I'm doing this story on RF lighting. Turns out, according to dealers, the RF technology might have less importance than the appeal of the keypads. I know if it were up to me I would have chosen my security system based on the looks of the keypad (why are they all so awful?)

Curious about dealer opinions: do your customers care more about aesthetics than anything else?

There are some aesthetically appealing keypads. I have this one for security.

[Link: security.honeywell.com]

They also have single gang decor keypads strictly for lighting. If your just looking to control a single room like the living room it would be a good bit cheaper to get an IR controlled switch from lutron or commercial electric. This way you wont have to integrate it with the alarm and you can teach a learning universal remote to control it. This way when your watching tv, or any time for that matter you can turn the lights on and off with the HT remote. Even though you can do this with x-10 and an ir-543 its easier and more cost effective doing it this way. Crestron and all the big time automation companies also make an attractive keypad.

The only reason any of my clients do lighting systems is aesthetics. Wiz bang features such as astronomical time clocks ( outside of the Orthodox Jewish lcommunity ) and conditional logic are not what drive these sales. When you are spending in excess of 7 figures on decoration you want your walls as elegant as possible. We recently did the lighting system for a famous individual. His staff wanted Crestron lighting because it was less expensive. When La Decorateura saw the keypads she had coniptions. Out went the less expensive Crestron system for the more elegant keypads available from Lutron. Ultimately the client will make use of the wiz bang features but these are not why a lighting system is sold. A 200k home might put up with 6 or 7 gang boxes full of dimmers. A high end home will not.


Alan

Our customers, like Alan's, are doing lighting control for the asthetic aspects as well. Removing 'wall acne' seems to be very important to this caliber of customer. The simplicity of use is also important. I am working on several projects at the moment that contain lighting control and the one common item is that all of the keypads need to be between 4 and 8 buttons. No more, no less. The large majority are 8 button, as the customer's seem to find the look very pleasing. We use Crestron and Lite Touch for lighting control. I personally prefer the look of the Lite Touch keypads over the Crestron CNX series keypads but every single customer we have offered the option to has chosen the Crestron keypads. I know you are looking for input on RF based lighting, Julie. I wish I could offer more input on that area but other than the occasional Radio RA system, we do very little RF based lighting. I believe that will change in the future. However, the principal for a RF based system is the retro-fit market and in that situation we still have to contend with multi-gang boxes in most rooms. My opinion is that RF based systems can be a good 'afterthought' item but they dont really offer a great deal in the way of asthetics. Wall acne is still wall acne, even if it offers greater functionality than the standard wall switch.

Oftentimes, the choice doesn't even get to the customer... Like Alan said, the decorator/designer frequently holds veto power, and doesn't even ask...

I agree. it is amazing how much power the designer has over the client. You can be standing in the most heated argument between a husband and wife over some issues with their building works. In walks the designer and says, it will be done like x or y. Both husband and wife retreat into their shells and the issue is resolved. Got to love it!

In the cases where the designer has held veto power we give the designer the choice of color ONLY. My experience is that most ID's dont want to know about the technology or types of keypads. They just want to know if the lighting can be set to show off various pieces of furniture or art or rugs or whatever. Tell them 'yes' and it all seems to go well. I do, from time to time, have to remind certain ID's that the client hired us, not them. We will 'give in' to the designer up to the point where the decisions being made start to affect the performance of the system. That is where we draw the line. A polite reminder that we were hired by the client to install a high-end integrated system for entertainment and luxury purposes seems to 'settle' the ID down some.

Sometimes, when selling against a competitor, the only item that makes a difference between systems (in the eyes of the customer and interior designer) is the keypad look. To most clients, most of the technical details of lighting system "A" vs lighting system "B" is just noise to the client, that includes RF. RF is a means to an end.

Stating the obvious, keypad style, keypad location (work/traffic flow) as well as lighting system design (i.e. grouping of loads/scences ...etc.) are the most important attributes to a successful implementation.

Most of the customers I have dealt with over the years do tend to have aesthetics up near the top of the list, whether it be regards lighting controls, audio controls, intercom stations or the lowly central vacuum outlets.

Nothing uglier than a big old intercom station up at eye level. Same goes for lighting controls, etc, etc.

Dirte apparently likes the look of the Honeywell LCD control from ADI. While I think it's just another garish wall wart, with a lame display. I wouldn't want it on MY wall......

To each his/her own.

an intercom station at knee level.

Oh hell yeah! I've actually seen it done.

There was a first floor addition and the new stairs passed right by the existing intercom (knee level as you passed it walking up the stairs). Obviously nobody thought to move it at the time. When i saw it, it was about 2 years later.

Simon.

I think aesthetics is the number one priority because it stands out most in clients perception. They may or may not be able to perceive differences in sound quality, but they certainly notice speakers and keypads that aren't level or equipment with wires hanging out.

Nope, that's not ugly, that's good planning.....

I did a house many years back that actually had an intercom station at about 36" (high knees....lol).

Why?

The mother of all those little tykes knew that they couldn't reach the intercom station if it were up at the light switch height, or worse, higher.

Hey. It was HER house.....

RF is merely a means to an end... a solution when pulling wire will require too much additional effort and/or monopolize the budget.

Systems like Radio Ra that leave the dimmers in wallboxes in the living space are generally NOT acceptable if they know about the other options up front.

In the cases of people stepping up to their first fine home from a more modest home, many times the homeowners regret not having someone like us to let them know that they COULD HAVE re-located all of the dimming to a panel.


I try to only keep only ONE OE security KP in the home...
On a wall somewhere in the master suite, (walk-in closets and dressing areas are great) and only for the emergency use as a failsafe to keep everyone safe from liability issues that may arise from a potential failure of the security/control system interface. Otherwise, the touchscreens control security as well as everything else.


YES!!!
Aesthetics are the #1 concern...

Function (meaning interface and control) and "lifestyle enhancement" are a distant second, and the performance/technical aspects of the audio and video are so far down the list, they hardly count at all...

As far as audio and video electronics, we just use good stuff to coddle our own egos and maintain some level of integrity to our hi-fi roots.

Back to lights, as long as the controls are attractive and the interface can be easily understood, the only real concern is if the lights come on, go off, and dim when they are programmed to do so.

It doesn't really matter to the client whether the system communicates to the remotely located keypads and dimmers via a hardwired or RF connection, it only matters to the person designing the job and the people executing that design.

Two words: In-Wall Speakers