What to use for light control

[vincenttor]

Well like the title says,
what is the best system to use to control the lights in your opinion ?

I am going to buy a house and hopefully this will be all settled somewhere next month , of course i like to control the lights.
In my parents house we are using an system thats working flawless for 18 years but its old and using IR, still pretty expensive as well (busch jaeger)
Since there are allot of brands nowadays im not sure what works best after reading allot of good and bad reviews.

I like to control the lights with the Homeseer software so it would be nice if there is a plugin available but for the most brands there is i have seen.
I have a RFXCOM thats pretty good but the reach is not so great in this house (using allot of aluminum) but in my new house will be all concrete walls and floors so this will be even worse i guess with reception.
I am also using a bigger antenna already to expand the range a bit more.

I have only experience with a KAKU switch that was already installed here in one of our bedrooms and it seems to work ok, but would it not be great if you can use a slider to dim a light in HSTOUCH on your tab or phone.

Anyone that has an opinion about a brand, what to use, what not etc ?
Thanks for your time.

[vincenttor]

really, nobody is using dimmers / switches and wants to share there opinion ?

[Akatar]

ofcourse,
but is is asked many times...

i would use zwave for the main part

and rfxcom icm somfy for roller shutters/window screens

[vincenttor]

And because i read allot of posts that says this is best and some say it isn't im a bit lost..
Hence i made this topic.
But thanks for the input !

[pbrand]

I can understand that you are a bit lost with all possibilities and opinions.

But unfortunately, all you have here are no more than opinions. I don't think there is the one system that is perfect (that I know of ). And it's the same with most choices: it's a personal choice based on own (often limited) experience and taste.

So I could tell you here that ZWAVE is thé system to use. But that would be based on my personal, very limited, experience and taste.

I use ZWAVE and it does the job. But it is certainly not thé system nor is it perfect.

The only thing that I do heartfully recommend is that you use a bidirectional system. Systems like ELV FS20 or Klik-aan/Klik-uit only send a signal to a device and have no feedback whether it has succeeded or not. ZWAVE for example does.

So I use ZWAVE because it seems reasonably reliable and is not very expensive. And even then you have to be careful (and read reviews) on which ZWAVE brands you use. And which controller you use. Fibaro is generally considered a reliable choice in brand for example. I myself use some Everspring and Düwi stuff which works ok for me. But the supported ZWAVE devices also depend on which controller you use. So I'm afraid you simply have to dig deeper when actually buying stuff to see what works together with what.



I guess that pro systems like KNX would be the most reliable. If you can afford it

But again. This is only my opinion based on limited experience!

Regards,
Peter

[vincenttor]

Thanks Peter,
Will look into Z-wave since it has the 2 way communication.
KNX is a bit to expensive for playing/hobby what i am doing

Topic can be closed thanks for the replies.

[Wim2008]

Z-wave is a nice system, with his own problems and good solutions.
I use also z-wave, but in combination with plugwise and RFXcom. Because z-wave don't do things that other devices can.
About z-wave you can find a lot of information on this forum.

BR Wim

[kriz83]

Because z-wave don't do things that other devices can.

Can you give an example ?