| Warning: Remember that electricity is very | | | | The Omni IIe Pro will be my choice as it has the |
| dangerous and will kill you in a heartbeat. Electricity | | | | most features and won't limit our future ideas. |
| can also start fires very easily, and fires can also | | | | - Based on this control unit selection, the |
| kill you. The best way to get your home wired is | | | | technology we will use UPB for lighting control. |
| by a certified professional who knows your local | | | | The cheaper X10 won't work very well in an old |
| codes. | | | | electrical wiring environment. |
| We have now a plan and we need to look at the | | | | - Now let look at the need for each room to |
| design piece of our new Home Automation. The | | | | replace existing switches. |
| first step is to do an assessment by answering | | | | - Bedrooms - one switch and one or 2 side lamps |
| several questions: | | | | The switch can be dimmer or non-dimmer, side |
| - Wiring and Networking: | | | | lamps will need lamp modules dimmer or |
| - What is the house status? (being built, being | | | | non-dimmer as well. |
| remodeled, old construction, new construction) | | | | - Dining and Living rooms - one switch per room |
| - The status will affect greatly the type of wiring | | | | and may be some floor and table lamps with the |
| we will select. We had a complete home | | | | same dimming status as for bedrooms. |
| remodeling and all the walls were open. We had | | | | - Play room - two high wattage switches and |
| the opportunity to install 1" ½ orange cable | | | | may be several floor and table lamps. |
| tubing in every room, this allow pulling any type of | | | | - Family room - three high wattage dimmer |
| cables within minutes. We have Cat6 cable, Fiber | | | | switches, several floor and table lamps and why |
| Optics, TV and audio/video cables. | | | | not adding a nice LCD control panel to create |
| - Existing construction may not offer the same | | | | lighting scenes. |
| flexibility and going wireless will become the | | | | - ...etc for each rooms including bathrooms |
| solution. | | | | - Outdoor lights - replace existing switches with |
| - In old construction the quality of the power line | | | | non dimmer high wattage ones plus two or three |
| is not high quality and will definitively impact | | | | non-dimmers modules for Xmas lights as well. |
| transmission such as X10. Ask a certified electrical | | | | We have a list of material to purchase - but don't |
| professional to help evaluating your existing wiring | | | | buy anything yet! |
| to make sure it's still meets 'code'. Don't be afraid | | | | Heating and cooling |
| to spend money on your electrical wiring, it will | | | | - To plan this section we will base it on a 3 zones |
| pay back later. | | | | heating and cooling system. One for the main |
| - For this project we will choose an existing old | | | | floor, one for the second floor and one for the |
| construction with up to local code wiring. The | | | | basement. |
| network will be wireless as well as security and | | | | - First we need to verify with a certified |
| monitoring. Z-Wave being too expensive, Home | | | | professional that the current heating cooling |
| Automation will be based on Insteon and/or UPB | | | | system can support multi-zoning and that the |
| equipment. | | | | house and the furnace don't need too much |
| Lighting | | | | modification. |
| - Planning for this section is quite easy and | | | | - For this project all is needed is 6 motorized |
| interesting. We need to select for each room the | | | | dampers, a 4 zone control panel for the furnace |
| type of switches we need and as we will | | | | and 3 RC-90B thermostat as the furnace is a |
| implement security, monitoring and multimedia | | | | single stage. We can upgrade to RC-2000 with |
| distribution we will use a control unit to manage all | | | | humidity control. |
| functions. | | | | - Thermostats will need to be connected to the |
| - Control Units - we recommend 2 different | | | | furnace control panel and to the HIA control unit. |
| brands Cortexa Technology and HAI. The | | | | Some wiring to add here. |
| Cortexa is more IP network based while HAI is | | | | - The RC-90 and RC-2000 accept external |
| more versatile on the security part. For this | | | | temperature sensors. These sensors installed in |
| project I would use HAI which offer two main | | | | bedroom will allow to adapt the floor temperature |
| lines: Lumina and Omni. The Lumina is more limited | | | | to the lowest or most important room - Master |
| on the security side but it connects to existing | | | | bedroom or baby's room for example - additional |
| security systems. The Omni offers a complete | | | | wiring will be required to these rooms. |
| solution from lighting to security and fire system. | | | | |