Lutron RadioRA 2 (and Caseta) plugin

Posted on
Fri Dec 16, 2016 1:45 pm
dnomode offline
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Joined: Apr 12, 2008
Location: North Georgia

Re: Lutron RadioRA 2 (and Caseta) plugin

Hello everyone,

A friend of mine loves what I have done in my home with Indigo and he wants me to help him automate a home that he is getting built. I am only familiar with Insteon, however he wants to use RadioRA 2 because the builder is willing to install it. However he wants the most reliable light switches possible and is open to Insteon and Z-wave if these would be more reliable.

I'm a little concerned with Insteon because of line noise problems I have every now and then. Its not often (actually very rare) that I have problems and It's not a big deal, however I want him to get the most reliable product.

So I have a few questions, if you guys can please help.

1) How reliable is RadioRA 2?

2) Does RadioRA 2 have problems with line noise

3) Are there other problem that I should be thinking about with RadioRA 2?

4) Which light switches are the most reliable between RadioRA 2, Insteon, and Z-Wave.

5) Is there any lag using this plugin with light switches, or do the devices respond just as fast as any Insteon switch?

Thanks for your help.
Edmond

Posted on
Fri Dec 16, 2016 3:26 pm
FlyingDiver offline
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Location: Southwest Florida, USA

Re: Lutron RadioRA 2 (and Caseta) plugin

1) How reliable is RadioRA 2?


Very. Generally considered to be about the most reliable lighting system that doesn't use dedicated control lines.

2) Does RadioRA 2 have problems with line noise


No. RRA2 uses RF between the repeaters (controllers) and the devices.

3) Are there other problem that I should be thinking about with RadioRA 2?


Problems? Not that I can think of. It's certainly more expensive than Insteon or ZWave, but also more capable.

4) Which light switches are the most reliable between RadioRA 2, Insteon, and Z-Wave.


Same answer as #1.

5) Is there any lag using this plugin with light switches, or do the devices respond just as fast as any Insteon switch?


Keep in mind that, for most things, The RRA2 "connection" between keypads and dimmers does not go through Indigo. So there's no appreciable lag at all. If you do fancy things with Indigo in the middle to inject logic into the connection, you might get some delay. Really depends on what you're actually doing.

I have well over 100 RRA2 devices in my home. Dimmers, Switches, keypads, shades, etc. Most of the time, the keypads control devices directly, but Indigo gets every command sent or received and I can do logic based on those any way I want. I also control the Lutron devices from Insteon keypads or a Harmony remote. Or from my security system motion detectors.

One of the keys to successfully integrating Lutron with a HA system is to let each system do what if does best. Set up all your "scenes" in the Lutron programming. If you want to activate them from Indigo, assign them to a Lutron Phantom button and turn that button on from Indigo. Don't try turn on multiple devices at one time from Indigo, you won't like the results.

joe (aka FlyingDiver)
my plugins: http://forums.indigodomo.com/viewforum.php?f=177

Posted on
Fri Dec 16, 2016 3:51 pm
dnomode offline
Posts: 366
Joined: Apr 12, 2008
Location: North Georgia

Re: Lutron RadioRA 2 (and Caseta) plugin

Wow, Thats awesome. I have never heard of this system before a few days ago. I may look into it for myself as well.

How difficult is it to obtain the programming software. Seems like it may need to be programmed by a licensed installer. We he need to call the builder every time we want something changed?

Can we program it from a mac or is it Windows based?

Thanks
Edmond

Posted on
Fri Dec 16, 2016 3:57 pm
FlyingDiver offline
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Location: Southwest Florida, USA

Re: Lutron RadioRA 2 (and Caseta) plugin

You can get the Essentials level software by just doing their on-line training. Takes 4-6 hours total, as I recall. That works for one main repeater, up to 100 devices, and most products. You need the Inclusive software to go to two main repeaters (up to 200 devices) and a few specialty devices. That requires a 3 day training class at one of Lutron's locations. I think it was $600 for the class. Considering that included the hotel and most meals those days I thought it was pretty reasonable.

And, to be honest, there are ways to get the Inclusive software without the training. ;)

It is Windows only. Most of the time I run it in Parallels. There are a few situations where the Parallels install doesn't work and I have to boot directly into Windows (Boot Camp). I think that's primarily when I'm activating new devices. Updating the programming almost always works in Parallels.

joe (aka FlyingDiver)
my plugins: http://forums.indigodomo.com/viewforum.php?f=177

Posted on
Fri Dec 16, 2016 3:59 pm
RatRanch offline
Posts: 68
Joined: Sep 25, 2013

Re: Lutron RadioRA 2 (and Caseta) plugin

dnomode wrote:
Wow, Thats awesome. I have never heard of this system before a few days ago. I may look into it for myself as well.

How difficult is it to obtain the programming software. Seems like it may need to be programmed by a licensed installer. We he need to call the builder every time we want something changed?

Can we program it from a mac or is it Windows based?

Thanks
Edmond


You can get access to the Essentials programming software (good for installations having up to 100 devices) by completing some online training and passing an online test. It only takes a few hours. To get certified for larger installations, you need to attend classroom training. The software is very intuitive once you've been thorough the online training.

