I am about to start construction on a home later this month. I have never implemented any smart system in my current condo, so am very excited to finally have a system in my new place. I found the guy I want to go with for my pre-wire of the home who will also do the alarm system. He would like to put together/install my entire smart system, but I know this will be very costly from a labor stand point. From some conversations with him and other installers, I discovered that different hubs can be integrated together as primary or secondary. From my research, I would like to be on the Z Wave system, but I like the keypads that go on the wall to control multiple scenes/keep the wall clean from 5 switches to control a room.
I like the look of the Insteon dimmer switches/6 & 8 button keypads. I know that I will just have the electrician keep some switches in a closet/basement where I know I will place keypads. My thought would be to integrate the Insteon System to control all lighting function with Vera to control other Z-wave functions (locks, garage, sprinkler system, thermastat). My questions to the community are:
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What does it mean exactly to have one item be primary and secondary? From reading other posts, I take it that if I made Vera Primary & Insteon Secondary, I would send the event (Turn off all lights) to Vera which would then communicate that down to Insteon. Any command sent to Insteon would not make its way back to Vera.
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If you had to choose the primary and secondary, would you go with Insteon being primary and Vera being secondary? I’d imagine that 90% of my daily smart home use is to control lighting, i’d want to make sure lighting is on a stable system that is reliable and responsive
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How difficult is it to integrate the two system? I don’t have any experience in smart systems, but I am capable of figuring out the solution. As with all construction budgets, I decided to blow mine out of the water. Of the places where I can contribute my time to help save some money, I figured the smart system is place to go. Plus, I want to keep the system DIY as problems arise, I don’t want to continuously call someone to come out to fix.
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For those of you have that have combined systems, is there a different way you wish you would have gone? I haven’t bought any hardware yet and just trying to figure it out on paper before I start buying.