Re: Help with 7 Circuit Project?

["Brett Griffin" <brett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Personally, I despise anything powerline controlled.  The technology's
> just
> too unreliable.  Sure, I wish is were otherwise but experience has shown
> me
> it's very unreliable.

I would recommend you take a hard look at UPB.  It has proven a 99.99%
reliability record for 5 years now.  Powerline used to mean X-10.  UPB took
the X-10 ideology and made it work.  The two biggest problems with X-10 were
signal strength and the frequency it was used at.



Signal Strength.  X-10 transmits 5 volts at the zero line crossing.  It is
extremely easy to get 5 volts of noise on a powerline circuit, and the zero
line crossing is where noise is most prevalent.  Once the voltage of the
noise surpasses the voltage of the signal, you lost communications.  The
second problem is X-10 transmits at 121 KHz.  At this frequency the signal
attenuates, or loses its strength over a short distance.  Combine these
factors together (low signal strength over a short distance, and a little
bit of noise) and X-10 does not work.



Other complaints of X-10 had to use a coupler/repeater and it is slow.  What
do you think Radio Ra uses, basically every 30 feet you need a device to
repeat the signal to get good coverage, and Radio Ra is as slow if not
slower than X-10.  Now I am not bashing Radio RA, it is a great reliable
technology, but it 3 times the cost of professional X-10 or UPB.  However if
you want terracotta wall plates than you better call Lutron to get Radio RA.



Now enter UPB.



UPB transmits approximately 1/6th of a cycle before the sine wave at 40
volts above the voltage of the sine wave.  It has a peak voltage around 60
volts transmitting in the 4-40 kHz spectrum.  What this means, it works very
well.  You will not have noise the masks the UPB signal.  If you do, you
have a whole lot more to worry about than your lights, likely nothing in
your home will operate properly.  Due to its frequency, I have had dealer
tell me they have seen UPB transmit over 5 miles of electrical cabling.



With UPB, you have about 64,000 password protected addresses compared to 256
X-10 Addresses.  UPB also allows for many unique applications that other
protocols do not adapt well to.  I have a three-way circuit using UPB, and
there is no traveler wire.  There are no UPB repeaters, they do not need
them the signal is strong enough for large commercial factories, it will
talk to you home switches.



The .01% failure rate is due to retrofitting UPB into a graphic eye lighting
(a proprietary hard wired) system.  That system does not play well with
third party protocols, this application you may consider a Radio Ra system
for retro fitting.


--
Brett Griffin, Home Technology Consultant


Architechtronics, Inc.
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