Savant, Control-4 or Crestron integration with C-Bus

I'm looking at some of the higher end HA gear - thinking the base house will be wired with C-Bus but will use Control-4, Savant or Crestron for the control system.

Does anyone have any experience with the above - any hints or tips / questions to be asking the installer.

A few things come to mind, e.g.

- whether to go with the Control-4/Savant/Crestron proprietary integration with devices or try and do everything possible through C-Bus - any advice on which way to go for this would be appreciated
- any gotchas - e.g. is there anything that a Wiser 2 can control through C-Bus that Control-4/Savant/Crestron couldn't do?

Would probably prefer to just do a Wiser 2 (definitely much cheaper), shame the UI is not as slick as some of the other options and doesn't do everything the other options are capable of.

All advice welcome!

 

It really depends what you are trying to do here.... if it's just for C-Bus, you're probably better off with a Wiser or a Translink controller.

If you're trying to integrate a whole house system with complicated AV, HVAC, security, universal remotes, etc. then you will need a full system like you've mentioned.

I've had good results with http://rticorp.com too....

 

HVAC and Split System Air conditioners

if your home has a split system air conditioning you should consider the Airtopia Enhanced Climate Control. Infrared controlled A/C's have traditionally been to hard for automation systems to integrate with. Now whichever integrator or automation system you decide to use, Airtopia will provide simple integration and maximium control. Integration is available on all respected automation platforms including Control4, C-Bus Savant, Crestron and more recently RTI. You can even control it from outside your home.

 

It also depends on how DIY you want it. Do you want to do most of the config. work yourself and maintain control over the system?

What about special unique devices that may not have drivers for them for the system you choose - can you write your own

My preference is Charmed Quark CQC for the above reasons. It gives me a seamless experience across TV, HVAC, Home theatre, alarm, lights and anything else I need (e.g., I have a PLC, solar inverters, electric fence all specific to my house integrated as well)

Is two-way comms important - do you need to know the state of you gear? Some will only send a command and have no idea what state the connected system is in. Some will just do IR only which can be dodgy at times.

Lots of things to consider.

Mick

 

Bringing an old thread here back to life. But it seemed to be the appropriate place for my question. I'm currently looking at a new construction in Australia and deciding between Control4 and CBUS for Home Automation. Home will otherwise be wired with Unify switches and access points.

CBUS has all the advantages of local support, high quality hardware and great wall plates and years of experience etc. But, at least from what I can tell (and I'm very happy to be corrected) the Control4 software control system seems to be a step ahead of the CBUS Wiser 2 software which doesn't seem to have received as much love from Schneider of late.

So the options I have:

1. Complete CBUS system with Wiser 2 control
2. Complete Control4 system including their lighting control
3. CBUS wiring and lighting hardware and Control4 for software control and other integrations

With option 3 I am concerned if I have any problems I find myself in a situation where one tech points to the other tech and says its not my issue and vice versa.

The outcomes which I'm trying to achieve:

a. Automated lighting control and scenes. There are a lot of lights inside and also outside and couldn't possibly control each individually
b. Electronic lock control for the external entry doors and a video intercom at the main entry
c. Basic media integration. I use an appletv to stream most media. If possible also the ability to make use of an enormous library of MP3s which are stored locally. Simple multi-room audio. Don't require multi-room video
d. Blind/shade control
e. Specifying a Mitsubishi VRF HVAC system. Mitsubishi has a pretty good wifi control app. A bonus but not essential would be integration of the HVAC with the main automation control system
f. Integration with the security system. Ness M1 with Hikvision IP cameras is what has been recommended but can look at alternatives if better integration
g. Integration with keypad and RFID access control on the external doors
h. Away/Home features
i. Remote viewing of camera and security event alerts
j. User adjustable settings. Not the whole thing but little tweaks to lighting scenes for example or which physical buttons control what
k. Price is a secondary consideration. Reliability and user friendliness rank first

Not wanting to start any arguments. Just looking for some genuine (biased or somewhat unbiased) advice from people in the community that have experience with both systems and perhaps experience with a hybrid CBUS/Control4 system.

Thanks in advance. And sorry if this has already been answered a 1000 times before - please point me in that direction if so.

 

Hi Nick, thanks for the reply. I didn't realise 5500SHAC was the newer device. Wiser 3?

I'll have a look into it further. Will also take a look at the unifi cameras. Thank you again.

EDIT - After Nick's advice and having a look around with 5500SHAC as the search query it seems this newer device was only released last year and has also caused a bit of confusion to quite a few people as well as me. So I don't feel quite as stupid now comparing everything to Wiser 2 and thinking that was the current offering.

 

This attachment I have come across might be useful for others - typical residential application of the new controller

 

Hi Beachlife
what did you end up doing with your project, it is a year on and i would have through it would be completed by now
I am in the same situation and interest on how you ended up

 

Hey ZZZ, construction not finished yet.

I’ve ended up with the following:

- CBUS cabling, NAC, relays, switches, sensors, etc
- Ubiquiti devices WAN/LAN
- Fiber between switches
- CAT8 to each device / end point keeping runs short
- Coolmaster net for VRF HVAC
- NESS M1 for security
- 2N keypads and intercoms with the commander system
- Hikvision CCTV
- Appletv and Sonos for media
- Smartvoice (Aussie company) for voice control using Alexa devices
- Savant sitting on top for integrated automation. I think unfortunately the Schneider/Clipsal automation integration control is still lacking from a user interface perspective compared to Control 4, Savant, Creston etc

Overkill. Yes. And don’t ask me how much it is costing.

 

Awesome!
I know how hard it is to build, i noticed you when with savant and not control 4 any particular reason for choosing them

 

No real reason other than after my desktop research I was able to play with a Savant system in person and liked it and I needed at that stage to get moving with decisions.