HCA Flavors

HCA Limited

HCA 8 is available in different, what we call, flavors. Each one has different capabilities. Depending upon your needs today and your anticipated needs tomorrow, select the flavor that makes the most sense to you.

I have used HCA for years and amazingly it continues to improve with each release. The developers at HCA have managed to keep up with cutting-edge technology such as UPB and Insteon while maintaining a straight-forward, easy to use automation interface without sacrificing the power and flexibility advanced users need. With proven reliability, HCA is truly a "set it and forget it" application that does all you need and more.

--- John G

This chart shows what features are available in which flavor.

Don't confuse what we call flavors with versions! Each time we release a new version of HCA, we release it in all flavors. For example, if we fix a bug in some core feature of HCA - a feature found in all flavors - we update all flavors of HCA. So you will never see a HCA 8.1 Standard and a 8.2 Pro on our web site. You will see the same version number for each flavor. Information on the current version of HCA is available here.

Supported Automation Interfaces

	Limited	Standard	Plus	Professional
UPB			X	X
Insteon		X	X	X
Global Cache G-100		X	X	X
CM11	X	X	X	X
Magic Module			X	X
Marrick Interfaces	X	X	X	X
Wireless interfaces		X	X	X
SmartHome HouseLinc	yes without IR	X	X	X
SmartHome IRLinc		X	X	X
SmartHome USB and serial PowerLinc	X	X	X	X
SmartHome USB and serial PowerLinc Controller	X	X	X	X
Lightolier Compose Protocol				X
Lightolier Firewall download				X

Supported hardware

	Limited	Standard	Plus	Professional
PCS Switches & Lighting Modules		X	X	X
UPB Devices		X	X	X
Insteon Devices		X	X	X
Lightolier Controls CI and CP				X
Leviton X10 switches and modules	X	X	X	X
X10-Pro switches and modules		X	X	X
RCS X10 Thermostats			X	X
SmartHome SwitchLinc & LampLinc		X	X	X
SmartHome TempLinc		X	X	X
X10USA switches and modules	X	X	X	X
Davis Instruments Weather Station			X	X
METAR weather data			X	X
PCS & SwitchLinc Scene programming			X	X

HCA Core Features

	Limited	Standard	Plus	Professional
Advanced Computation Elements		X	X	X
Design checker	X	X	X	X
Download to CM11		X	X	X
Download to Magic Module			X	X
Download to 1132CU PowerLinc Controller		X	X	X
Download to HouseLinc		X	X	X
Display backgrounds		X	X	X
Logging	X	X	X	X
Time based Schedules	X	X	X	X
VBA interface			X	X
Visual Programmer	X	X	X	X
Visual Scheduler	X	X	X	X
Web interface			X	X
HCA-IP Product *			X	X
Wizards	X	X	X	X

* The HCA-IP components are 3rd party add-ons. See the HCA-IP page for complete information.

The feature chart is a very compact representation of what's what in HCA. This may help you interpret the chart. If you would like more information on a feature, please see the HCA manual and appendix. References are given to the chapter if possible. The HCA User Guide and Appendixes are available here

	UPB If checked, Universal Powerline Bus (UPB) devices, controllers, and UPB powerline interfaces are supported. See Appendix 14.
	Insteon If checked, Insteon devices, controllers, and the Insteon powerline interfaces are supported. See Appendix 15.
	CM11 If checked, the CM11 can be selected in the hardware setup and used as the X10 interface. See Appendix 2.
	Magic Module If checked, the Elk Products Magic Module and all the other family of products can be used with HCA. See Appendix 3.
	Marrick Interfaces If checked, a11 of the X10 interfaces from Marrick Ltd. are supported. This includes the LynX-10, LynX-10PLC, and LynXPORT products. See Appendix 6.
	Wireless Interfaces If checked, the W800RF32 and the MR26 can be selected as a hardware interface. See Appendix 12.
	SmartHome HouseLinc & IRLinc If checked, the HouseLinc and IRLinc can be selected in the hardware setup and used as an IR and/or X10 interface. See Appendix 5.
	SmartHome USB and serial PowerLinc If checked, the SmartHome PowerLinc serial or USB version can be used as the X10 interface. See Appendix 5.
	SmartHome USB and serial PowerLinc Controller If checked, the SmartHome PowerLinc Controller serial or USB version can be used as the X10 interface and for download. See Appendix 5.
	Lightolier Compose Protocol If checked, HCA can communicate with Lightolier Controls Keypads and switches using the Compose Protocol. See Appendix 4.
	Lightolier Firewall download If checked, HCA can assemble and download HCA schedules to the Lightolier Compose PLC Firewall. See Appendix 4.

	PCS switches and lighting modules If checked, these switches and modules are supported. See the PCS info .
	Lightolier Controls CI and CP If checked, these switches are supported. See the Lightolier info and Appendix 4.
	Leviton X10 switches and modules If checked, these switches and modules are supported.
	X10-Pro switches and modules If checked, these switches and modules are supported.
	RCS X10 Thermostats If checked, the thermostats available from RCS and Elk Products are supported. See the RCS info and Appendix 9.
	SmartHome SwitchLinc, LampLinc, and TempLinc If checked, these SmartHome devices are supported. See the SmartHome info and Appendix 8.
	Davis Instruments Weather stations If checked, weather stations from Davis Instruments are supported. See the Davis Instruments info and Appendix 10.
	METAR weather data If checked, reading weather data from the internet is supported.
	PCS and SwitchLinc Scene Programming If checked, HCA can send the appropriate commands to define scenes in the switch memory. See Appendix 8.

	Advanced Computation elements If checked, the Compute and ComputeTest elements are supported. See Appendix 11.
	Design checker If checked, the background design checker is available. See User Guide chapter 11.
	Download to the CM11 If checked, HCA can generate the CM11 memory image for download of schedules. See Appendixes 2 and 7.

	Download to the Magic Module If checked, HCA can generate the Magic Module memory image for download of schedules and programs. See Appendixes 3 and 7.
	Download to the PowerLinc Controller If checked, HCA can generate the PowerLinc Controller memory image for download of schedules and programs. See Appendixes 5 and 7.
	Download to the HouseLinc If checked, HCA can generate the HouseLinc memory image for download of schedules and programs. See Appendixes 5 and 7.
	Floorplan Backgrounds If checked, DXF and Picture files can be used as floor backgrounds. See User Guide chapter 4.
	Logging If checked, the primary and secondary logs are available for capturing all powerline traffic and program actions. See User Guide chapter 11.
	Time based schedules If checked, time based scheduling is available. See User Guide chapter 6.
	VBA Interface If checked, HCA can be controlled by VBA programs. See Appendix 13.
	Visual Programmer If checked, the graphical method for constructing programs is available. See User Guide chapter 9.
	Visual Scheduler If checked, the graphical method of setting up schedules is available. See User Guide chapter 7.
	Web interface If checked, there is a way to access HCA from the internet. (See here)
	Wizards If checked, multi-step wizards are available to guide you though complex procedures. See User guide chapter 1.