lighting Control (Part 4)

Ross — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 16:30:42 GMT

Great series Chris! Thanks.

Home automation has kind of been at the back of my mind, but part of me didn't want to open the can of worms and find myself out hundreds of dollars just because, once started, I wouldn't quit till it was working. Having such a detailed guide - including cost breakdown - makes it much easier to dive in.

Cheers, Ross.