New home Automation for Lights

I agree with replayrob, Z-wave is an excellent HA system and one of the most flexible although Insteon is excellent as well. If you go with Z-Wave either a Vera3 or a Veralite may suffice and a VeraLite is $70 less than a Vera3 plus if you buy a modem, you can control Insteon as well.


Most important for any HA system, and again as replayrob states, make sure you have a neutral run to EVERY switch box. It doesn't matter what protocol of HA you use. If you do not you will regret it later because if you do not have a neutral, you CANNOT use an HA relay (on/off) switch at all. They won't work without it, plus most HA dimmers require a neutral nowadays to control dimmable LED's so again, if you don't have them you will regret it.


Another useful thing to do which will save you tons of labor later, is to run Cat 6 ethernet to every room in your room. If you can afford doubling the cost it may be worth the extra money to run not one, but two Cat 6 cables. In this day and age of structured wiring either one or both those ethernet cords will someday be a huge help to you. At the very least, having the second one will allow you to put either a second Veralite or just relocate it to any room you choose without affecting what you may be using the first one for in any way. The 2nd one serves as a spare but valuable option if you ever need it, and I bet someday you will.


Yes wireless is getting better but also more crowded and more competing technologies plus nothing competes with the speed and reliability of a wired connection.


Hope that helps!