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<title>Smarthome Insteon vs. HAI UPB</title>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Justin,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I’m in the similar boat as you. My
system is mostly HAI based on the controller, with a tie into HAL 2000 for
voice access. Just switched all 43 wall switches in my house from x-10
switchlinks to the New Insteons. I love the insteons, as you said its seems so
far to work 100% of the time! Each and every time.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>The backward compatibility with x-10 means
my HAI still talks to them. But I’m hoping HAI will indeed support the Insteon
protocol so we get even more reliability between HAI controlling the switches via
Insteon protocols.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Clues as well on how the actual Insteon
protocol will work when it comes to Non X-10 addressing. But on the x-10 side,
these insteons are a snap to address and link.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Doug<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
hai-users-bounces@tssi.com [mailto:hai-users-bounces@tssi.com] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Justin Matlock<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Thursday, July 28, 2005
12:50 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> hai-users@tssi.com<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [Hai-users] Smarthome
Insteon vs. HAI UPB</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
9.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>Okay... So there seem to be a lot of new
technologies out there these days that are replacing X10.<br>
<br>
HAI just started shipping their UPB dimmers, and SmartHome just started
shipping their Insteon SwitchLinc dimmers.<br>
<br>
Other than the obvious “HAI supports their own switches in
firmware” issue (I suspect they’ll be adding Insteon support), does
anyone have any opinions on either switch type? I’ve got such a mix
right now — ACT, Compose, SwitchLinc — and I need to start
consolidating to a single brand/type because of the weird mismatches between
brands (as far as scenes/etc goes).<br>
<br>
I’ve played with Insteon — I just ordered (but have yet to install)
two dimmer switches. I’ve been playing with the actual lamp modules
for quite some time now, and have been very impressed with the reliability
(they turn on *every* time I hit the button) and the scenes. Also, the
X10 compatibility makes them work with my existing HAI OP2 without adding any
extra modules. In fact, they act just like regular SwitchLinc 2-way
switches when you program an X10 address into them.<br>
<br>
What would be the benefit to going with HAI-UPB products? It’s not
price, since UPB is more expensive than Insteon switches (even via <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Worthington</st1:place></st1:City>);
they’re about equals on that. Insteon has better looking switches
(IMHO), and the ability to change the LED color pipes is a really nifty (but
useless) feature that I like.<br>
<br>
Rather than use straightforward scenes, it looks like HAI has adopted the weird
Compose ‘rooms’ concept, which I still haven’t found terribly
useful. It seems much easier to just assign individual addresses to each scene
like SwitchLinc and Insteon do... On the flipside, perhaps I’m not
understanding exactly how to implement the HAI-UPB scene/room/master
functions...<br>
<br>
Of course, I have no idea how Insteon will integrate with the OP2 (or if it
will) since it doesn’t have visible addressing (there’s no
“a1”, “a2”, etc). But SmartHome says the home
controller will be able to “download” the scene information from
the existing switches in the house once an interface is installed (no idea how
they plan on doing that one)...<br>
<br>
Comments? Thoughts?<br>
<br>
Justin</span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
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