There is no native Mac software, but Essentials runs fine on my MacBook Pro under VMWare Fusion (emulation software that lets you run Windows on a Mac). There are also other options for running Windows programs on a Mac.

Cheers,
-Jim

Posted on
Sat Dec 17, 2016 10:03 am
dnomode offline
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Joined: Apr 12, 2008
Location: North Georgia

Re: Lutron RadioRA 2 (and Caseta) plugin

Very cool. Thanks guys. I'll be checking it out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Posted on
Sat Dec 17, 2016 10:06 am
FlyingDiver offline
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Re: Lutron RadioRA 2 (and Caseta) plugin

Correction: Level II Lutron training was a 2 day class. But the class fee included 2 nights in in a hotel, breakfast, lunches, and one dinner.

joe (aka FlyingDiver)
my plugins: http://forums.indigodomo.com/viewforum.php?f=177

Posted on
Fri Dec 23, 2016 4:14 pm
ourjoint offline
Posts: 3
Joined: Aug 09, 2015

Re: Lutron RadioRA 2 (and Caseta) plugin

markf424 wrote:
ourjoint wrote:
Can anyone give me a hand getting this to work? My current home using insteon, but I bought the pro bridge and a caseta plug to test. I'm building a new home and hoping to use all lutron controlled by indigo. The caseta app is working just great. Turned on telnet, put in the static IP address of the bridge, ran the id report and put in the id of the plug....but NADA from indigo. Don't know what to do further.

Sure. What are you seeing in your Event Log?

Can your Indigo server host telnet to the Lutron bridge from the Terminal?

It's always worth restarting the plugin if you're seeing odd messages in the Event Log. Sometimes things appear to get out of sync.



Yes, I can telnet to the lutron bridge from the terminal....I have to login twice, however

Posted on
Sun Dec 25, 2016 3:18 pm
ourjoint offline
Posts: 3
Joined: Aug 09, 2015

Re: Lutron RadioRA 2 (and Caseta) plugin

Lutron RRA2/Caséta sent "new device" on
Lutron RRA2/Caséta Debug Sending network command: #OUTPUT,2,1,100
Lutron RRA2/Caséta Debug Sent: "new device" False #OUTPUT,2,1,100
Lutron RRA2/Caséta Error Unrecognized command: login: password:
Lutron RRA2/Caséta Error Unrecognized command: login: password:

Is this configuration correct? I have it checked for IP, username lutron, password integration, connection type network socket, 10.0.1.225:23

10,0,1.225 is static address

Posted on
Tue Apr 25, 2017 6:40 am
BruceP offline
Posts: 285
Joined: Sep 06, 2004

Re: Lutron RadioRA 2 (and Caseta) plugin

I just moved my whole house to RadioRa2. Was a bit skeptical about the plugin, but Holy Heck it works like a champ!! Thank you.

Now looking at Indigo 7. Will the plugin still work, Don't want to spoil a good thing.

Again thanks for the work

Posted on
Tue Apr 25, 2017 8:34 am
RatRanch offline
Posts: 68
Joined: Sep 25, 2013

Re: Lutron RadioRA 2 (and Caseta) plugin

BruceP wrote:
I just moved my whole house to RadioRa2. Was a bit skeptical about the plugin, but Holy Heck it works like a champ!! Thank you.

Now looking at Indigo 7. Will the plugin still work, Don't want to spoil a good thing.

Again thanks for the work


Glad to hear this is working well for you! The plugin is fully compatible with Indigo 7.

-Jim

Posted on
Thu Apr 27, 2017 11:04 am
RatRanch offline
Posts: 68
Joined: Sep 25, 2013

Bug: configure dimmer screen

Integration ID is showing twice. I believe the second item is mislabeled:
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Posted on
Thu Apr 27, 2017 12:19 pm
FlyingDiver offline
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Location: Southwest Florida, USA

Re: Bug: configure dimmer screen

RatRanch wrote:
Integration ID is showing twice. I believe the second item is mislabeled:


Yeah, that field isn't totally coded yet, so just ignore it.

joe (aka FlyingDiver)
my plugins: http://forums.indigodomo.com/viewforum.php?f=177

Posted on
Thu Apr 27, 2017 1:04 pm
RatRanch offline
Posts: 68
Joined: Sep 25, 2013

Re: Bug: configure dimmer screen

FlyingDiver wrote:
RatRanch wrote:
Integration ID is showing twice. I believe the second item is mislabeled:


Yeah, that field isn't totally coded yet, so just ignore it.

Reported as bug only because 7.0.1 is tagged as the latest release and another user I'm working with downloaded it. :-)

Posted on
Thu Apr 27, 2017 2:49 pm
Swancoat offline
Posts: 503
Joined: Nov 20, 2009
Location: Houston

Re: Bug: configure dimmer screen

I had some time off work, and the Level II training became available about 5 minutes from my house so I signed up. Basically the area rep emailed me, because he thought I wasn't a vendor/installer (correct) and kicked me out.

How the heck do I take this training?

(Sorry, I accidentally PM'd this message to you FD - doh. Reposting here in the thread to see if anyone has insight on this).

http://nerdhome.jimdo.com

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