Build a new House

[lanski]

What do you mean?
I'm just looking for the cheap

[Dean Roddey]

Meaning, generally you can get cheap or good quality, but usually not both. If it was possible to create really high quality stuff for cheap, that company would probably rule the automation world and you'd likely not even be worrying about what to buy. But ultimately everything is some compromise between quality and cheap, and you just have to decide which compromise is the one for you.

[DaveB]

There really is no such thing as cheap lighting control now that X-10 is out of business.

A top quality standard light switch is less than $3.00, where PLC type devices like; HAI (upb) at about $40; UPB starting at about $40; Insteon $50; ZWave $60.

If I was building a new home, I would strongly consider a wired system as opposed to PLC. A wired system in combination with ZWave is an interesting option however. I really like Centralites Litejet / Jetstream combination, which is both a wired and Zigbee based system, but it is at a cost with the switches being above $80 each.

[SomeWhatLost]

Which switches are you using ?
And how can i do a 4-way circuit ?

there is no need to do 4 way, or even 3 way...
with all the home automation light setups that I am aware of, you just do a simple 1 switch controls 1 light/load, and then you can program as many other switches (or touch panels, or security panels, or anything really that you can use to "trigger" an event) as you like to control that 1 switch and his light/load.

and since all the 'slave' switches are just programed, you can always just re-program them if you want to change things up a bit...

also, it you want to get fancy, even a switch that is connected to a light/load can also be a 'slave' switch to some other switch connected to a different light/load...

for example, you could make it so every switch in the house turns on the kitchen light if you like, or have one switch somewhere that turns off all the lights in the house...

How can I realize this, it cost me a fortune?

yes it does:oops:

of the retro-fit options (ie can be used to upgrade an existing house/used with standard house wiring) there are a few options:

• cheapest is X-10, it is the original... it works correctly about 50% of the time... I first started with X-10... I would have lights that would turn on/off/blink all by themselves... lots of fun(?) but mostly useless...
  
• next is insteon, it is based on X-10, but it has been updated to be a bit better, it tends to work correctly about >95% of the time, it does seem that after they started adding the wireless signaling to some of the parts that it may be closer to >98% of the time now... this is what I am currently using, and I am fairly happy with it...
  
• then there is Zwave, its a bit more $$ then insteon, it is not at all based on the old X-10 devices, it is all wireless mesh communications, the more zwave devices you have, the better the odds that they will work correctly.
  
• and lastly and most expensive, there is UPB, it is also based on X-10, but X-10 on steroids... it cranks out a super strong signal over the power lines somewhere around >99% works correctly...
  

but if your building a new house from scratch, I would highly recommend a 'hard wired' solution, not sure who is currently making them, but basically, you get 100% works correctly...
for these instead of running your lights/loads the old fashioned way, you run the wires however the setup you go with requires...
for example, in some cases all the lights/loads instead of running to a local switch, all wires come back to a central location and get hooked up to a controller/relay panel, then all the switches just talk to that controller...

another company (ALC I think?) you would wire up like a normal house, but to each switch you would also need to run a control wire (cat5 I think?)...

anyway, if you can, I would strongly recommend going with a 'hard wired' solution... but since they may require different wiring than normal, you should definitely figure that out before you start wiring...

[SomeWhatLost]

X-10 went out of businesses? about time...

and insteon is now the most $$$?

how did that happen???

I guess things change quickly in this home automation biz...

[DaveB]

With Insteon it is more about supply and demand than anything.

As for the 4 way, you may need this due to electrical code requirements. It is true, with automation, you do not need as many switches, but the codes are that a switch must be at every entry to a space. I have two areas in my home that I had to do virtual 4 ways to satisfy code requirements.

[lanski]

Where is a good place to buy HAI switches and dimmers ?
Or what is the best choice for switches and dimmers ?

[znelbok]

and insteon is now the most $$$?

I challenge that. Have a look at Schneider/Clipsals C-Bus.

A 6 gang key input (wall switch in laymans terms) fors for $300 dollars. Relays and dimmers range from 400 up to 1200 (12 ch relay). I think it may take the cake for the most expensive, but hells is reliable as and super flexible and powerful now.

Unfortunatley you guys dont get to see much of it up there, but the rest of the worls gets to play with it a bit.

Mick

[lanski]

Which Security System is the best for CQC ?

[bbrendon]

Probably one of: DSC, Elk, HAI