jdvachal Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 For those dealers out there I'm looking for some best practice guidance. I'm working on a panelized lighting solution for a 6000 sq/ft house with 3 floors. Are there any pro's or con's to locating the panels themselves on each floor to keep the wire run lengths to a minimum? If I go this route I would do a 5 slot panel in the basement and the main floor and then a 2 slot panel on the second. Secondly - how about locating the panel for the main floor (or all the panels if splitting them is not the best route) in the garage? I'm in Montana so we've got bitter cold winters and rather warm summers. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstafford388 Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 We have done panelized set ups with the panels split up. As long as you run the needed wires between them it works fine. Just check the ratings of whatever lighting solution you are going with with regards to the temperature part of your question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdvachal Posted September 1, 2014 Author Share Posted September 1, 2014 Thanks! Correct me if I'm wrong but if each panel has a bus gateway then there shouldn't be any need for any line or low voltage connections between the two (or 3)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzilla Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 dont forget you still need a zigbee mesh for some items you cannot really design a panelized system on a forum, each situation calls for a specific setup, so if your a dealer having a hardtime setting this up....contact control4 and they can help you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdvachal Posted September 2, 2014 Author Share Posted September 2, 2014 I should have clarified a bit - the home is getting a full solution and the mesh will be provided by the controllers and the touch panels. I don't plan on using any dimmers or switches and will have to resort to extenders if I get some dead spots. The panel location question was really more about convenience for the electrician as well as the line voltage rough in cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMHarman Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 So how will lights turn on and off without switches / keypads. Motion sensors work in common areas and living areas but not so much in bedrooms and the current / future users should look for keypads in most rooms if for nothing more than the expectation you walk in a room and there is a switch. I get that in gallery like space they may want to be more obscure so there are spaces this does not apply to. Consider what a system outage looks like. For this reason I went with the wireless keypad dimmer to control one load in each room and then additional loads are on the panel. Only one decora keypad dimmer per room in my install. If C4 fails me at least that light turns on. A panel a floor makes sense for rough in. Keeps cable costs lower, rough in time lower and troubleshooting down. The ambient temp for each dimmer / relay etc pack is listed on the device. Check your garage stays warmer than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdvachal Posted September 2, 2014 Author Share Posted September 2, 2014 I like your idea of one dimmer per room to help build the mesh as well as to keep a load operable in the even of some kind out outage. I had planned on using just the wired keypads exclusively but this may change that idea a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstafford388 Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 We just did a house with a fully wired lighting system. Between the hc800 and a handful of card access zigbee extenders the zigbee is covered with no issues. It def works if you want to go that route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzilla Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 a mixed hybrid system is a much better design, using extenders is not a best practice IMO, if 1 of the extenders goes down u will have some issues, where the otherway if planned properly your zigbee will be much better and sound. again this is my opinion....and whats worked well for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMHarman Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 I like your idea of one dimmer per room to help build the mesh as well as to keep a load operable in the even of some kind out outage. I had planned on using just the wired keypads exclusively but this may change that idea a bit.If you are using the wired keypads and the bus Ethernet gateway I think that has a firmware based form of director for lighting only so acts as a fall back if the HC is offline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstafford388 Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 a mixed hybrid system is a much better design, using extenders is not a best practice IMO, if 1 of the extenders goes down u will have some issues, where the otherway if planned properly your zigbee will be much better and sound. again this is my opinion....and whats worked well for me I agree that extenders is not best case scenario. The house I was talking about we used a different wired lighting solution so a hybrid system wasn't an option (shhh, don't tell C4). I was basically stating that doing it that way does work and is an option that will work, even if it not the best option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzilla Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 I agree that extenders is not best case scenario. The house I was talking about we used a different wired lighting solution so a hybrid system wasn't an option (shhh, don't tell C4). I was basically stating that doing it that way does work and is an option that will work, even if it not the best option.i caught that you mentioned, "it will work"....nothing against you, imsure others have had to do the same Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lrolandi Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 What I am doing in my first panelized project is to add some wireless keypads in the wired keypad bus chain. You can power the wireless keypads with 48V DC that way you do not need the extenders and you can not notice the difference between keypads Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 What I am doing in my first panelized project is to add some wireless keypads in the wired keypad bus chain. You can power the wireless keypads with 48V DC that way you do not need the extenders and you can not notice the difference between keypads Yes this would be the recommended method. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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