Some 3-ways should never be changed. Like stairwells and hallways. Others like a switch at the back door and one in the Master Bedroom to control the rear ligths can (and should) be replaced with one way (at the rear door) and a scene switch in the master bedroom. Here again. OnQ is the winner.
Why not the hallways and and stairwells? i want all my lights automated. are you saying hard wire for three way then re-wired for HA?
ps. do you work for on-q? LOL. seriously.
Yes do automated these. But do not turn a 3-way into a one way just because it can be programmed so. No programming should be required to make safety related lights work. Stairwells and hallways can be automated but should never depend on programming to work. Who wants to come down the stairs in the dark when the lighting controller is down?
One virtue of INSTEON (PLC, not hardwired) is that swiches can be trivially made to be three-way or n-way using only the MCU's in the switches and with no need for a 'central controller'.
There is certainly a place for no new wires technology. And their are far more needs for lighting in existing homes than new. But the question is how much aggravation factor can you stand? We tend to do a lot of testing. Since we are a distributor and a trainer, we get "samples" of most lines before we sell them. And as yet, nothing suits me as being dependable enough. But when doing your own home the aggravation factor is not as big a factor. Of course we should not forget our wives. Nuisance lighting can and does cause stress among family members who are not geeks. So what is the happy medium?
The results of our testing is as follows.
1. Most people with PLC issues think coupling or amplified coupling is the solution, but in fact noise elimination is far more a factor than coupling. And with X-10 PLC there are a number of filters to choose from. OnQ has a PLC line which is licensed by them from PCS. Meaning that the best PLC switch ever which was the scenemaster from PCS is still on the market as OnQ PLC (Don't confuse this with OnQ ALC). In many cases, good troubleshooting can still make X-10 perform decent.
2. Z-Wave is making a lot of noise as did CeBus did 7 to 10 years ago. While I wish all no new wires manufactures well, I owe my advice to the techies who install product. And at this point in time, my early tests of this technology are not satisfactory.
3. Insteon may too become a player. I hope so, but like Z-wave there simply is little available in the way of tools to fix problems with and test equipment to find it. Maybe one day that will change. We desperatley need. With Insteon we have done the least amount of testing so my words are a bit weak.
4. UPB while a much healthier signal than X-10 is still dependant upon the quality of the powerline. Couplers and test equipment is available, and standard X-10 filters do work. As it stands right now, we are actively promoting UPB above the others and hope to see both Z-wave and Insteon come on strong as well.
All UPB Swithces can be installed and used in scenes without a controller, however a scene switch is needed.
The Simlpy automated, Web Mountain, PCS and HAI UPB switches can all be configured to act as a 3, 4 or 5 way if you desire. And all OnQ ALC switches can have a 3-way added, just remember that the "cripple mode" operation of any switch must be considered. For example if the switch defaults to factory mode, is that desirable for the location you placed it? Or would it cause a nuisance and/or safety concern (there is no default for OnQ ALC to divert to, it's can't lose it address for example).
As for other hard wired systems compared to OnQ the answer is yes. With the postive that an electrician can wire it as a standard switch and the negative that it takes a cat5 ran to each swtich. This makes the retrofit difficult to say the least.
In Late August we are doing a multiday school to teach how to retrofit a complete automation system into existing home and will also include audio and thermostats. There will be hands on wire pulling comibed with no new wires technologies. UPB will figure heavily in this strategy but we will address other lighting schemes. And we will show how to retfofit OnQ ALC. It's tougher to do, but not totally impossible.
Is there a commercial hardwired system that is similarly robust? OnQ?
... Marc