New house Omni rough in...

[mack]

I am planning to use an HAI Omni to handle security and x-10 in my house that is being built. Was wondering if there is anything I should keep in mind when doing the rough in? I assume it just wires like a standard old security panel, correct? Any "nice to have's" I should consider doing while I have the chance? Thanks.
Mack

[Rick Tinker]

Yes, there are three things you should do to be properly prepared: Wire, Wire, Wire.

You may want to use HAI thermostats, so run a category 5 wire from your HAI panel to your thermostats. You may want to use temperature sensors and humidity sensors and light sensors, so run wire every 6 inches in the walls. ;-) Yeah, right. You get the idea though - you will find the universal recommendation to people building a home is to run lots of wire, and category 5 is the one most often used, and run some large PVC pipes between the basement and the attic for future "unknowns".

Make sure you tell the electrician to NOT use the top slots on the electrical panel(s) so that you can properly install a coupler/repeater for X-10, or take a look at the Compose Firewall system. If the electrician cites code and says he must fill up the breaker panels starting at the top, then give him two double-pole breakers to install at the top right away - one for your coupler-repeater and the other for your whole-house (whole-panel) surge supressor. Leviton and ACT make good coupler-repeaters, and Leviton makes a nice whole-house surge arrester.

Enjoy the home building experience - I have done it twice myself, three times if you include building a home with my father, and I swear that my reason for having grey hair at such a ripe young age is either building homes or being married.

Regards,

Rick Tinker
HomeSeer Technologies

[mack]

Do the HAI Omni thermostats require cat 5, or can I just use 22 ga unshielded? How many conductors? That is a good point about the breakers, I forgot about that. fortunately, the electrician is a good friend of mine, and I will be there to boss him around! Thanks Rick!

[Rick Tinker]

The thermostat communication wires can get by just fine with 22ga wire. I mentioned category 5 because just about everything can run on it, and when you are paying $65ish for 1000 ft, it doesn't make sense to go out and buy 4 or 5 different wire types when one kind will work. If you have the 22ga then go for it. The communication to/from the thermostat is separate from the thermostat wires, and it is basically RS-232 signals, so category 5 may yield slightly better protection from interference caused by other wires run nearby, but I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Good luck on the project.

Oh, one more thing - tell your electrician buddy to make sure he wires the neutral wire in all of the switch boxes. It saves some time and a tiny bit of money if he sometimes just runs the switch leg to the switch box, but many of the better X10 switches require neutral so it is better just to have it available.


Regards,

Rick Tinker
HomeSeer Technologies

[donstephens]

While on the topic of prewire, I am wiring for door and window sensors, and was wondering where to terminate the wire on the doors and windows. In the framing of the doors, the carpenters have installed 8" headers. Should I drill through these and leave some wire on the side of the door or what?

Thanks

Don

[jdrake4]

There is a pretty good doc at the following site that does a good job on laying out wiring for an OMNI install.
http://www.worthingtonsolutions.com/...%20install.pdf
Hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions

[jdrake4]

For a more professional approach tehy are almost always installed in the frame of the window or the door. That way when the door or window is closed the magnet and sensors are not visible.

For the doors wait for the door frames to go up. Then drill through the frame and the header to install the magnetic switch.

When you install the magnets in the window frames you typically have to use the "stubby" size (shorter the better). Also make sure the drill bit is very sharp and go very slowly and be very careful or you will break a glass pane in the window.

One last note. Don't forget the end of line resistors are suppose to be mounted at the end of the line or near the magnetic switch. So you have to do some planning if you plan on running two windows on one zone.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[donstephens]

Will do as suggested....appreciate the help.


Don