New Home Build - Need advice on home automation

[majorlance]

I've been using an ISY 994 and recently upgraded to an eisy for over 15 years with all switches/outlets using Insteon. Just upgraded to the eisy and use Home Assistant to link it to Apple Home. The configuration has been rock-solid for the last month since I installed the eisy (I think my 15 year old 994 was starting to fail after many years of faithful, just forget about it service...).

However, we're building a new house from the ground up and I need to choose an underlying automation platform. I also don't want to invest in Insteon given the roller coaster over the last couple of years. My setup is not that complex but I want to use an installer to do the work and initial setup.  As expected, they are pushing Control4, Lutron, private CCTV systems, etc. I guess I'm reluctant to tackle the job with a bunch of pieces and parts using zwave or zigbe. (I have my battle scars from the X10 days...)

My use cases are pretty basic from an automation perspective - basically the simple things I can do with eisy. Turn on the lights at dusk, off at a set hour, gang certain lights for control from a keypad. Activate a light based on a sensor like motion or door, open/close the shades, ceiling fan as a group or when certain events or lights turn on/off. 

I really like the Apple Home interface and have linked my garage door, thermostats to it in addition to the eisy through Home Assistant.

We probably have 30 switches that need to be automated, eight shades, a much of lamps and a handful of sensors. I use Sonos for audio and Apple TV/apps for TV viewing and don't see the need to link them to the lights, etc.

Although I understand that the installer business model is to skip prosumer products or DYI stuff, I'm a little reluctant to step into a walled garden in terms of home automation.

Any thoughts or comments?

Many thanks...

Lee

[Geddy]

@majorlance just moved your post to “Coffee Shop” for a more off topic area. Take a look around here as others have posted similar questions and discussions recently. 

Good luck with the new build!

 

[lilyoyo1]

29 minutes ago, majorlance said:

I've been using an ISY 994 and recently upgraded to an eisy for over 15 years with all switches/outlets using Insteon. Just upgraded to the eisy and use Home Assistant to link it to Apple Home. The configuration has been rock-solid for the last month since I installed the eisy (I think my 15 year old 994 was starting to fail after many years of faithful, just forget about it service...).

However, we're building a new house from the ground up and I need to choose an underlying automation platform. I also don't want to invest in Insteon given the roller coaster over the last couple of years. My setup is not that complex but I want to use an installer to do the work and initial setup.  As expected, they are pushing Control4, Lutron, private CCTV systems, etc. I guess I'm reluctant to tackle the job with a bunch of pieces and parts using zwave or zigbe. (I have my battle scars from the X10 days...)

My use cases are pretty basic from an automation perspective - basically the simple things I can do with eisy. Turn on the lights at dusk, off at a set hour, gang certain lights for control from a keypad. Activate a light based on a sensor like motion or door, open/close the shades, ceiling fan as a group or when certain events or lights turn on/off. 

I really like the Apple Home interface and have linked my garage door, thermostats to it in addition to the eisy through Home Assistant.

We probably have 30 switches that need to be automated, eight shades, a much of lamps and a handful of sensors. I use Sonos for audio and Apple TV/apps for TV viewing and don't see the need to link them to the lights, etc.

Although I understand that the installer business model is to skip prosumer products or DYI stuff, I'm a little reluctant to step into a walled garden in terms of home automation.

Any thoughts or comments?

Many thanks...

Lee

You'll be hard pressed to find any professional installing diy systems. I did at one point for a local builder building spec homes but no longer do so myself. 

Installers tend to stick with walled gardens because they work. Whether it's Control4 or Lutron I know devices are going to work together they way I expect them to. Ditto with Insteon to a large degree. You can't say the same with zwave or zigbee as different mfg will have different capabilities. 

Another thing why walled gardens (in the pro space) isn't as bad as it sounds is that they are tried and true. Lutron itself has been around for ages. Control 4 not as long but still 20 years strong. 

If you don't want to link your Sonos and TV's to your automation system, it's not that hard to do things yourself (still not hard but additional time invested). Let an electrician install your devices and simply add them to your controller as time allows. 

[majorlance]

That's my sense. Pro space systems work well overall with the trade-off of a little flexibility. 

For the use cases I described, would you lean toward Lutron or Control4?

Thanks!

[lilyoyo1]

That's a difficult question to answer right now as its not cut and dry. If I were to do your home, I would recommend Lutron Ra3 connected to Control 4.

I say this because Ra3 on its own is basic control. Pretty much you would control your devices manually, through the app, or voice control. Outside of simple timers, there is no logic programming available. If @bpwwercan get Ra3 to work with the Caseta nodeserver, you could then add RA3 to your system and get it to work that way for logic based control.

If you wanted to automate every light in your home, Id use C4 since all devices would match and you would have additional benefits of C4 switches such as being able to double tap and have other things happen outside of your normal programming. 

Since you're only automating 30 switches (I presume you'll have more lights to control than that), you would be able to add the Sunnata dimmers and Sunnata pro switches (both are standard non smart devices) to your home at a lower cost so that you have uniformity in your lighting (if that matters to you). 

Since Control4 would be the brains of the system it doesn't really matter. If Ra3's limitations do not bother you, you could buy your own switches and pay an electrician to install them, take Lutron's free class, and do your own configuring. The cool thing about Lutron ra3 is that it works with Sonos so you could add your player to a keypad to start/stop music, have volume control, add playlists etc. What's even better is the responsiveness. Its near instantaneous. Press the keypad to start the music, its starts immediately. Zero noticeable delay. 

 

[majorlance]

Thanks for the great advice! I don't want to do it myself and I like the functionality you mention. I'll post back here once I make some progress on this...