Lutron Caseta?

[jogentry]

I have been perusing home automation over at reddit and there seems to be an obsession with Lutron Caseta over there. What is it and what is the big deal?

[Steve Q]

Lutron Caseta?

It uses the zigbee protocol. Do a zigbee search on this forum and you will find a lot of discussion.

I just purchased a starter kit. When I get it and test it I will know more.

Steve Q


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[sparkman]

It uses the zigbee protocol. Do a zigbee search on this forum and you will find a lot of discussion.

I just purchased a starter kit. When I get it and test it I will know more.

Steve Q

Hi Steve,

It uses a Lutron proprietary protocol called Clear Connect, not Zigbee.

Cheers
Al

[Steve Q]

Lutron Caseta?

Thanks, but the literature says the hub is supposed to support wink and other zigbee protocols. Isn't "clear connect" one of the many variations of zigbee? I am mainly interested in using it with HomeKit. I'll let you know.

Steve Q


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[sparkman]

Thanks, but the literature says the hub is supposed to support wink and other zigbee protocols. I am mainly interested in using it with HomeKit. I'll let you know.

Steve Q

Did you get the Lutron Smart Bridge PRO (http://www.casetawireless.com/Pages/ProProducts.aspx)? Apparently the Pro version has better integration capabilities. The Lutron plugin available for HS does require the Pro bridge: https://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=180923.

Cheers
Al

[Steve Q]

I assume the kit comes with the Smart Bridge Pro because it says it works with wink and other products including apple HomeKit and Alexa.

I saw that the Lutron HS3 plugin works only with the Pro. I will evaluate the plugin, but the $69 price tag is a bit much. I will probably wait until it or some other plugin that works with a variety of hubs is available.

The technology is moving very fast and there are now some big players involved. I am going to follow the path that Apple creates. They have the most to gain (and lose if they are wrong) so I think they will make decisions that are in the best interests of their users. I hope Homeseer recognizes that HS3 "must" work with HomeKit if they want to really grow their market. The Apple Watch with HomeKit is poised to make a huge impact on home automation. People buying the Apple watch are eager to use it to control everything!

Steve Q


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[Steve Q]

Lutron Caseta?

Ok, I got the Lutron Caseta starter kit from Amazon. It did not come with the pro version of the hub. Nowhere in the labeling does it mention the pro version of the hub. I guess that is why it was on sale![emoji45].

I set up and installed the iOS app, hub, light switch and remote. Setup was extremely easy and everything worked on the first try. I then paired the hub with Apple HomeKit. It was immediately accepted by HomeKit and I was able to fully control the Lutron light switch from my iPhone and iPad. Next I used the IFTTT app and created 2 applets and a Virtual HS3 device to allow HS3 to turn On/Off the Lutron light switch. And finally, I added the Lutron Skill to the Amazon Echo to give me voice control of the switch. So I have lots of options.

The weak link here is HS3 control of the switch via IFTTT. It is slow and unpredictable; but it does work. For many lighting situations, the IFTTT approach is fine. Lights on at dusk or at a particular time of day will work fine via IFTTT. But lights on when motion is detected is not going to work very well with IFTTT.

I did not try the Lutron HS3 plugin. It says it only works with the Lutron pro hub and I am not willing to pay $60 for it.

I really like the Lutron dimmer switch and the accessory remote. It works flawlessly with incandescent lights. Love the auto ramp up and ramp down. I have not tried it with LED bulbs. Instant control via the iPhone is also very nice and dim works perfectly. The Lutron switch itself is fairly small and should fit nicely in almost any type of electrical box.

Voice control via Alexa is outstanding. I discovered that "Alexa, Light 1 ON 40%" will immediately ramp up the light to 40%, which is actually easier than adjusting it by holding the button on the light switch itself. Impressive!

Steve Q



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[Mountainman]

I am interested in Lutron Caseta, too. Their latest wireless protocol appears to be far more robust than Z-Wave. I skimmed their documentation as to why they invented their own protocol. It's because of the shortcomings of the 'standards'.

However I see mainly light control hardware and not appliance control (makes sense if they are a lighting company). It would be nice if they offered a 15 amp switch that could switch any type of load.

Please keep the comments coming.

[jogentry]

I am interested in Lutron Caseta, too. Their latest wireless protocol appears to be far more robust than Z-Wave. I skimmed their documentation as to why they invented their own protocol. It's because of the shortcomings of the 'standards'.

However I see mainly light control hardware and not appliance control (makes sense if they are a lighting company). It would be nice if they offered a 15 amp switch that could switch any type of load.

Please keep the comments coming.

This was the vibe I was getting at reddit. It was almost like "zwave isn't good enough or reliable enough". I smiled and thought to myself you guys obviously don't know what you're missing with the ZNET.

I have a dumb follow up question. I thought I read something that said Lutron Caseta had something to do with RA2. Or maybe that was in the same thread as the people saying zwave isn't good enough. What is RA2?

[sparkman]

This was the vibe I was getting at reddit. It was almost like "zwave isn't good enough or reliable enough". I smiled and thought to myself you guys obviously don't know what you're missing with the ZNET.

I have a dumb follow up question. I thought I read something that said Lutron Caseta had something to do with RA2. Or maybe that was in the same thread as the people saying zwave isn't good enough. What is RA2?

I think the main reason it is getting kudos over there is because it has a number of options if no neutral is available. RA2 is a higher end system that uses the same underlying protocol, but is not compatible. Caseta has a 50 device limit which you can exceed with multiple hubs/interfaces. RA2 does not have that limit but it's also more expensive. There was a recent thread at cocoontech.com discussing pros and cons of each one: http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/2...a-or-radio-ra/

Cheers
Al

[Steve Q]

Lutron Caseta?

Years ago I replaced a failed x10 dimmer switch with a manual dimmer slide switch. I have always liked that dimmer even though it is no longer controlled by HS. So I just replaced it with the Lutron Caseta dimmer switch. When I took the old switch out I discovered it was also a Lutron switch that I had installed years ago. Ironic!

Well, I really like the new Lutron Caseta switch and the Pico remote. It is really nice, extremely smooth and easy to use.

My issue now is how to control it with HS3. I am using IFTTT with HS3. This works but it is very unpredictable. I have other things that are triggered by IFTTT and they work much better. I'm not sure why the Lutron Caseta switch responds so poorly to HS3.

I use an HS3 virtual device named Lutron switch 1 code V25 ref 22 configured ON =100 OFF =0 manually triggered. And I have 2 IFTTT applets that are triggered by the HS3 virtual device to send ON and OFF to the Lutron app which relays the commands to the Lutron hub.

Is this the best way to do it?

Steve Q


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