Final report on UPB installation

[JKaplan]

Since I complained so much on this bboard earlier, I wanted to report back that I've finally gotten my 100+ UPB devices installed and configured, and everything is working perfectly. It's quite a relief to finally get all the lights and other devices reliably under control.

It appears that my prior issues were probably due to some sort of signal degradation caused by the 100+ Lightolier 2-way "Compose" X-10 switches, perhaps in combination with several hundred CFL bulbs.

In any case, with all of these removed, I get strong signals and no noise throughout the property.

I'd particularly like to thank Brad Cone of Simply Automated, who was extremely patient and helpful, and Martin at Automated Outlet, who provided the equipment and occassional advice as well.

My conclusion:

UPB works (in contrast to X-10).
It's quite easy to configure (using UPStart).

It gets my seal of approval.

Jerry

[jdr2bpa]

Did you have to remove all of your CFL's to get the devices to work. I was thinking about adding a couple of UPB devices in the home, but if CFL's interfere then I will have to reconsider.

[Rupp]

My small test bed with UPB also failed miserably with my CFL's. I tried 2 different brands but the noise they put on the powerline was too much for UPB but surprisingly didn't affect my X10 communications. Couple that with the delay when the switch was pushed and the noise the switch made were the main factors that pushed me to Z-Wave. I was tired of worrying about power line activities.

[AutomatedOutlet]

Rupp,

CFL works just as well if not better with UPB than Zwave..... please let's make sure we don't mislead people into thinking something that's just not true.

[AutomatedOutlet]

Also,

Attached you will find an Upstart report showing a UPB device controlling a CFL bulb. The device is a lamp module set to non-dimming mode and the CFL is the standard cheap CFL bulb from Home Depot. The report shows signal strength and noise level recorded at BOTH the computer interface module AND the end device.

The CFL produces NO noise that effects UPB.

[Rupp]

Rupp,

CFL works just as well if not better with UPB than Zwave..... please let's make sure we don't mislead people into thinking something that's just not true.

Martin,
I apologize if I stepped on any toes here and was simply offering my personal opinion of UPB. I'm sure it's as good as any other technology out there but it didn't work out for me that's all. It's still powerline based and is subject to the same noise that any other powerline based protocol would be. It may not be as affected as X10 would be but is affected none the less.

On the other hand if one CFL doesn't produce noise doesn't mean they all do not produce noise. I have many installed and they caused my UPB test bed a problem so I moved on to another protocol.

Oh yea. I can assure you it makes no difference to me what products you buy because I do not see a penny from any of it. I'm simply stating the obvious and that is Z-Wave is wireless and doesn't suffer from powerline noise.

[AutomatedOutlet]

Rupp,

No, not stepping on any toes here - sorry if I came across that way.

I have no financial motivation for one over the other either since we sell them all. I just want to make sure that people don't get the wrong impression of the technologies. UPB is by far the most most reliable based on product return statistics if not anything else.

Perhaps in your test board there were other issues like connections or sockets. If you would like, I would be happy to pay for 2-way shipping of your test board here and perform some detailed tests. We have not seen these issues here at all. Jim, in our tech support, has at least a couple of dozen in his house with no issues and Jerry Kaplan has already stated that he has a couple of hundred.....

[stevene]

Not that I want to get involved in all the toe stepping


I just thought I would point out my impression from JKaplan's message was that in fact there was noise interfering with the UPB switches. And that the CFL bulbs had a lot to do with it along with the older switches.

I am almost sure he did not want to come across that way, but it would still be nice to know if he ended up still using all of his CFL bulbs with UPB.

Just another misguided user

StevenE

[JKaplan]

The main thing I did to get my installation running was to rip out 100 or so 2-way X-10 switches.

I also got some technical help from Simply Automated prior to that to ensure that I had adequate signals on both phases, but it's likely that the 'standard' UPB setup would now work fine since I removed the X-10 switches anyway. In other words, they helped me boost the signal so that it overcame whatever the problem was. This gave me the confidence to replace the X-10 switches.

I have probably 200 or more CFLs installed, most are the cheapos from Home Depot, some are more expensive 'dimmables'.

FYI I do have some occasional problems (switches missing link commands) with UPB switches that are controlling flourescent fixtures, but this is very minor.

I see no evidence that CFL's cause any interference.