Control4 Home Retrofit

[psi4pwr91]

Hey everyone! I'm new to the forum and to Control4, but I've been very interested in home automation for a few months now. Within about 9 months, I will be moving with the military to the Kansas City, Missouri area, and I'll be purchasing my first home. Unfortunately, I will not be doing a new construction so everything will have to integrated into an existing home. I was hoping I could get some of your help in choosing the correct components for my future set up. I plan on buying a house that is between 2500 and 3000sqft and two levels, four bedrooms (2-3 upstairs, 1=2 downstairs), dining room, and two living areas (most likely one upstairs, one downstairs). My goals for integration will be:

Control all exterior locks, security system, and HVAC controls with all remotes and from all areas.

Control of lighting, satellite or cable box, Blu-Ray, AV Receiver, and TV in my throne room (I will be bringing a LG 55LH55 TV, Denon AVR1910 Receiver, and LG BD590 into the system, and potentially a Dish Network ViP satellite box).

Control of lighting, satellite or cable box, TV, and audio in master bedroom (no components purchased yet).

Control of audio in 2nd living area, kitchen, and dining room (music library stored on PC or USB hard drive).

Future expandability into additional bedrooms with similar components as master bedroom.

Use of iPhone and Droid OS as remotes

So some of the questions I've got are:

To view song/artist/album/playlist information, will I need to integrate in-wall screens in the kitchen, dining room, and 2nd living area or can the software send that information to an iPhone or Droid device?

Since I don't want to be able to lock or unlock my exterior doors while on vacation, will the lack a high bandwidth ISP impact my system very much? I ask because I'm hoping to be outside of the city and I'm having difficulty finding a DSL ISP, let alone a quality Cable ISP, that serves the area.

For the purposes of bandwidth inside the house, should I have two separate networks (one for 802.11b/g/n access points and the ISP router, one for Control4 streaming devices), or can I run everything on one? If I can do one, what kind of switches should I be running?

Will I have any problems integrating LED lighting into dimmer switches for the master bedroom, main living area, etc?

As you can see, I'm really in the planning phase of my purchase, and I have got a serious case of OCD when it comes to stuff like this. I'm really looking for advice, tips, and tricks, especially when it comes to what types of hardware (from the thermostat to the television, door locks to receivers) that will give me the level of control I'm looking for. If you have anything to add or any other questions that I should be asking please let me know! Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated!

[Mongo]

the best tip you will ever get is to hire a great dealer! The dealer either makes or breaks your experience!

I believe the "Soho Shop" has a office in Missouri, and these guys are one of the most knowledgeable dealers I have seen on this forum, you may want to reach out to them.

[Letran]

Sounds like a big project. Having a good dealer will make a big difference in a project such as yours.

Check out how long they been with Control4 not just how long they been in business.

There is also a good read about "How to choose a dealer?"

The ISP's bandwith will not affect your use day to day after the install. If you are going to use 4sight heavy or 3G a lot when you are away from home then the ISP's bandwidth might become an annoyance.

I had 2 routers at some point but my understanding is having just one is better. A dealer is best to answer this. A strong network is key in any install. If you are planning on having a few in-walls make sure that you have MORE than enough POE ports in your switch.

LED lighting with C4's regular dimmer should work a lot of member's post seem to support that. C4 does have the ELV dimmers that is specific to LED use. Again a dealer can clarify.

Good luck and have fun

[zaphod]

One thing to keep in mind is that I don't think that you can get C4 locks for sliding doors. That might be something to keep in mind when buying your house.

If you actually lived in the city of KC then you wouldn't have worries about an ISP as Google has a project underway to deliver "Ultra high speed fiber" or 1 Gbps internet in the KCs in both MO and KS. http://www.google.com/fiber/kansascity/index.html

By the way I hope you are a 5 star General because what you have spec'ed out is not cheap and is well beyond the pay grade of almost all military personnel.

[wappinghigh]

If you actually lived in the city of KC then you wouldn't have worries about an ISP as Google has a project underway to deliver "Ultra high speed fiber" or 1 Gbps internet in the KCs in both MO and KS. http://www.google.com/fiber/kansascity/index.html

That's cool...

+1 for getting a new dealer....

[psi4pwr91]

@zaphod - You couldn't pay me to live in KC proper, on either side of the border. I have also heard of some companies getting government contracts to deliver fiber to rural areas. The part of Texas I'm in now has got a company called NTS stringing fiber all over. I'm not sure what speed they're running, but I know it's a hell of a lot better than the 768Kbps AT&T DSL I have right now. As for the affordability, I'm nowhere close to a 5-star General; however I have done very well with managing my debts and my pay. Beyond a car and house payment, I've got nothing but the normal bills (TV, Phone, Electricity). If I am far enough outside the city, I'll be fortunate enough to be on well water and septic, so no water/sewage bill. The annual property taxes in Missouri are extremely low as well. I have no illusions that this system is going to be cheap, which is why I fully intended on doing it one or two rooms at a time. I don't look at this as an immediate installation, I look at it like it's going to be integrated with any other room upgrade, say for example when I redo the kitchen.

