Lutron RadioRA 2 (and Caseta) plugin

Jim, looks like your link to the download for 2.0 is not working.

[matt (support)]

Terrific Jim – thanks for sharing the improvements!

Jim, looks like your link to the download for 2.0 is not working.

Please try this link.

Some observations and questions about the plugin now that I'm actually using it. For background, we just moved into a 4000sf house that I had partially equipped with Lutron RRA2 gear during construction. I have two main repeaters (will be well over 100 devices when complete), five WPM panels (six dimmers each), 14 keypads, a bunch of individual dimmers, 20 Lutron roller shades, and one horizontal drape motor. Or something like that. It's growing as new gear gets delivered and installed. I also have a number of Insteon door sensors, motion detectors, switchlincs, mini remotes, etc.

1. “Display LED state instead of button press status” is configured on the LED part of a button/LED pair, but it actually effects the Indigo on/off state of the button component? Shouldn’t it be configured on the button component?

2. There's a device validation issue with those button/LED pairs. It's possible to get them into a state where the device is defined as a button, but the check box for item 1 above is also checked, which causes errors any time the button is used. The device validation should clear that property if it's a button.

3. I see Timeclock events in the debug log, but there's no Indigo event for them. Seems like it should be possible to set up a plugin-level (not device) event for them.

4. There's some discussion in the thread about button presses vs releases. Does sending an "off" to a button cause it to release? This is important for security system integration since the phantom button that causes the repeater to go into secure mode has to be released to get it out of secure mode.

5. Not a big deal, but the plugin only supported one main repeater. But the only thing I'm loosing is the phantom buttons on the second repeater.

6. The plugin configUI is kinda confusing with both the IP and serial config parameters exposed. It's really pretty easy to fix that.

I'm struggling to get a couple of integration tasks done cleanly. Any suggestions for the best way to have a Lutron keypad button control a Lutron dimmer, but have Indigo in the middle to adjust the dimmer level based on time of day? Trying to turn on bathroom lights with the same keypad button, but low power in the middle of the night.

Also, I've got a pair of Insteon Lamplincs in our bedroom. I want to control them both an Insteon miniremote (those are direct Insteon links) AND with a pair of Lutron keypad buttons. I have a hodgepodge of triggers watching both for Insteon on/off messages and LED on/off changes to keep the state in sync. It seems very fragile and the lights sometimes turn on or off for no apparent reason. Mostly it seems to be because the LEDs change state unexpectedly. Any suggestions on a better way to do this?

Are you using github or any other repository for this? I'd be happy to address some of these issues and send you a pull request.

Some excellent questions and points raised here. Please see responses below:

Some observations and questions about the plugin now that I'm actually using it. For background, we just moved into a 4000sf house that I had partially equipped with Lutron RRA2 gear during construction. I have two main repeaters (will be well over 100 devices when complete), five WPM panels (six dimmers each), 14 keypads, a bunch of individual dimmers, 20 Lutron roller shades, and one horizontal drape motor. Or something like that. It's growing as new gear gets delivered and installed. I also have a number of Insteon door sensors, motion detectors, switchlincs, mini remotes, etc.

1. “Display LED state instead of button press status” is configured on the LED part of a button/LED pair, but it actually effects the Indigo on/off state of the button component? Shouldn’t it be configured on the button component?

If you want Indigo on/off state to follow the LED, select this option. Alternatively, Indigo can reflect when the button is pressed/released. However, others have reported that if a button is controlling a load, RA2 does not send the button press/unpress events.

2. There's a device validation issue with those button/LED pairs. It's possible to get them into a state where the device is defined as a button, but the check box for item 1 above is also checked, which causes errors any time the button is used. The device validation should clear that property if it's a button.

Yup, I agree this is sloppy and should be fixed!

3. I see Timeclock events in the debug log, but there's no Indigo event for them. Seems like it should be possible to set up a plugin-level (not device) event for them.

Interesting idea.

4. There's some discussion in the thread about button presses vs releases. Does sending an "off" to a button cause it to release? This is important for security system integration since the phantom button that causes the repeater to go into secure mode has to be released to get it out of secure mode.

Yes, we can send a release (off) press to a button from Indigo. In most situations you would want to do that immediately after sending a press (on) command.

5. Not a big deal, but the plugin only supported one main repeater. But the only thing I'm loosing is the phantom buttons on the second repeater.

This is a great idea but I need help on this from somebody who has two main repeaters.

6. The plugin configUI is kinda confusing with both the IP and serial config parameters exposed. It's really pretty easy to fix that.

Agree, this should be cleaned up. Hasn't been a high priority because most users see this screen only once.

I'm struggling to get a couple of integration tasks done cleanly. Any suggestions for the best way to have a Lutron keypad button control a Lutron dimmer, but have Indigo in the middle to adjust the dimmer level based on time of day? Trying to turn on bathroom lights with the same keypad button, but low power in the middle of the night.

