Building a new Home - C4 Lighting

[KJ1225]

Hello everyone! thanks for reading my post and lending me a hand on making a decision.

My new home is currently under construction and during the Electrical tendering process I've selected the Crestron system; as time wore on I did more research and it seems that Crestron support is not as available as C4 based on where I'm at (Edmonton, Alberta) and hearing the Crestron is more geared nowadays for commercial applications. I've gotten a C4 system quoted and they're pretty much the same.

However, I'm stuck on the lighting control aspect. 

I have two options, have my electricians do the lighting on conventional 110v fixtures and mate it with the C4 system OR kibosh all lighting (Reducing the electrical scope) and doing DMX lighting with Lumastream fixtures for a net premium of around 15 to 20k

 

My question is, is it worth it to go DMX? or should I just stick with the conventional lighting and have it mated with the C4 system?

Thank You

KJ

[ILoveC4]

I’m building now and did all C4 lighting. My decision was based around having it all wired for conventional lighting, so that down the line I’m not limited in what I can do (think 20 years down the road).

I did do a bunch of DMX stuff too, but that’s for the cabinet, toe kick and behind molding lighting. 

[ejn1]

39 minutes ago, ILoveC4 said:

I’m building now and did all C4 lighting. My decision was based around having it all wired for conventional lighting, so that down the line I’m not limited in what I can do (think 20 years down the road).

I did do a bunch of DMX stuff too, but that’s for the cabinet, toe kick and behind molding lighting. 

I went conventional also for the same reason.   C4 switches and dimmers and works great.  Can revert back if desired or sell the house.

[South Africa C4 user]

Also went conventional on my Beach house which I finished building a few months ago. Same reasons as given above,

[WhyPhy]

Ditto. I wanted to do LumaStream for efficiency and tunable white, but ultimately decided it was too restrictive going forward as technology evolves. Also, I couldn’t get all of the fixtures styles (i.e. chandeliers and such) to be compatible, and didn’t want a mixed solution. 

If cost isn’t an issue, LumaStream is fantastic. If it does every thing you would ever want, then go for it. You won’t get the energy efficiency or dim-to-1%-brightness capability from Control4 switches and standard LED bulbs. You won’t get as good tunable white either, but there are some dim-to-warm LED lights that allow some degree of white light temperature adjustment. It’s also difficult to find high CRI LED bulbs. LumaStream has 95+ CRI if I recall.

You can control LumaStream with Control4 through a DMX interface. The low-voltage wired keypads would make the most sense for that (they don’t directly control the lighting loads, just send commands to C4 controller.)

As far as Crestron vs. C4, both are great and more than capable...as long as you have a good local company you can count on to make it work and respond to support requests  

 

[SMHarman]

But consider Control4 panelized for wall wart reduction.

You could move out with a HC250 or CA1 left controlling the lighting as a set and forget piece of reliable hardware. That shouldn't frighten a buyer too much.

That's the approach I took.

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[ILoveC4]

1 hour ago, SMHarman said:

But consider Control4 panelized for wall wart reduction.

You could move out with a HC250 or CA1 left controlling the lighting as a set and forget piece of reliable hardware. That shouldn't frighten a buyer too much.

That's the approach I took.

Sent from my E6603 using Tapatalk
 

I debated that, but ultimately decided that I wanted wiring that met the needs of standard wiring. I don't mind the light switches.

[BraydonH]

Definitely go for a panelized lighting solution. If you want the best dimming experience around go with 0-10v dimming products. Sounds like you have the budget for it. Right now (In my opinion) there is nothing better than a Control4 0-10v Panelized Lighting Solution with Hardwired RS485 keypads. This is (in my opinion) the Rolls Royce of lighting solutions.

[WhyPhy]

5 hours ago, BraydonH said:

Definitely go for a panelized lighting solution. If you want the best dimming experience around go with 0-10v dimming products. Sounds like you have the budget for it. Right now (In my opinion) there is nothing better than a Control4 0-10v Panelized Lighting Solution with Hardwired RS485 keypads. This is (in my opinion) the Rolls Royce of lighting solutions.

I disagree that C4 panelized is the Rolls Royce of lighting. It doesn’t even offer native tunable white color temperature adjustment. 

Lutron Ketra is the most-capable lighting system I’ve encountered. Each fixture is individually addressable even though multiple lights are on a common power circuit. There are photo sensors in each light to continually monitor and adjust for consistent light quality throughout the bulb lifecycle. From a light quality and capability standpoint, there is no equal. It has extremely high CRI and full color adjustability as well. The Ketra controller can do automatic circadian-based adjustment of the lights throughout the day. Officially, Ketra lights only work with Lutron Homeworks QS, though DMX integration is also technically possible.  C4 can obviously work with both Homeworks and DMX. If price isn’t a significant factor, Ketra is the way to go.

Hopefully Lutron will release a RadioRa2 version at some point. Or C4/SnapAV launches a competitive product line. 

[msgreenf]

And how does price compare?

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[WhyPhy]

22 hours ago, msgreenf said:

And how does price compare?

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For a total Homeworks QS Ketrasystem, I don’t know how costs compare. I looked into Ketra before the Lutron acquisition. Rough estimate was about $130/bulb or $250/fixture, plus $750 for the controllers. And obviously numerous hours for DMX driver integration. A Homeworks QS dealer could give a better perspective.