[jwhitaker@revit]

Give us a ring when you head out this way. We were just out in KC a week or so ago. Short trip and always a nice one. Sounds like you have a good idea of what you want accomplished and that is always a definate plus. Welcome to the area!

[psi4pwr91]

@jwhitaker: I called the shop up in St. Charles for a rough estimate of what it would cost, but I haven't gotten any e-mails back yet.

@Hooked: What did you start with? Did you do any wiring and such on your own? I've been looking forward to doing a lot of remodeling on my home, so I would like to be as active as possible in the process.

[ILoveC4]

@jwhitaker: I called the shop up in St. Charles for a rough estimate of what it would cost' date=' but I haven't gotten any e-mails back yet.

@Hooked: What did you start with? Did you do any wiring and such on your own? I've been looking forward to doing a lot of remodeling on my home, so I would like to be as active as possible in the process.[/quote']

This is what we control and again love C4...Main room I have a pioneer vsx-81txv with 1 zone living and 2nd rear deck, cable box, Blue Ray and garage door control with a 300C with navigator. Also denon 1611 with 1 zone basement and 2nd front porch also 300C with 2nd garage control, this 300 also controls front room with speaker bar and cable box, and Blue Ray with navigator. Teen room has tv, Blue Ray and speaker point with 200 running navigator. Master 200B with speaker point also running navigator. Kitchen speaker point, guest speaker point, master bath speaker point and garage speaker point. BD front door lock. 5 SR250 remotes, ipad, 3 iphone and two laptops with site license also a 1000V3. I like having the onscreen navigator but that's me. I am very happy with C4. Our tv's are LG, samsung, and Panasonic. Still have a long way to go. Looking at a projector and screen and security system for the future...we started with the first sentence with the 200 that is now in teen room (main room/rear deck control) and I was hooked and love it. If you can use the 4 or 8 zone amp it might be better and cheaper but if you can't run wires the speaker points are great... Get with a good dealer and tell him or her what you want now and for future an sit back and enjoy... The Rhapsody and Internet radio on my C4 system is awesome... Again work with a good dealer they need to meet your needs and expectation. Our house was wired with Internet in each room and basement was not finished so wires could be run front and back porch. Basement is framed now doing bar/theater area. I keep telling myself it's a year away but I just bought James speakers and subs so now getting the itch... And plumber installed tub and water for bar area...Speaker points are wireless and I love these things...

Thanks for your service...

I sure as hell can't bring myself to read that...hopefully your target audience can.

Whew.

[RyanE]

Yeah, White Space. It's a good thing.

RyanE

[CFUG]

Yeah, it looks like what the trolls dump on us. Cigarettes/errection every other word and 40 line paragraphs

[HookedOnC4]

Yeah, it looks like what the trolls dump on us. Cigarettes/errection every other word and 40 line paragraphs

Wow...

I

Deleted.

[CFUG]

sorry

[psi4pwr91]

So as I'm doing more and more research, most people are saying either the Elk M1 alarm panel or the GE Concord 4. I'm more inclined to go with the GE right now, but the question I've got is what kind of keypad do I need? Since I plan on doing most of the control through the Control4 interface, I don't suspect that I need a top of the line, full featured keypad. I do want two-way communication, but I'm guessing that's all handled through the automation unit, correct? Lastly, what brands/types of wireless sensors do you guys reccommend?

[ILoveC4]

GE uses GE Wireless sensors, and they're cheap.

Just get basic keypads, IF you're going to have C4 touchscreens by the doors as well. The top of the GE keypad is a lot cheap than any C4 touchpanel.

[CFUG]

I might be closed-minded but it seems DSC gets no respect here. I'm not a looks-only person but I think their hardware blends better in the home. It works too.

[psi4pwr91]

@ILoveC4 - GE sensors are cheap as in inexpensive or cheap as in poorly built pieces of crap that will only last a matter of hours past their warranty?

[ILoveC4]

@ILoveC4 - GE sensors are cheap as in inexpensive or cheap as in poorly built pieces of crap that will only last a matter of hours past their warranty?

Inexpensive.

I just bought 4 more recessed micro door/window sensors for the new house last night and they were $164 shipped for all 4. Great quality too.

[psi4pwr91]

Are there any vendors that you guys reccommend? I think I'm just going to be looking for motion detectors, recessed door/window sensors, CO sensors, smoke detectors, and flood detectors.

[ILoveC4]

Spytown is good and had good prices, but is often a few days before it ships.

[psi4pwr91]

I think I can live with that, considering it's approximately 9 months before I move.

[bsanf3]

One thing to keep in mind is that I don't think that you can get C4 locks for sliding doors. That might be something to keep in mind when buying your house.

If you actually lived in the city of KC then you wouldn't have worries about an ISP as Google has a project underway to deliver "Ultra high speed fiber" or 1 Gbps internet in the KCs in both MO and KS. http://www.google.com/fiber/kansascity/index.html

By the way I hope you are a 5 star General because what you have spec'ed out is not cheap and is well beyond the pay grade of almost all military personnel.

For sliding doors you could use these I've used other electromagnetic locks like these controlled with Card Access Relays and Control4's Contact/Relay controllers.