RE: Home automation methods ...Cbus, X10, Zwave....

["Mark McCall" <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Being an X10 newbie, an enthusiastic one tho!!

Hi Noel, welcome.

> I'm dabbling to see its potential before going large
> scale whole house over the next few years or so.

That's what I did too, best way.

> I've read a bit about x10's downfalls, black spots, slight
> time delays etc but are these really that bad?

In my experience they can grow to become quite bad.  We installed X10
"properly" using star wiring to DIN rail dimmers.  Everything
worked well at
the start, but gradually problems crept in.  We still have the system, but
I'll be moving over to Cbus at some point in the future.

> Have seen comments pointing people towards cbus but having
> had a quick look its big big bucks!

Depends on your budget.  Compared to other hard wired professional systems
its not expensive.

> Dont know much about zwave just that it exists!!

Its still pretty new, but lots of stuff in the pipeline for it.  Have a
look
at the Z-Wave forum here...
http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=17

Also have a look at the wiring guide to see the X10 stuff we did...

http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=2

M.