Best lighting control solution, Leviton Z-Wave vs. HAI UPB?

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Leviton.com, HAI UPB, homeauto.com, Leviton HAI UPB, Simply Automated UPB

Leviton lighting control, HAI UPB, Leviton UPB, Leviton.com, homeauto.com, lighting control, products keep you safe, HAI UPB, Leviton HAI UPB, lighting control, check out Simply Automated UPB, manage energy consumption, and provide entertainment. Z-Wave vs. UPB solutions for your home or business are available for every income level and lifestyle. Simply choose the automation, energy management, and convenience features you desire. Leviton systems may be installed in new or existing structures and controlled via your smartphone or tablet.

A Leviton automation system coordinates security, temperatures, lighting and audio/video automatically for safety, energy savings and convenience with $0 Monthly Fees!

Need help selecting Security & Automation products? Let a 
Home Automation Expert assist you.





Security 

Whether checking an event log from a smartphone, watching video surveillance on an iPad, or restricting access to a secure area, Leviton has your safety covered.
Security Automation





Surveillance 

Use your smartphone or tablet to view surveillance video of the front entrance, business interior, nursery, or driveway. On vacation and concerned about the safety of your property? Want to check up on children, elderly relatives, or pets from the office? 
Surveillance Automation




Access Control

Restrict access to outbuildings, gyms, theaters, cellars, and pools. Simplified wiring makes for efficient residential or small commercial use.
Access Control Automation






Energy Management

Maintain comfort while saving energy. Automate lighting, temperatures, pumps, fountains, water heaters, irrigation, and other energy-consuming devices based upon schedules or events.
Energy Management Automation





Lighting

Enhance your property, improve safety, and contribute to saving on energy bills. Automate CFL, LED and conventional lighting. Utilizing wireless Z-Wave technology, enact dramatic scene transitions and true integration of household electrical devices. 
Lighting Automation




Entertainment

Use Bluetooth to stream music from a tablet or smartphone to the built-in speakers. Many Leviton entertainment products can be used stand-alone or integrated into a complete control system.
Entertainment Automation





Automation Interfaces

Control your home and business from anywhere in the world with a single touch from your smartphone or tablet. Download Automation Apps from Leviton.
Automation Interfaces

Source: http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/SectionDisplay.jsp?section=42159

About UPB Technology

UPB technology provides an inexpensive and reliable solution for residential and commercial powerline communications applications. While other powerline communication technologies exist, none compare to UPB in cost per node, functionality and reliability.

Highly Reliable — The UPB method of communication is 100 ~ 1000 times more reliable than current X-10 technology and 10 ~100 times more reliable than CEBUS or LONWORKS powerline technologies.  UPB is 99.9% reliable versus 70%-80% reliability of X-10.*

UPB transmits farther (over a mile), is less susceptible to powerline noise and capacitive attenuation (signal reduction) than other technologies for three reasons:

Pulse Position Modulation is a highly reliable time based method of sending bits; it narrows the possibility of power line noise affecting communication, unlike X-10 and other carrier modulation technologies.

UPB pulses on the power line are approximately 40 volts; more than five times greater than the 5 to 7 volt signals of X-10.

UPB transmits at low (4 to 40 kHz) frequencies, carrying much more power than higher frequency technologies like X-10 that transmits at 120 kHz.

When put on one phase of a home’s two phase power line, the signals are so strong they go out to the street side transformer and are induced on the opposite phase, returning back to the home.  Since UPB transmits at a low frequency, it does not affect other powerline devices or appliance/loads.

No New Wires – UPB dimmer switches are installed exactly like regular dimmer switches.  They connect to a home’s standard wiring. Since no new or special wiring is required, they work great in retrofit applications too.

Affordable — UPB dimmer switches can be as affordable as high end non-communicating dimmers.  When comparing costs of home upgrades (theater TV, remodeled bath or kitchen) adding lighting automation and control to a room or whole home provides a surprising improvement in quality of life at a comparably low cost.

Simplicity – Adding lighting control can be as simple as plugging in dimming modules or replacing dimming switches Pre-Configured Series. Unlike radio frequency (RF) wireless switches, where reliability is proportional to the number of ‘mess-networked’ switches installed, UPB provides reliability and performance anywhere in the home without the need of repeaters.       

Peer to Peer – No host computer or central controller is necessary for single, point-to-point control or group (lighting scene) control.  UPB is a no-host, peer to peer network.  Interruption of power, or single point controller/repeater failure, will not affect a stand-alone UPB network.

Two Way Communications – Hardware, software and protocol design allows for two-way communication in all products.  Status can be confirmed with polling or automatically transmitted upon local/manual load changes.  

House Separation – Neighbors with UPB will not control each other’s lights.  The UPB addressing scheme allows for 250 systems (houses) on each transformer and 250 devices on each system. It incorporates over 64,000 total addresses compared to 256 for conventional X-10.

Interaction – UPB communication can be used in the presence of all X-10, CEBus, HomePlug or LonWorks compatible equipment with no interference between either. The UPB technology uses a completely different frequency range than any of the wide-band, narrow-band, or spread spectrum technologies. The physical method of UPB communication is entirely different than the modulation-demodulation techniques of all X-10, CEBus, or LonWorks.

Higher Speed – 20 to 40 times the speed of X- 10 in terms of data transmitted. This is equivalent to over ten full commands per second. The average latency of command to action is less than 0.1 second.

 

UPB System Description X-10 to UPB Migration

 

* Reliability is defined as the percentage of transmitter/receiver pairs that correctly operate upon initial installation. The UPB test units are randomly installed in the environment typical of the target market. This market is defined as the single-family residential market in the US, homes with a median size of 2500 Sq, Ft. This environment is defined to be the existing base of homes, without any modifications, which means there should be no “fixing” the electrical system of the residence by adding couplers, repeaters or filtering.

 

6 comments on “Best lighting control solution, Leviton Z-Wave vs. HAI UPB?

  1. tonykristie on said:

    I purchased several Leviton lighting control switches. Did not work. Technology challenges. Thereafter bought Simply Automated switches. Lower cost. Easier install. Work like a charm.

    • Stewart Austin on said:

      Hello Tony. Leviton is a very good and solid company in the lighting industry. Unfortunately, they have had challenges in the lighting control home automation market, using Z-Wave technology has proven to be a complicated task and tough install. Simply Automated takes great pride in providing real world simple solutions for the broad based market, from DIYer, to dealer, installers and electricicans — a professional grade product.

  2. Tad Pollack on said:

    Went to several leviton training classes at my local distributor,stuff takes a phd to figure out how to install,more painful than pulling teeth, very too complicated. Cannot double tap to control another device or scene like upb. upb so much easier, flexible, my distributor only carries simply automated, he says best in the industry.

  3. used Leviton zwave
    very tough to program
    not the best quality
    could not control one side of the house
    thought Leviton was a good name, can do much better

  4. Great post! I learned a lot here, keep up the good work!

  5. Thanks so much for this post! I’ve been doing a lot of research on this, and this was a really great read. Keep up the great work on this blog!

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