[Link: reddit.com]

I can't imagine this is going to end well.

If nothing else goes wrong, the heat thrown off by all of those controlled switches could cause issues in a small closet.

Regardless of the brand, this whole approach is wrong. Power should go from fixture to fixture and wall switches are only used for control and can be a separate low voltage network. Sure, this approach may seem more familiar to traditionally trained electricians, but the approach is a waste of copper.

A smart dimmer switch is useful for retrofits where the walls are finished and traditional wiring is already in place.

I ran into the same thing 10 years ago, except at that time it was Leviton DHC lighting (X10 based).  Homeowner and Electrician thought it was a god idea...

Last I heard the homeowner's lost the house to the bank and the bank was trying to get the lighting working well enough to sell the house.

I wish his C4 guy was one of my competitors....

Scary thing is how did they become C4 dealers????? I guess anybody's PO is good, who cares about ability or knowledge!

We took over a home (bought from a bank) with similar setup except there were 5 locations like this in the house. Each had anywhere from one to five banks of 8 gang j boxes filled with X-10 and Leviton Powerline BS.

We replaced it all with RA2. Works fine.

Paul, I know you were laughing inside when you saw that picture.

As far as having individual switches do the job, I suppose it would work, but at least mount it all in a recessed cabinet. That is just too much work wiring the wall switches that way, so you might as well put them in the rooms. What a cluster F that is.

If the guy is actually a c4 dealer than he or she is fool
I say if as I have taken over a six figure job that was c4 but the original installer was never c4 certified or a dealer. The job was a cluster f&@k
Also just because your a dealer of any product does not mean your any good.
The majority of our business is take over and rescue

The homeowners son posted the pictures. I read more of the posts, it sounds like C4 dealer is steering him away from this.

"Its my parents house. This is how the Control4 guy proposed wiring it before we decided to try zwave with the same wiring setup. I have seen his work in several other homes and it is solid."

Another Poster-"Your Control4 guy was very misinformed in giving you that information. He should know that zigbee devices don't perform well when clustered like that. The signal gets bounced around from device ton device and becomes extremely unreliable. Control4 will always suggest panelized lighting for this kind of application.

I can't speak about how zwave devices handle this configuration, but it really doesn't seem like it would be a suggested setup. I hope it works out for you"

Son-"He was concerned about the number of switches in that closet, which is what triggered this post. We are going to split them up and shouldn't end up with more than 9 together in the same closet. We will see. I plan to follow up with how all this goes."


I wonder what kind of z-wave they'll use?

The better question is what c4 dealer would ever promote zwave over zigbee. Something is very wrong with this entire situation

The c4 dealer is an idiot, and so is the son.

At least it'll be handsome when finished.

Alternative Facts

"...large house (12k sq) where the owners dont want to spend a fortune on a full lighting control system. I can do this for about $2000"

"Our builder mentioned that when they install control4, they dont recommend putting this many next to each other. Zwave may not have the same problem"

"I don't want a proprietary system that needs a dealer every step of the way. I just want to be able to buy something online and pair it to my hub. "

At least they're listening to advice and going to correct it:
"We are going to move some of these to another area to reduce the total in this one closet. "