Advice - Large # of Switches

Have about 10 GE/Jasco switches. Since they just came out with a new model, the older Z-wave plus units can be had for 29 or less. I use the community driver to give me double tap associations. But.... I am really wanting to play with a new Inovelli switch. That will be next. They just simply were not out yet when I made my prior purchases or I would have gone that route.

If I were planning on purchasing a lot of switches, I would purchase one of each (of the contenders) and see how they meet my tastes and criteria.

I have some old GoLinears, Inovelli's, Zooz and Homeseer. They all seem to work fine. They are all white Decora type and some match the Leviton white switchplates better than others. Some have options to change the switch colors.

I purchased the Homeseer HS-WD200+ recently because it has 7 LEDs on the front panel that can be controlled separate from the switch and can be different colors. I use them as a local "status" panel. I also like the Homeseer "action" the best, but not to the point to exclude all the others.

For me, It also depends where they are. Most of my switches do not get used manually too often. The Inovelli gets used the most as it controls our front entrance lights. So here I would look for a solid positive action of the manual button. Other locations.....if they work they're fine.

Just my experience, I hope something I said helps.

John

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Based on my reading and experience, I'd say to meet your stated goal, of 1 Brand, and given your use case, I'd second (10th?) the Lutron recommendation.

I think it comes down to Fan controllers. Dimmers/Switches are easy, and I've had good experience with GE/Jasco, Zooz and Innovelli. I prefer the price and basic feature set of the Zooz switches, but I'm a fan of the Innovellis as well.

Having said that. Zooz's fan controller is a bit different, and while I'm looking forward to the Innovelli, I don't think it's yet on the streets, and while I have several GE's, I don't like them at all. A Hampton Bay Fan Controller (King of Fans) is OK for me, but they don't work well for everyone. And frankly, I don't think they're that good, just better than the GE (for me).

I think the only line that is truly integrated and consistent across the range of Dimmer/Fan/Switch at present is Lutron.

Personally, If I was starting from scratch, I don't know what I'd do. I'n not a fan of the Lutron design (I like plain paddles better, frankly), but have a great deal of respect for their apparent quality and reliability.

At this point however, I'm a big fan of both Zooz and Innovelli, so given the cost advantage, I'd probably still go the way I have.

Good luck with your selection!

S

Same thing happened to me about a year ago.

This was my post - starting me down the Lutron path:

Caseta has it's own styling and probably what you've seen and referring to. The Lutron RA2 stuff (Maestro) switches look just like normal paddle decora switches.

Yes, Sorry. You are correct. I don't like the look of the Casetas! Thanks John! As a side note, one of the common reasons aside from reliability often stated is the Picos. If the Picos appeal the the OP, then that would also be a plus on the Lutron column.

It's not clear to me though (not being familiar with Lutron in detail) that the Maestro works with the Lutron Pro Hub...does it?

S.

Nope. The Maestro "style" switches are for Radio RA2 and RA2 Select. I would have to check but if I remember the RA2 Select switches are NOT compatible with RA2. Which makes it 3 separate product "families" and with the RA2 and RA2 Select you have to be careful you pick the right model number.

The basic dimmers/switches are the exact same. There is limited configurability in RA2 Select, e. g., default ‘on’ levels, ramp rates. Also, full RadioRA 2 has access to hybrid keypad/dimmer.

Good to know. I wasn't positive. What's the price you get from Hank's?

Here is a link to some documentation comparing the systems.

Basically anything that works on RA2 Select will work on RA2 and in turn any of that will work on Homeworks. It's all one big ecosystem. The big differences are the hubs which are what have the limitations built in. Obviously going the other direction there are some items available for RA2 that you can not use with RA2 select and similar with Homeworks having devices that can not be used with either RA2 select or RA2.

