advice for retro installation

Scenario:

3500 SF penthouse condo--kitchen, dining room, huge living room w (old) home theater, 2 guest rooms,2 guest baths, office, master bedroom, master bath w/hot tub, steam/shower, walkin closets. Interestingly, this was originally owned by "Higgins" from Magnum PI (can't remember his real name, the kitchen has numerous built-in gadgets, there are (barely working) automatic drapes in 5 rooms, and a set of automated pocket doors to close off the kitchen/dining room. There is also a highend security system in place, although I haven't figured out yet how to reset the code (I do have all the install/ops manuals, just haven't had time yet!), and as yet there are no plans for a landline phone.

There are 40 ceiling lite circuits (read switches), 42 outlets of which

11 have lamps plugged in. Hot tub includes 2 pumps, heater, 2 vent fans, 1 fill valve, an ionizer and I believe an equipment cooling fan (the equip is all in a tight locker 20 feet from the tub).

Construction is concrete, including most partition walls. Existing electrical is in conduit, with 3 breaker panels--one for the kitchen, dining room, and (I hope) the entertainment center (access to the panel is very difficult, I have not yet mapped out the circuits)located on the back wall of the kitchen; one for the rest of the house located in the master bedroom; and a sub panel in the hot tub equipment locker which seems to control the tub and room lights in the master bath.

Although I wouldn't go so far as to say money is NO object, I'm thinking $5-7K for parts, to include touchscreen at entry and maybe master bedroom; touchscreen wireless remote for control of entertainment center and all lighting/hot tub/outlets/hvac/drapes/doors; interface with or utilize most of existing security system. I anticipate 12 preset scenes.

Any suggestions as to the logic for addressing devices? (grand total approximately 125 separate devices)

How about preferences for a main control/interface. Dedicated xp box and software, or HAI/JDS etc w/ xp box for programming?

There are three dimmable fluorescent fixtures, are there any two way (x10 communication) controls to replace these with? If so, do I use the same ballast?

TIA & Sorry if I'm long winded, but I'm trying to get all my ducks rowed up...

Hopefully more useful information will follow (I mean since you're "into" this stuff, Robert).

After hearing his English accent on that show a number of times I got a kick out of hearing that he's actually from Texas. :^)

Yes, quite!

Are these now controlled by wall switches?

A basic question here is whether you want your security system to talk to your home automation system. If so, you need to ID the make and model of the security panel to find out if it can be interfaced to a home automation panel. My guess, based on the old home theater system you found is that your alarm system probably is too old to communicate with an HA system. It's not hard to install a new panel, though, and there are several good manufacturers of combo HA and security panels, like HAI and Elk. It just might take a while to ID all the sensor cables coming into the panel if they weren't well labeled to begin with. You'll need a fox and hound tracer kit to map them out.

Lots of things to consider here. How are these circuits wired? Are there dimmers? Do you want to do scene lighting? Do you have a neutral pulled to each switch box?

Centralized control equipment is good, but it may be old enough to warrant replacement for both wear and compatibility reasons. You have to ask yourself how much automation you want for your hot tub. If you can afford such a pad, you may not care much about squeezing a few dollars savings a month in electrical costs with an automatic controller. You may want to equip it with sensors to determine various conditions like temperature, fill level, etc.

That's a good reason to look at wireless like Zwave or Zigbee! Running any additional control wires tends to be a lot more difficult in concrete construction than in wood frame. My personal opinion is to use hardwire wherever you can for the increased security and reliability it offers

*except* when you'll encounter problems running cables or if you don't plan to stay long.

You might be facing coupling problems with three panels. Most times these are solved with the addition of couplers and repeaters, but in rare cases they are notoriously difficult problems to solve. If I were about to build or in the planning stages, I would look hard at Zigbee as a protocol. How long are you planning to stay there?

HAI's Omnipro II would support that sort of requirement, IIRC, at least as far as lighting and IR control goes.

I would suspect that's a deal-breaker for X-10 in a big condo building. X-10 was basically designed to support 16 units per house (although you can use 256 codes if you use EVERY housecode - lots of people use multiple housecodes but the closer you are to neighbors the more likely you'll get interference).

Lots of experts here really dislike using a Wintel PC as a controller for a home automation system and I agree. Elk M1 Gold, HAI Omni Pro II and the ADI Ocelot/Leopard controllers are the ones most often recommended. They can do most of what a PC can do vis-a-vis home automation. They have advantages in reliability because of the smaller component counts and they are less complex because they don't have to carry overhead for the kinds of things an HA system will never have to do. An HAI panel will reset in seconds. There are very few PCs and OS's that can beat those times, nor run as long as a dedicated box without lockup nor run as long on backup power.

What type of bulbs are used in the fixtures? Any information on the dimmers? There are ways to dim fluorescent lamps using a number of different protocols and the new CF dimmable bulbs work with many dimmers designed for incandescent loads.

HTH,

-- Bobby G.

Like Leviton SnapLink Mobile App, NQLink work with Leviton Security&Automat ion Omni/Lumina familly Controller. NQLink use latest technology for connec tion and data processing, NQLink much faster on connect than other app that you ever seen.

NQLink Provide both connection Local IP and Outside IP or domain name with one account for all devices: Controller, Hi-Fi2, Music Sever, Camera. App a utomatically looking for available connection every time. if you switch you r phone between Local wifi to cellular data network, NQLink automatically s witch connection also.

NQLink can run in background and start with your phone reboot to give you o ption notification on system such as: Security Mode, Lighting changed state .,etc.

NQLink Supported widget for function, GEO Fencing based on GPS Technology, Camera JPEG, MJPEG and RTSP H264/H265 format.

Feature:

• Two option for display: List display and Grid Display (Touchscreen displa y mode)

• Two connections Local IP and Domain name (Outside IP) supported

• Looking for available connection automatically

• Notification option for report system event

• GPS GEO Fencing function

• Voice control supported (Require Internet connection)

• Supported HAI Music Gateway and Music Server

• Supported Hi-Fi2 Equalizer Setting

• Control light and Appliance.

• Security management.

• Air Conditioner Management

• Multi Room Hi-Fi2 Audio system.

• Macro Button Control

• User Setting

• Access Control

• Room and Area manage by Users

• Camera JPEG, MJPEG and RTSP H264/H265 format.

• Press and hold Item desire to Re-name (Please enable Display as list in A ccount setting)

Comercial version:

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