AVS Forum banner

So where do I start

605 views 13 replies 6 participants last post by  Mntneer 
#1 ·
So my wife and I are building our house. In about a week or two we will be doing our electrical walk through.

I would like my house to be a "smart house" To be fair, I have not priced a control 4 system, but I do know it is probably out of our budget now. Especially if we have the builder install it. He will hire the company and then get his cut. I was interested in the revolv system, that seemed to tie all your individual smart devices into one seemless interface. That would have been great this way I could build my smart home one step at a time using a wifi connection as opposed to wired. But they have been bought by Nest and they are no longer being sold.

So my situation is, I want a smart home, I am in the perfect stage to wire my house, but can not afford a contral 4 install at this moment, or maybe I can roll it into the mortgage?? And the revolv is no longer on the market but I am sure that sooner or later a single interface will come around to have all my individual smart devices work on one interface.

By the way. The builders will be laying Cat 5 in the house with 4 Ethernet ports. If I can not afford control 4 and I have to wait for a less expensive alternative, what are some of the wiring recommendations that you can give me to ensure my new house will be ready for the future and I will not have to tear down drywall for in only a matter of months.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
You don't mention what do you want to get out of your home automation. For some people that means security system, for other people it is fully automated home theater setup.

But if you are really talking about automating your lighting and window shades, then it could be done now with, for example, Lutron RadioRA 2, and then later on you can integrate this system into Control4 whenever you are ready.

RA2 can be installed by regular electrician, so the only thing you need to worry about is planning the install.
 
#3 ·
Not interested at this moment in window shades. I am interested in locks, lights, music HVAC and future water sprinkler and outlets as well. Would lexone work? It seems to me you could go with a hard wired system which maybe somewhat more reliable but much more complicated to put together or you could go with a wifi based hub system such as smartthings. I guess a another option would be the highend systems like control4.
 
#4 ·
By the way. The builders will be laying Cat 5 in the house with 4 Ethernet ports. If I can not afford control 4 and I have to wait for a less expensive alternative, what are some of the wiring recommendations that you can give me to ensure my new house will be ready for the future and I will not have to tear down drywall for in only a matter of months.
Do Cat 6. Or at least one run of Cat 6 per location. Think about any location that is going to support a wired connection and make sure it has one. You'll have enough portable devices that require wireless without adding devices to the mix that could have been wired.

You can start small with Control4 and build from there. It is a dealer model but you have a lot of control with the Composer HE model.
 
#6 ·
good thing about C4 is that it is modular as Turls mentioned. You can get the brains of the system and do your security now, add cameras later, add sprinkler later, etc. You do not have to build it over night. I am 15 months in and every month or two I add a piece of hardware, a new driver, etc.

What market are you in? Sometimes you can have a local dealer do your original install/wire runs, then look to online support for remote programming and additional hardware purchases (that is what I have done and I am happy so far).

To get true automation with 10,000's of devices, you have limited options, most are dealer based systems. At least with C4, once the dealer puts in the hardware, you can buy the software (1 time fee of I think $150) and you can program away.
 
#8 ·
Simple put the control 4 is piece meal and it will cost me about 1,500 to start. What would be the biggest difference between doing this option and say one of the many wifi home automation system that will be coming out this fall and in the near future such as Apple's Homekit, Google's Nest and Samsung Smartthings. The later ones seem to be significantly less.

Thanks
 
#9 ·
The benefit of C4 over those systems. Everything is tied into a single system, leaving you only one app to control Lights, HVAC, Security, Audio, Video, Locks, Blinds, etc. Piecemeal may save you a little money, but could add to the complexity of the setup, where as a HC-250 controller and a SR-250 remote could get you started on true automation.
 
#13 ·
To add to my thoughts above.

Take a look at your construction budget as it currently stands and consider the cost change room by room to move from dumb yo smart devices and if you want to spend that now.

A room with LV capable dimmers moving to smart dimmers is not likely to be a big cost change.
(also you could consider panelized lights for lighting circuit heavy rooms)
A room with one light switch, less likely to benefit.

You have a thermostat in the contract.

You have an alarm panel

Just buy the right ones first time and integration in control4 is dragging and clicking connections.
 
#14 ·
Check with your HVAC sub, find out which model thermostat he's going to install and have him quote out C4 friendly options. Same with the security sub. If he's using a GE Concord system, add the RS-232 module and you're good to go.

And to follow up on the panelized lighting idea. If you choose not to go with a panelized system, you can definitely re-think your lighting and switch placement design. Eliminate the 3 and 4 way circuits and use C4 keypads to replicate the effect. It has the potential to save your electrician on material and labor costs, offsetting any price increase for a C4 switch and keypad.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top