Does anyone have experience with installing wireless switches in new houses? Do the costs saved offset the high cost of the switch/receivers?
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I can't imagine it would take a competent DIYer - let alone a pro - enough time to wire the extra line to a switch or two that it would be equal to a wireless system. When you have bare studs, everything is cake.
Renovating, that's another story.
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
It would certainly make sense in some retrofit cases, but not in most new construction, if my sense of the cost of these units is correct.(One does wonder, however, whether there might not be some significant productivity gains to be had by improving many of the products currently used. The prices for most boxes, outlets, and switches are far lower than the cost to install, and a better balance between parts and labor costs might be a winner overall.)
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
http://www.smarthome.com
Has some cool stuff.
“The richest genius, like the most fertile soil, when uncultivated, shoots up into the rankest weeds..” – Hume
Is this in retro or an outbuilding? Most of the wireless are for making three-way operation in a place where it wasn't wired for it. You're not trying to use a whole-house controller, are you?
We're building a 1700 sf timberframe this summer. I'm looking for ways to keep the electrician's bill down short of doing it myself. The tf will be enclosed with SIPs. I like the flexibility of wireless switches but they cost $30+ per reeceiver plus another $20+ per switch.
They would help eliminate the problems with exposed wiring. If you do get wireless switches, though, buy a couple of extra units so you can replace a bad one in the future without having to switch to a different style.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
If I wanted to build something like that (and I do), I would make it as easy as possible to change things later without having to run new wires. See if the electrician would allow you to be his helper but make it survive future operability issues. Hardwired is always best, then X-10 command through the wires, then RF. You'll still need wire from the switches to the fixtures, there's no way around that. Z Wave looks promising but it's pretty new and can be operated via universal remote controls that use Z Wave. IR remote switches can be operated by universal remote, too. If you end up with a high strength RF source nearby that could render your wireless switches inoperable. Remember, more and more wireless devices are being made every year and there is always a chance that something will be affected. Z Wave operates in the 900MHz range and now that there are less cordless phones working in that range, there shouldn't be many issues. Watch out for cordless phones that work in the 2.4GHz range- that's the same range as some WiFi.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
There's the ugly factor, unless you like the look of the boxes. Nothing I'd want in every room. This one's part of our security arrangement, receives from outbuildings down the mountain.
Ebay's a good place for X-10 discounts. Hardware functions very well.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
I used this product in a concrete bunker. Pulling wires was not an option. However, if you have access (attic or crawl) nothing continues to work over the years like traditional wiring.
My "concrete bunker" had conduit cast into the walls. Easiest wiring I ever did, outlet every 4' all the way around. DW loves it.
My only use for X-10 is between buildings. 800' is a long ways to trench on a mountain. Reason it's a mountain? There's a rock down there. <G>PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
I have used them in old construction --
Advantage is that a switch can be placed where a wired switch cannot be located. On a nightstand, on the side of a refrigerator, on a post, on a desk.
Disadvantage is that they need batteries that need to be replaced and, in one case, there was some interference that caused the lights to turn on at random.
It depends on the purpose.There are a number of systems that will do scene control, all off, all on, and the like. Specially if this is retro fit.Here are a couple of examples.http://www.centralite.com/products/StarLite/index.aspx
http://www.lutron.com/products/productSystems.aspx?sid=AuroRa&pid=WhatIsAuroRa&cid=0.
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.