Upgrading a Vantage system to HWQS?

I’m looking at a project where the favorite option is upgrading an existing Vantage system to HWQS. The garage/stables system has five dimming panels of it’s own and the main house has probabky double that. The problem is Vantage uses 2 wire keypads so I’d hace to go RF and this is a tough building becuase its completel finished, the garage is a u shape and probably 8k square feet so getting repeaters in ideal location isn’t really possible. I also prefer wired systems and I was amazed to see that the Vantage keypads power and commincate on just two conductors. Anyone have tips that might make this easy.

This is a 12 year old Vantage system with a little lightning damage and while the clients and property managers would prefer going to Lutron I’m thinking I might better serve them by upgrading the Vantage system which means learning that POS. If their KPs were 4 conductors I’d recommend Lutron in a heart beat but upgrading this garage/stables and then potentially the much larger house would be a real PITA.

I'm also certified in Vantage Q-link and Infusion. You will be a lot happier with Lutron.

The big issue is what wire did they use for the keypads? Many Vantage dealers used Cat-5 or worse. Only the first repeater has to be wired. The others can be RF so that should not be an issue. You will still need 4-wire between the RPM panel locations and the processor(s). And you will need to get Ethernet to the processor locations.

I'm currently managing a system with 14 RPM panels and 400 loads. It works pretty smooth. Uploads are slow though (did I mention it is a Lutron system??).

It completely slipped my mind that additional repeaters can simply be wireless despite having talked about this on another job a few weeks ago. I always wire them in new construction and sill wire kypads and dimmers and would wire seeTemps too if they had that capability.

The keypad wires are only 2 wire and that’s my main issue. Three RPM panels are in a 2nd Floor electrical closet which holds the processor and where the first repeater would go, another panel in the basement and the last in a mechanical room off a bedroom. I’ll have to look and see what they ran for their MI link equivelent but I would assume I could find at least cat 6 spares between locations if needed. I’ll also have to look at the main house to see what’s actually going to ne involved there but that’s 2-3 times larger and with shades.

I sent Vantage an email since it would be much easier to just repair the existing system but I told them I had no intention of jumping through hoops to become Vantage dealer so we’ll see if they respond, so far they haven’t. Lutron may be better and I’d definitely make more changing everything to Lutron but that’s no reason to throw out a perfectly fixable system. Of course it is 12years old so it may need a complete overall in a few years anyway in means putting in the better system makes sense. Part of the reason the owners are considering upgrading to Lutron is lack of support and competent dealers in the area to work on it.

If we do upgrade I think I’ll lean towards the din rail panels and modules but I hacen’t touch one of those systems yet.

Any updates on this? I also used to install Vantage and found their centralized systems very good and their wireless systems quite average, but since Legrand took them over, the whole culture seemed to change and they drop who they consider under-performing so I can never trust them again since when we as a professional sell a customer on a system, they depend on us for service and support as well which is not possible if the company doesn't back us up. As such, I would trust Lutron to be around and have parts and support much more than Vantage. Kind of curious if you ever got a response back.

Another thing to consider is that even if you have a working Vantage system, if it is over 5 years old, there is a good chance that it uses the older modules which were not made with LEDs in mind and often don't turn off completely as each load doesn't have relay the way their newer modules do. That's why I've been debating about what to do with smaller older Vantage systems and whether it's cost effective to retrofit them with wall mount modules with QS or Ra2 and use the 16 or 18 awg keypad wires and transformers to use wireless Lutron keypads. I'd much rather deal with Lutron than what's left of Vantage now.

Thank you for your post SparkyCoog,

Unfortunately we do not have an application note for upgrade Vantage systems to HomeWorks QS. We would recommend reaching out to your Local Lutron Representative as they will be able to assist in the process. We do apologize.