Good Morning All
My first post, having spend a lot of time reading through the various entries here, all very interesting and has helped a lot so far.
I have spent a lot of time researching products for a small amount of home automation that I would like to install, it does not justify engaging an installer or the high end systems. As a result I have found the selection of products available to the DIY’er are quite limited. I am looking to use a technology that is likely to have future scalability and availability so am looking at Z-Wave (any other suggestion ?). My challenge is to upgrade the lighting in 2 rooms, fairly simple requirements. Ability to turn lights on at the door, selecting a scene would be good, lights to be controller are ceiling and table lamps etc. Also want other controls, in one room it can be a simple hand held remote, in the other room I wanted to replicate the wallplate, so there will be 3 that are similar or the same as the one by the door. I can deal with the dimmers themselves (plug in or in wallboxes etc), there are lots to choose from but I am stuck with the wall plate devices. Unless I spend over £300 each it would appear there is nothing that is aesthetically pleasing and functional. It would seem you can get white plastic wallplates (switches/dimmers) for about £40, but nothing that is brushed stainless or similar. If you consider the incremental cost of a nicely finished manual switch, they are about £20 more expensive, but as soon as you want Z wave as well the price is sky high, perhaps due to low production volumes ? I have seen some really nice ones (Vitrum or MK Astral) but with prices to match, in the case of Vitrum, these are in a class of their own on looks, but the MK is not special. I have found a number of other products outthere but no distributors so I guess they are available to installers only, is this the case with a lot of Z-wave kit ?
If I compromise on the technology, selection of Z wave then LightWaveRF looks good, but single source and lack of status reporting (future expansion requirements)
Does anyone have any suggestions for nice looking Z wave wallplates that are reasonably priced (maybe up to £150 each ?) or another route I could go down ?
Thanks
My first post, having spend a lot of time reading through the various entries here, all very interesting and has helped a lot so far.
I have spent a lot of time researching products for a small amount of home automation that I would like to install, it does not justify engaging an installer or the high end systems. As a result I have found the selection of products available to the DIY’er are quite limited. I am looking to use a technology that is likely to have future scalability and availability so am looking at Z-Wave (any other suggestion ?). My challenge is to upgrade the lighting in 2 rooms, fairly simple requirements. Ability to turn lights on at the door, selecting a scene would be good, lights to be controller are ceiling and table lamps etc. Also want other controls, in one room it can be a simple hand held remote, in the other room I wanted to replicate the wallplate, so there will be 3 that are similar or the same as the one by the door. I can deal with the dimmers themselves (plug in or in wallboxes etc), there are lots to choose from but I am stuck with the wall plate devices. Unless I spend over £300 each it would appear there is nothing that is aesthetically pleasing and functional. It would seem you can get white plastic wallplates (switches/dimmers) for about £40, but nothing that is brushed stainless or similar. If you consider the incremental cost of a nicely finished manual switch, they are about £20 more expensive, but as soon as you want Z wave as well the price is sky high, perhaps due to low production volumes ? I have seen some really nice ones (Vitrum or MK Astral) but with prices to match, in the case of Vitrum, these are in a class of their own on looks, but the MK is not special. I have found a number of other products outthere but no distributors so I guess they are available to installers only, is this the case with a lot of Z-wave kit ?
If I compromise on the technology, selection of Z wave then LightWaveRF looks good, but single source and lack of status reporting (future expansion requirements)
Does anyone have any suggestions for nice looking Z wave wallplates that are reasonably priced (maybe up to £150 each ?) or another route I could go down ?
Thanks
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