Not true. No RadioRA 2 or RA2 Select dimmers/switches/keypads will work with HomeWorks QS. Just like Caséta devices won't work with RadioRA 2 or HomeWorks. There is no upgrade path across families other than rip and replace. The only common component across product lines are the Picos. This is all obviously a Lutron market segmentation issue as all Lutron devices speak Clear Connect.

I'm curious as to what it is you don't like about the GE's ?

I just replaced a few of their older Z-wave model(12722) with the new Quick Connect Z-wave Plus(46201) switch and noticed the paddels aren't physically as clicky to the touch as the old ones where. Something I don't particularly like as it used to feel more like a regular decora switch. Now they feel more like a push button. Also the LED indicators are brighter so they won't match older units side by side.

For the GE light switches, I don't dislike them, however given general pricing of GE/Jasco vs Zooz and Innovelli, I think the latter are priced better, and for my purposes suit me a little better.

As for the fan switches, they just don't seem to work all that well with my fan light units. The HBFC/KoF controllers just seem to work better (for me).

I like the all in one in the wall solution that GE offers, but for whatever reason, my fan(s) just don't really get along. This could be any number of things, but given the general GE exclude before using pain in the butt, and the fact that I can't get them to work right, I personally prefer the HBFCs.

S.

I stand corrected. The Homeworks QS product line has their own versions of the same RA devices with different firmware. I did however confirm with a product rep that there is a way to link the two system but you loose some functionality and it’s obviously not endorsed by Lutron.

I replaced all the switches in the house when we moved in last year with Honeywell branded Jasco/GE switches, dimmers, and fan controllers and they've worked well for me. If I had to do it over I would have put in more motion switches in place of the regular switches for more options. I have replaced a couple with motion in key areas and it opened up a lot of options for automations.

Yeah, the motion switches are certainly appealing, for the simplicity they bring over switch plus separate sensor!

However, when I compare the typical price of the Jasco products to Zooz or Inovelli, and add in that most rooms in my house where I use motion lighting have 3 way switches, the cost of the Jascos just doesn't work for me.

Having said that, I'm loving their new Zigbee outlets, pricey, but by mixing the Zigbee and Zwave outlets around my house, I can strengthen both meshes and get rid of the ugly plug in outlets at the same time!

I think i have 4 of the Zigbee ones and 6 of the Zwave plus models!

Much improved mesh and WAF.

S

I bought 8 of the Zigbee outlets so far and kind of spaced them out. Since all my switches are zwave I figured I'd do Zigbee for the outlets. As for the price I just don't tell the wife.

A residential client of mine is in the process of putting in smart switches everywhere in their house for their renovation. Ended up going with Zooz because they prefer "toggles" to paddles. If you get in touch with the vendor they can generally give you better pricing on larger quantities. Was able to get a great deal thanks to @agnes.zooz and crew.

The only real hitch was with 3/4-way switches. Fortunately the client doesn't care all that much about the slightly different look/action between smart toggles and "regular" switches so was able to just use one smart switch in each multiway circuit.

The other minor thing was for the bathroom fans I opted to have them use GE toggles because they support that kind of load whereas Zooz currently do not. GE's are more expensive though so not as practical for mass installation.

So far the basement lighting has been done and everything is working :crossed_fingers: . Next week the rest are going in along with some motion and contact sensors.

They do have the need for some switches in their detached garage - it will be interesting to see if I need to add a second hub due to the distance / # of z-wave hops or go the Zigbee toggle switch route with some repeaters.

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I'm not sure about your construction there, but here I have a steel door, and a large brick wall between the rest of the house and the garage.
I have a few devices in the garage, but I find that the zwave plus devices have difficulty in getting through the wall/door. Zigbee devices are no better (sometimes worse).

Oh now this will be interesting to follow... You should start a new thread purely for tracking and updates of this install. It will be interesting to document the status, issues, insights you uncover from this.

I've been down this road but not with HE for clients so I'm interested. I know there's a couple other installers that watch this forum as well so there is interest in this endeavor especially from a support perspective.

What are your plans BTW for supporting this? Or do you support installs?

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