remote control switching

[DaveBowden]

Doing a remodel in a fairly large 2 story house. They have 10 carriage lights on the front controlled by 5 different switch locations. One pair is on the 2nd floor, one pair is on either side of the garage doors on the east end of the house, one pair is on either side of the garage door on the west end of the house, and one pair at each of the 2 front entries to the house. Some are fed from a panel in the east garage, some are fed from a panel in the west garage.
Homeowner wants to be able to turn all of them on from one location on the first floor and from one location on the second floor. Kind of the same set up on the back of the house with 4 different locations each controlled by a single pole switch near each location.Its impossible to tie all the lights together in the front or the back.
Each switch has a neutral in the switch box.
Does anyone make a remote controlled switch that would do what they want done?
I've seen some called Insteon but I don't know if they would do what I need to do.

 

[gar]

150408-2350 EDT

I don't understand the requirements.

There are 10 outside lights to be controlled from many locations. These are not all fed from the same circuit source.

What is not clear is the logic desired for the new setup. But whatever is required probably can be handled with a GE RR relay system. Or if not, then with a processor of some sort controlling the RR relays.

Indivdual groups of lights can be controlled with a relay. A group could be as small as 1 light or as many as allowed by the rating of one relay. Each individual group would be controlled by one relay. The controller logic would determine what groups were controlled individually, or combined groups, or all lights together.

Control switches are SPDT spring centered. This means a wired logical "or" circuit. In a given location a single switch could turn on and off all lights. In that same location other switches could control a single group or some could control combined groups.

Because of the "or" function of the switches a location can control the same lights as are controlled in other locations. As many switches as you desire can be paralled for the "or" function. With proper switch orientation up can always be "ON" and down always "OFF".

Different locations can control different groups of lights. Low voltage wiring is used between the switches. Nominal about 30 V.

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[DaveBowden]

Each pair of lights is controlled individually now by a single pole switch near the pair, so the owner has to go all over the house to turn all the lights on. There is nowhere to install a relay for each location nor any way to run any wiring to connect the locations together.
I'm looking for a way to replace the existing switches with a switch that can be wirelessly controlled remotely. I found one online that came with a remote similar to a garage door opener remote, but now I can't find it again.

 

[gar]

150409-0855 EDT

You have two choices for switch replacements that don't require any new wiring. X10 type switches that use PLC (power line communication), or RF communication. Insteon is a PLC system.

I don't like PLC for a whole house for reliability reasons. If you use PLC, then all devices need to be on the same phase, or you need a coupling between both phases. Communication is done around 125 kHz. PLC can be very reliable on a single branch circuit with a filter feeding that circuit, if there are no large shunt loads, or noise sources on the circuit.

For RF communication look at http://www.lutron.com/en-US/Residen...ential-Solutions/IntegrationConnectivity.aspx .
Search the Internet for --- rf controlled light switch ---.

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[steve_p]

I have had really good with Insteon stuff, dual band. RF and something wave. Each device acts like a repeater.

I fact, I just purchased 8 to a job exactly like the one you are doing.

Also picked up a hub so the lights can be controlled by an iOS device. Also can be setup using the iOS device.

 

[DaveBowden]

thanks for your replies.
I think what's making me overthink this is I don't know if any individual control remains after installing these insteon switches. That is, can one pair of lights be turned on or do all the lights have to come on when you hit a switch. If I want to control the front and back of the house separately can that be done with these?
I'm used to ceiling fan remotes where there are dip switches to control the frequencies and I don't know if that's the way these are or not.

 

[gar]

150410-0929 EDT

Study the Insteon website.

A wall switch, and I believe there are several types (relay, solid-state, dimmable), are locally switchable at the switch location, and are remotely controllable.

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[DTLight]

For the Insteon option, each switch would have local control. This means that turning the switch would turn on or off would turn the light wired to the switch on or off. Additionally, each switch could then be programmed to turn on/off any other switch (or set it to a particular on level in the case of a dimming switch. If the client needs to be able to turn on a remote light without turning on the local load, you would need to install one of the six or eight button switches and program one of the scene buttons for the remote lights.