New HAI lighting controls

Mar 27, 2005 6 Replies
D

Well, I was all set to pull Cat5 to all of my switch locations in the new house that I'm building this year in order to accommodate ALC lighting controls (OmniPro II). But just now, I went over to HAI's Web site (haven't looked there in a while), and they have this new UPB powerline protocol. Has anyone done anything with this yet? Things in particular I'd like to know:


  • They claim good protocol reliability, but I'm generally suspicious of all powerline systems.
  • Does the protocol allow the controller to read the status of a switch?
  • I'm a bit confused by the description of the addressing. As I understand it, it allows 256 addresses on each of 256 house codes, for

16K addresses total. Is this correct?
  • Anyone seen any pricing on this yet? I'm interested in how it would compare with an ALC installation (roughly /device last time I priced it).

I'm really interested in the possibilities here. But that powerline stuff... I've had very bad experiences with X-10 in the past and I would have to get myself comfortable with that idea.


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M

You can learn more about UPB at

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The stats there say

Yes. Every device is 2-way.

There are 255 possible Network IDs (1 - 255) and 250 possible Unit IDs (1 - 250) which makes 63,750 addresses possible.

Sure. There are already a few manufacturers of UPB devices. The prices seem to be about $75 for a dimmer switch (with all the high-end features). Here are a few places selling 'em:

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I have tried a couple UPB modules, and so far... they just work. Zero problems. It coexists with existing X-10 stuff just fine.

- Mark.

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W

Ouch, those are just way too expensive.

Sure, it sucks less than X-10 but it's not worth more than twice the price.

It's a shame these systems fail to grasp that X-10 survives and continues to harm the public's perception of lighting control because they don't offer units at more effective prices.

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M

More than twice the price of low-end X-10 with less features, sure.

But they're about the same price as what I was paying for high-end X-10 switches with scenes, 2-way capabilities, etc. Which makes them a better value.

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A

Mark is right, they are a good value for what you're getting. A lot of the professional installers that buy from us have switched to the Simply-Automated UPB switches.

Martin Custer

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B

I'm curious about the UPB controller these installers are using for doing timed events. I'd like to see some simple UPB controllers like these are for X10:

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....Bob

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M

Well, there's the Hai OmniPro II and the Elk-M1. Also, there's a PC interface

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for software-based solutions (like HomeSeer, etc). I don't yet see any open-source drivers or apps for it, but it's only a matter of time. The spec is open and posted on the PCS web site.

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