Hi all,

I am very close to purchasing some PCS switches and came accross this Lightolier Compose system. I don't completely understand it, but they seem to say they have better noise rejection.

Does anyone know?

Thanks,
Rob

Rob,

I have checked this system out and it is very nice. The hart of this system, and why they make the claim to have better noise rejection is the firewall. What you do is take each wire at your main breaker panel, that goes to a circuit you want to use for control and disconnect it from the breaker. You then take this wire route and connect it into Lightolier panel. This new panel is mounted on the wall next to your current breaker panel. You then run a new power wire from the old breaker (where the circuit was) to the their panel for power. You need to do this for every circuit you want to control devices on.

What this system does is filter noise and manage signal traffic on this wiring. I does a great job by taking control of each circuit individually. It is a very nice system but a bit pricey when you consider all involved with the installation. This install I would not highly recommend to the do it yourselfer. Their 8-circuit panel can be had around $600 and this is a bargain compared to list price. One interesting thing is their 6 button transmitter prices, they are selling their transmitter, the same one that is sold as a KeyPadLinc ($85) for $200. When I asked them about the price discrepancy they justified the increase due to their firmware.

All said, I really liked the system and if money were no object I might like it more but at the same time I would also start looking at some CeBus and hardwired systems.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

I have checked out the 'Compose' System from Lightolier. WOW with the firewall this thing is actually bulletproof! We hooke up on of those infamous Wireless Intercoms inside the firewall and while the call button was pressed X-10 signals still got through to the LOL (lightolier) Controls! While the X-10 Plugin Modules just ignored the signal. The Firewall will not repeat any X-10 signal that does not begin with a house code and a room (Unit) code, so your normal X-10 dims will be rejected and must be xmitted with the start codes. Even without the firewall this system ROCKS!
The CP Masters control up to 9 CP dimmers using the same 'Room' code as the master. The CM Masters are like Macro Controllers with toggle and Macro capabilities. The CI Dimmers are individual dimmers used for a single lamp not meant to be part of the scene. All of the devices are 2-way and will acknowledge status requests!
This all sounds confusing but the different approach they took actually works great. It is a bit on the upscale side but for LOOK, FEEL, and RELIABLITY it is Awsome. You can even get custom engraving for the masters!
One last thing, We are using the CP Masters with the Stargate and Homebase (only units tested so far) to initiate macros. They respond to the Preset dim commands. When you press a button they respond with a start code and preset dim. The HB and Stargate can read this and initiate a Macro!!

Ciao fer Niao
Fixxit