Home Automation and Lighting Build Thread

This thread is a progress of my newly built (actually still being built) home. After years of researching, i finally was able to design and build a custom house with all the toys i wanted in it (on a budget of course).

I have a dedicated theater room in the basement with all the sound proofing goodies inside (see my thread in the theater construction forum). In regards to home automation, I went with an HAI Omni Pro 2 controller for alarm and automation duties. HVAC control, music, lighting, security, etc. It was affordable and did what I needed it to, so im happy about that. I like their touchscreens (if i plan on ever going that route.... and yes, i did prewire for them), but for the time being I'm going to be controlling everything from my iphone/ipod touch.

Lighting control is a Lutron Homeworks 4 system with keypads everywhere and one a handful of switches (bathrooms, closets, etc.). I initially was going to go with a Homeworks 8 system, but the added cost really didn't offer me anything more that the 4 could do. Instead of having the remote dimming modules, I placed the wallbox power modules in the electrical closet next to the Lutron control panel and have all homerun wiring to the basement. The system is designed to have 8 wallbox power modules to control all the home lighting and the closets/baths will have the maestro switches tied in. SeeTouch keypads are wired throughout the house so no more 10 switch banks on the walls.

Music control is going to be a Russound MCA-C5 controller with keypads in different locations. 6 zones and about 4 sources I will be going with in my home. Doorbell muting, etc. is going to be a nice feature.

The HAI panel with control everything and will be accessed via the iphone. It will tie in the lutron lighting (ie. turn on all the exterior lights when the alarm is triggered), music control, etc. via their customizable touchscreens (future idea for me).

Structured wiring is not as crazy as i've done in the past, but still quite extensive. Ethernet to all rooms, phone, and 2 caox. 1 coax for cable, 1 for camera. 3 structured wiring panels to house everything in, plus 1 panel for alarm and 1 for lutron.

Security has been prewired for 4 exterior cameras and will be plugged into a dvr. Alarm, motion, sensors, etc. in all locations.

Structured wiring panel eye-candy!!!




Below are access loops i made so i can pull wires in the future from panel to panel.



Openings for power to plug into nearby outlets as well as battery backup plug-in.



Lutron Homeworks 4 panel



Other side of electrical closet. Note that I have not yet mounted the 8 wallbox power module boxes. They will be housed directly above the lutron panel.



note too that i need to install 2 more subpanels. 1 for lighting, and 1 for theater/music.

rough-in bracket for russound keypad (on top) and lutron keypad (on bottom).


the equipment closet for ht and music control is located under the stairs with a door access. here is a pic of it in its raw state.



and finally, this is the view of the closet from my office. the opening will also house my 2 channel music stuff and will all be completely hidden under the stairs.

thanks! yes, i did run a conduit from the attic to the electrical closet for future runs. no conduit from pj to equipment closet. there would have been too many 90 degree bends that it would have been near impossible to fish anything later on. i did however run 2 hmi cables and a component from pj to equip. closet. i just drywalled the theater this weekend to realize i forgot to run cat3 from the pj to equip. closet for ir control. so, i fished some in (good thing the other side of the theater was not drywalled yet), and i did a quick patch.

good idea about the wiring behind the door. don't want any screws going into the wiring!

to be honest, i think both brands are very capable and possible a toss up. i went with a dealer in the area whom i trust who happens to be an HAI 5 star integrator and had him do the entire thing, all the way to programming. i ran all the wiring, etc. myself. the nice thing about HAI is that they have new touchscreens which are fairly reasonably priced which can be customized the way you please using automation studio. you can make it look just like a crestron panel and the program is super easy to use. HAI website has webinars of how to use the program and any beginner can do it. not sure if elk has the same thing or not, but HAI seems to have a lot of integration partners and i haven't read of any bad reviews anywhere on their automation panels so it was a logical choice for me. the price really was the main determining factor as i spent all my money on the lutron homeworks setup.

thanks for the tip. unfortunately i already drywalled the second layer with green glue in between and "fishing" the wires had me cut a few holes in the first layer which i later caulked. i did get the blue jeans top of the line hdmi cables which are fully 1.3 certified so we'll see what happens in the future. if i need to run some new lines, i guess i could just sell the house and start all over again!!

structured panels all drywalled



lutron panel with wallbox power module boxes

im looking for some feedback on my theater control. right now, i have it wired for 2 keypads. 1 keypad would have the scenes on it (ie. movie, sports, etc.) and the other will have the actual light control. im now wanting to be able to control the lights through rf from a urc remote. i know that lutron has rf light switches that go hand in hand with urc remotes, but since i only have a double gang wallbox in the theater and don't want to have multiple switches on the wall, what are my options for rf light control? the 4 lighting loads are all controlled by the wallbox power module. would the cheapest solution be getting the wireless module tied into the processor?

can anyone give me some suggestions on how to accomplish the wireless light dilemma?

thanks.

believe it or not, they were on clearance at a local home depot with disocunted pricing and included the hinged cover. they ended up costing me just slightly cheaper than if i would have gotten them from an electrical supplier. they can be had much cheaper on ebay though. i was strapped for time and just went ahead and paid a bit more and avoiding shipping, duties, etc.

thanks for the suggestion jack. unfortunately the room has been wired to use the lutron homeworks system so it would not be physically possible to hookup insteon switches to it. all the lighting loads go into the electrical closet and only the lutron lv cable is located in the switch position in my ht. i will have to speak to my dealer and see if there is a wireless module available that will allow me to use rf control of the lights.



i picked up the wallbox power modules yesterday and had them wired in today. can't test them yet as the subpanel for the lighting loads was not in stock at the local electrical supply shop, but i should have everything wired in by next week. all the wires have been terminated into the panel and the room finally looks clean. once i get the 2 subpanels (1 for lights, 1 for HT), i will post some pics of the completed wiring. things are starting to take shape and i will be ordering all my keypads with engravings in the next couple weeks so that should be fun.

pics of the wallbox power modules

these things are a breeze to wire. i had my electrician wire me the subpanels and i hooked up the modules. took me less than 2 hrs to do all of them. pics to follow.

i researched heavily into all lighting alternatives. upb, which can be very reliable in certain systems, also have their share of issues. mailnly interference, etc. from powerline. i searched and found many people on coccoon tech and worthington forums which had many complaints of upb. now i also know of many who have 100% reliable systems. i didn't want to take a chance so i went with lutron because i know it is 100% reliable and rock solid regardless. yes, it is far more expensive but it is known for quality and reliablilty. alc is also very similar to upb, but again, i chose to go lutron homeworks for 100% reliability all the time. the same is true of vantage, crestron and litetouch.

hmmm, i didn't think of the grafik eye with an ir blaster in the mechanical closet. that may be a good idea, although i think my dealer already ordered the last wpm that i needed. since all the HV loads go to the closet, i am unable to place the GE in the theater itself. i did look at the ir keypad as well initially, but i already ordered the keypads so i don't want to have to re-order them again. my dealer still hasn't confirmed if there is an rf module or not that the processor can control, but i was sure that i remember reading about it somewhere.

i haven't decided completely on which remote, but lets assume i will be using a urc rf remote with mrf 260 base station. i thought i needed to have the lutron processor with an rf module to support rf controls via an rf capable remote. yes, the processor does accept rs232 commands but the problem is that i never ran an ir cable (or cat5, etc.) from the theater room to the equipment closet where the lighting modules reside. is it even possible to "learn" rf commands with a urc remote the same way you can "learn" ir?