HAI OmniPro II / OmniTouch - A Good Replacement?

[Houston22]

I would be interested in your thoughts, please. Last year, I bought a home that has the HAI OmniPro II with three of the OmniTouch screens. I found out this system was discontinued years ago and very few organizations can service it or provide help. Right now, I used it for lighting but want to get the security features up and running too.

Two questions. 1) Does anyone know a company in the Houston area that might be able to help me with it (i.e. set lighting when I am traveling)? 2) If I wanted to replace the HAI with something that can use the same wiring in the home, what system would I want to investigate?

I recently found this group while doing a Google search on the HAI OmniPro, you guys seem to be the only ones out there with detailed knowledge. Impressive knowledge. I thank you for any help you can provide.

 

[Powercat80]

Let me bump this thread. I live in Austin and need HAI help for security and lighting. Or find an alternative for security/smoke/fire.

 

[sjht]

Not sure about companies in Houston. I replaced my HAI system with an ADC (Alarm.com) solution from a company named Surety (which also does monitoring very reasonably). It used all of my current wireless sensors, but options for others. I already had Lutron Radio RA2 which also transitioned to being used by ADC (RA3 would be better). They also support Zwave and others (I have Zwave locks). I already had Control4 as my control system for our home and it integrated completely with the ADC panel, etc. You will need a Control4 dealer to get that started, but you can do a lot of your own programming (you do need to pay a yearly fee for this). I guess it all depends on what you are willing to do yourself and budget/ongoing costs. Still have a lot of great HAI equipment which all works perfectly. Likely will get around to selling at some point.

 

[Dan Wright]

My Omni issue was the loss of my last Z-wave interface. I am moving to Homeseer for lighting etc with the Omni plugin for security. Having some Z-wave issues with the Leviton wall controllers, but other than that, it is going smoothly.

 

[Houston22]

Not sure about companies in Houston. I replaced my HAI system with an ADC (Alarm.com) solution from a company named Surety (which also does monitoring very reasonably). It used all of my current wireless sensors, but options for others. I already had Lutron Radio RA2 which also transitioned to being used by ADC (RA3 would be better). They also support Zwave and others (I have Zwave locks). I already had Control4 as my control system for our home and it integrated completely with the ADC panel, etc. You will need a Control4 dealer to get that started, but you can do a lot of your own programming (you do need to pay a yearly fee for this). I guess it all depends on what you are willing to do yourself and budget/ongoing costs. Still have a lot of great HAI equipment which all works perfectly. Likely will get around to selling at some point.

Thanks for taking the time to provide the feedback, I appreciate it. This smart home stuff is new to me, so I am learning. I find the most important things are the security element and being able to have the lights come on at set times, which is helpful as I travel a lot for work. I had the Best Buy people come over (I think the Geek Squad) and they had no clue what could be replaced using the current wiring. They tried to sell me on some other system for thousands using a lot of rewiring.

 

[Houston22]

My Omni issue was the loss of my last Z-wave interface. I am moving to Homeseer for lighting etc with the Omni plugin for security. Having some Z-wave issues with the Leviton wall controllers, but other than that, it is going smoothly.

Thanks for taking the time to provide feedback, I appreciate it!

 

[pete_c]

Here utilize the Omni Panel to manage the heartbeat of the home. That said also utilize Homeseer and Home Assistant.

Lighting wise here using UPB Powerline. That said also have X10, Zigbee and ZWave devices connected. Omnistat is my thermostat. Russound zoned audio. My zones are all wired here. All is working fine. The OmniPanel was built to last forever. Learn it and keep it as there is only the Elk M1 that could do similar.

This forum would be your source to document / improve on what you are doing today with the OmniPanel.

 

[Houston22]

Here utilize the Omni Panel to manage the heartbeat of the home. That said also utilize Homeseer and Home Assistant.

Lighting wise here using UPB Powerline. That said also have X10, Zigbee and ZWave devices connected. Omnistat is my thermostat. Russound zoned audio. My zones are all wired here. All is working fine. The OmniPanel was built to last forever. Learn it and keep it as there is only the Elk M1 that could do similar.

This forum would be your source to document / improve on what you are doing today with the OmniPanel.

Thank you, Pete C. I appreciate your comments and taking the time to provide some info to a novice like me. I have googled and looked up a lot of the info you provided. In your opinion, if I needed to replace the Omni Pro II with something that does everything (i.e. lighting, security, climate control), is there one system that you would recommend? I get concerned that 1 of my 2 panels is out and also concerned when I go to sell my home eventually. I have seen the brand Elk mentioned many times on this forum, for example. What would you say is the best replacement with the current wiring that I have if you were to choose one? I appreciate your feedback.

 

[pete_c]

if I needed to replace the Omni Pro II with something that does everything (i.e. lighting, security, climate control), is there one system that you would recommend?
Personally the Elk M1 panel.

I get concerned that 1 of my 2 panels is out and also concerned

Is the Leviton HAI panel not working? I removed mine and reused it on the last home sale. Left it on the house before last home sale and purchasers removed HAI panel. The house sale was not dependent on the automation or security.

 

[Houston22]

Thank you for the reply. 1 panel is not working by the front door. I had a guy last year that was able to install a used one and get the home lights set. However, he has disappeared. Most places I contact don't deal with HAI, or their experts have retired. My concern is selling the home with a broken panel and also changing out the timing on some of the lights. I can't set the timing of the lights with the panel, only via my former expert (he got on a computer to set the timing). The Leviton app won't work either. So, this is what leads me to eventually want to use the existing wiring for a new system. I just don't know what would be suitable to replace it with, a Leviton brand or something new. Sorry for the long message.