I get a lot of these - vnet, Litetouch, etc. Kind of breaks my heart. Does anyone know this system well enough to suggest inexpensive ways to replace existing system ... just to get necessities working again, like lights? From area code, looks like he's in Montana, but I'll find out soon enough.

Thanks.

My buddy put a Colorado v net In his new home several years ago

. Everything worked fine ...then the unit started powering down.. I mean the panels .. would not come back on.. tec said to go stairs hit reset .. that worked ..anyways he got killed in a auto accident last August and I'm living in the home .

The family has me watching over home till they decided on selling it..
So everyone I have called.. or that has came out .. to look says to replace it.. with a whole new system.. 65000.00 to 85000.00 Dollars..they don't even want to try to fix it.. there is lots of spare parts For this system..so I can come in the home and hit any light switch.. but two .. and lights come on..

the stereo doesn't work.. hit reset on the unit panels come on but they don't control the lights.. I play around on them .. then a few days they power down..so my question is .. is there any support any where for this system?? I just want to help His mom get this working again

Need to let the gentleman know, this system has been gone a very long time ago. There are no parts, support, or anything else available anywhere. And even if he does have some spare parts, he would have to find that rare person that is familiar with that system. There were not many and most are not around anymore.

So everyone is talking to, saying to replace it, are spot on.

There is a LOT of info missing to know what to recommend (even you know this one Julie). I'm guessing by the $65k-$85k quotes that this is NOT a small house by any means and the installation was very extensive. Probably to big and to many loads for something simple like Lutron Caseta to replace it.
If the $65k is way to much to handle, I might suggest a quote from an electrician to pull it out and flip everything to manual control. Still probably a lot of work and having to pull new lines to places but I would think it would be less than 1/2 or even 1/4 the $65k quote.

And as far as music goes. Next owner's money pit to worry about. Otherwise just have him get a SONOS 1,3,5 and enjoy. Hopefully it has a wireless network that was done at least 1/2 OK.

Taking over a failed system with no available parts is a very risky business model. Then you are on the hook for the systems operation, you might get lucky. But how likely is this?? Then what happens to one's reputation when thing go south again.

Even if he has a shipping container of spare parts hidden in a bomb shelter in the basement of the home, who is going to know what to do with them? And even if you find a tech that remembers the hardware, it's probably not going to be a simple change out some parts, some programming will be needed. But where will you find the software is gone. Even if you can find it, it probably won't run on new laptops. And even if it might, where will you find a tech that can still remember how to program it.

Did Vnet actually have their own lighting hardware?

I cant believe anyone competent would actually try to bandaid back together the VNet system at this point. Someone needs to look at the home and figure out what really needs to be upgraded and what can be integrated into a new system.

They did. It was a weird hybrid of centralized panels and localized lighting. In way was really smart. Instead of having big panels that each did something like 32 loads, they had small one or two dimmer module sized cans that did maybe 8 loads. The idea was locate these in places like walk in closets or other areas around the house to save on wiring. Then I believe all the localized panels connected to the network. Keypads ran on cat. Don't remember if they were POE or went to some sort of proprietary hub.

We met with the rep once and got the pitch. Some features were ahead of other products on the market, but it all had this half asssed unfinished feel. One thing I remember that was interesting was their audio was sort of an improved abus system. Their touch panels had amplifiers in them. But they did require having some real power source (not cat 5) to run them. The idea was, wire every room for speakers and touch screen. Want audio in a room, buy a touch screen. Don't want it in a room right now, buy nothing.

At average cost of ~$400-$500 per dimmer/keypad, plus few grand to run data/cat back to hub, $65,000-$80,000 is a lot of switches!

If house is that large, $80k to get the house working for pending sale is not that much in a grand scheme of things.

Even if he could find someone in Colorado to come out and patch the system, it would still cost at least $10k in travel/logging costs, there would be no guarantees, and if next homeowner found out about it, he could go after previous owner for 'hiding' existing issues.

That system needs to go and get replaced with something current -- period.

I already told him there's no use in even thinking about vnet. So I was curious from those who know the vnet architecture what the repeal-and-replace option might be -- either to get a little automation back or at the very least to make all the light switches work properly.

Is the electrical done in traditional fashion, with power to switch and load ... or is it just LV to the switch?

Presumably the guys who took a look were giving him the most economical option at $65k plus.

I already know the best options for a LiteTouch replacement. Don't know anything about Vnet options.

The silly thing is, the VNet system is likely failing due to less than a hundred dollars worth of heat-fatigued electrolytic capacitors. I'd bet a competent tech could recap the PSU and main board of the primary controller and the system would function for another 6--10 years.

The manufacturers in our industry are KILlING us integrators and KILLING the future of the integration business by manufacturing mission-critical componentry with KNOWN and PREDICTABLE failure points (i.e electrolytics) and then disappearing (or just discontinuing product lines) with no replacement parts or service for those who purchase their products.

I have a couple of clients who have already vowed, "never again," based solely on the cost of replacing 10 year old systems that worked perfectly for years but are now failing and cannot be cost-effectively repaired because manufacturers have abandoned my company and my clients.

It's embarrassing. It's borderline criminal behavior, IMHO.

And it is easy to spec the wrong capacitor for the application. There is more to this than raw capacitance and voltage. This error can be made by the design engineer or a purchase agent who became a hero by shaving a cent or two off the capacitor cost.

I came across this board level repair service.

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Before and after Russound bought Colorado vNet, I looked at the line, but came away feeling a little queasy. To me, it seemed overly complex, stale technology.

I think that replacing the system would be the best long term approach. Unfortunately, I don't think that there will be much "payback" to the current owners for the $65K investment. It's a difficult position. Maybe Russound can offer some level of support -- if only to give a lead.

Even a home on this scale will be renovated by the new owner. Properly negotiated, I think that the selling price could be lowered (somewhat) as an accommodation for the limping system. The point being that the ultimate cost to the current and new owners will be lower if the system is replaced as part of the renovations. Plus, the new owners will have the system that they want, not something that "came with the house".

Russound?
vNet was bought & sold 1/2 dozen times during the last decade. From what I remember, Russound only had the intellectual property a short time (maybe a year?), then sold it. Never having touched the platform once.
So Russound would be the least company that could possibly offer any support or advice for this.


By the way, the latest owners have named it 3vNet and have a facebook page. Where they are offering support for older systems. YMMV.

If they are selling it i assume they don't want to dump a ton of money into it. I would replace any automation parts (thermostats, sprinklers etc) with stand alone systems.

Sonos for music. Salvage any multizone amps you can to save money.

Scale the rooms with TV's back to just a cable or satellite box and use the OEM remote. As an example i can control a sony AVR, LG Plasma and my cable box with the xfinity remote.

If the lighting is centralized then replace it with Lutron Radio Ra. If its not centralized then replace it with cheap dimmers and switches.

Julie, Think about Vnet like mini Lutron or Vantage panels that hold one or two dimming modules. (I don't remember the actual load sizes they came in). These mini panels were designed to be distributed around the house. So if you had 8 loads in an area, the idea was to have only 1 or 2 home runs of romex going back to the breaker panel, then the localized dimming panel was hidden in a closet or somewhere and the loads went to it. Of course, you could put all of the lighting panels in one central place, and if they did, it would be better for the current owner.

From what I remember, the multizone amps were the touch screens in each room.
You may have been able to use some other audio system, which given the owners luck is probably B&K.

burn the house down and start over... problem solved.