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Thread: Lots of hot air from the manufacturers!

  1. #1
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    Default Lots of hot air from the manufacturers!

    Am I the only one to be getting very frustrated by the HA manufacturers?

    They seem to expel a tremendous amount of hot air about how good their products are and what they can do, but don't actually have anything available (or planned!) for the UK market.

    I suspect that most people who retro-fit don't want to have the hassle and cost of re-decorating, so mains-connected or wireless systems are the only option.

    Clipsal allegedly have a wireless system, but their UK site has no information and the only people selling the stuff want £150 for a single light switch. When I started playing with X10, I costed that I could do the whole house for the price of four Clipsal switches!

    Z-Wave is a lot better on price, but what about wall switches, wired lamp modules, component-level switches to take inputs from other devices (such as PIR sensors) etc. etc. Lots of noise and websites with "concept" type information, but nothing you can buy.

    If the HA market is to really get going in the UK, manufacturers need to be bringing out products that are more than just modules to automate the odd lamp - i.e. stuff that can be easily retro-fitted to average house.



    Yours very frustrated

    Jim

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Lots of hot air from the manufacturers!

    No, your not alone out there.

    I can't believe the amazingly high prices that Clipsal charge. Although their product looks very good they don't appear to have any competition at the moment.

    Until the hot air gets translated into usable comsumer products at a reasonable price then the HA market is just going to be confined to the enthusiatic few.

    John.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Lots of hot air from the manufacturers!

    John

    You'll find that Clipsal is actually at the CHEAPEST end of the professional hard wired systems.

    There are several levels which can be equated to cars for example...

    X10 - Daewoo
    CBus - BMW
    Lutron - Rolls Royce

    You get the idea.

    M.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Lots of hot air from the manufacturers!

    In the motor industry there is much more competition - which there isn't in the HA. I think I would settle for a Ford Mondeo of HA if there was such a thing.


    John.

  5. #5

    Default Re: Lots of hot air from the manufacturers!

    There are plenty more HA brands, probably more than car manufactures.

    Ford may = ZWave

    M.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Lots of hot air from the manufacturers!

    ZWave does look interesting, and I'm grateful for the information. Do you know of wired networked rivals to the likes of Clipsal? I am interested in an installation in a new house and therefore can install a wired system from the outset?

    For installation in an existing house a wireless system may be preferable to X10 - I'm not convinced that the X10 protocol is either robust enough or flexible enough for todays HA owners aspirations.

    John.

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