<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Re: [Hai-users] Smarthome Insteon vs. HAI UPB</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<FONT FACE="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'><BR>
A follow up... I received an email from SmartHome MFG:<BR>
<BR>
“</SPAN></FONT><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'><FONT COLOR="#0000FE"><FONT FACE="Arial">Unfortunately, wire-in modules with INSTEON technology are only a concept at this time. HAI is not developing product with INSTEON at the moment, and they have not told us if they plan on doing so.”<BR>
</FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><BR>
I asked him about the TW-523 replacement module that has been rumored, but he didn’t say anything about it. I’m really curious how it’s going to “translate” the X10 into INSTEON addressing. I have a feeling there will be a PC application that will ‘link’ X10 addresses and commands from the panel into INSTEON addresses and scenes.<BR>
<BR>
I really want to go with INSTEON because of the reliability, speed, and the looks (they’re just plain neat looking/feeling switches). Plus I like how they handle scenes versus the HAI “rooms/master” concept. I *really* want wire-in modules for individual recessed lighting control, but I suppose I can do some wiring tricks to hide the switches. *cough*<BR>
<BR>
43 switches, eh? That’s impressive. I thought I was doing pretty good with 32. <BR>
<BR>
I’m hoping they release an INSTEON SwitchLinc Timer relay switch... The X10 versions are awesome for things like closet lights and bathroom vent fans. :)<BR>
<BR>
J<BR>
<BR>
<HR ALIGN=CENTER SIZE="3" WIDTH="95%"><B>From: </B>Doug Burton <dougburton@earthlink.net><BR>
<B>Reply-To: </B><dougburton@earthlink.net><BR>
<B>Date: </B>Thu, 28 Jul 2005 14:18:37 -0700<BR>
<B>To: </B>'Justin Matlock' <jmat@shutdown.net>, <hai-users@tssi.com><BR>
<B>Subject: </B>RE: [Hai-users] Smarthome Insteon vs. HAI UPB<BR>
<BR>
</FONT></SPAN><FONT COLOR="#000080"><FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:13.0px'>Justin,<BR>
<BR>
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.<BR>
<BR>
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.<BR>
<BR>
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.<BR>
<BR>
Doug<BR>
<BR>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'>
</SPAN></FONT>
<P ALIGN=CENTER>
<FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:16.0px'><HR ALIGN=CENTER SIZE="2" WIDTH="100%"></SPAN></FONT></FONT>
<P>
<FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Tahoma"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:13.0px'><B>From:</B> hai-users-bounces@tssi.com [<a href="mailto:hai-users-bounces@tssi.com]">mailto:hai-users-bounces@tssi.com]</a> <B>On Behalf Of </B>Justin Matlock<BR>
<B>Sent:</B> Thursday, July 28, 2005 12:50 PM<BR>
<B>To:</B> hai-users@tssi.com<BR>
<B>Subject:</B> [Hai-users] Smarthome Insteon vs. HAI UPB<BR>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:16.0px'> <BR>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'>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 Worthington); 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 <BR>
<BR>
</SPAN></FONT>
</BODY>
</HTML>