If you want Indigo to handle the logic, you would need to create multiple triggers for the bathroom lights and put a time of day condition on each one. However, if the button is linked to a scene that controls the lights, the RA2 scene will activate prior to Indigo setting any dim levels.

Also, I've got a pair of Insteon Lamplincs in our bedroom. I want to control them both an Insteon miniremote (those are direct Insteon links) AND with a pair of Lutron keypad buttons. I have a hodgepodge of triggers watching both for Insteon on/off messages and LED on/off changes to keep the state in sync. It seems very fragile and the lights sometimes turn on or off for no apparent reason. Mostly it seems to be because the LEDs change state unexpectedly. Any suggestions on a better way to do this?

Replace the Insteon remote with a Pico and the Lamplincs with RA2 plug-in dimmers. Seriously, you might want to start a new thread with this issue and give us some specifics about your triggers.

Are you using github or any other repository for this? I'd be happy to address some of these issues and send you a pull request.

Not at this time but there are no updates in progress except for Pico support. PM me with your email address and I'll send you the latest code.

Cheers,
-Jim

A new version of the plugin is available for testing. Since it's diverging from Jim's original code base, I'm starting a new thread for discussion of the new version.

viewtopic.php?f=177&t=16273

Hey guys! Thanks a TON for creating this. Weird use case but my Indigo Server is on an iMac which I also use for work. Every now and again I need to connect to our company's VPN. Obviously, while I'm connected a lot of plugins go a little haywire. However, when I disconnect they all seem to start right up working again. The only exception is the Caseta plugin. In order to get that working again I have to reload the plugin after disconnecting. Any chance there's an easy fix for this?

Hey guys! Thanks a TON for creating this. Weird use case but my Indigo Server is on an iMac which I also use for work. Every now and again I need to connect to our company's VPN. Obviously, while I'm connected a lot of plugins go a little haywire. However, when I disconnect they all seem to start right up working again. The only exception is the Caseta plugin. In order to get that working again I have to reload the plugin after disconnecting. Any chance there's an easy fix for this?

The root cause is that the plugin has no error handling to recover from an interruption to the network connection. IP communication was added fairly recently to the plugin, which was originally designed to use a dedicated serial connection. No real effort has been made to ensure that IP communication is robust and can recover from connection errors. You mentioned that some other plugins automatically resume operation after the VPN is disconnected. Could you give some examples? It would be interesting to see how these plugins do error recovery and perhaps implement the same logic in the RA2/Caseta plugin.

Regarding short term workarounds, I can think of two possibilities. First, it might be possible to reconfigure the VPN client and/or local network to preserve a static path between the iMac and the Caseta bridge when the VPN is active. The other possibility might be to use Automator or some other means to quit Indigo (or maybe just the plugin) before launching the VPN client and then re-enable it after the VPN connection is broken.

But the real fix will be to address the deficiency in the plugin.

Cheers,
-Jim

Hey guys! Thanks a TON for creating this. Weird use case but my Indigo Server is on an iMac which I also use for work. Every now and again I need to connect to our company's VPN. Obviously, while I'm connected a lot of plugins go a little haywire. However, when I disconnect they all seem to start right up working again. The only exception is the Caseta plugin. In order to get that working again I have to reload the plugin after disconnecting. Any chance there's an easy fix for this?

First, are you using the standard OSX VPN setup in the Network Preference Panel for your VPN? If so, go to that panel, click on "Advanced..." in the lower right corner, then uncheck the "Send all traffic over VPN connection" box. See if that keeps the plugins happy.

Second, can you post the Indigo log from when you bring up the VPN and take it down? I'd like to see what (if any) error messages the plugin is posting.

Hi,

currently have lutron caseta switches connected via Wink thru Vera to Indigo.

If I buy a lutron gateway, and use your Indgo Lutron plugin, will that
method support instant status?

I am unable to get a reliable status from the Wink / Vera setup as to
the state of the switches.

Thanks! Brian

It should since the Lutron unit will communicate directly with Indigo and provide the responses to Indigo.

But remember to get the Caseta Pro unit, not the regular Caseta one or it won't work with Indigo.


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I've decided to use Caseta in my pool house expansion. I have it working well - the hardware is slim and easy to fit into multi-gang boxes, and is overall very attractive and solid feeling. The plugin works flawlessly and is very easy to configure.

Now for the big question. I liked Caseta so much that I'm replacing my RRA1 switches in the main house with them. This required a second Smart Bridge Pro. Is the proper way to support a second Smart Bridge to duplicate the plugin in the system? I'm guessing I'll have to change a few things so Indigo doesn't think I'm upgrading the existing installation. Or will we have to do this the hard way?

FWIW, I did what I said above - I just changed the name references to the plugin and installed it again. I can identify the two different instances by the name difference. So far, so good...

FWIW, I did what I said above - I just changed the name references to the plugin and installed it again. I can identify the two different instances by the name difference. So far, so good...

Thanks for sharing that info. Glad to hear it's working!

-Jim

Hello,

I'm using Indigo 6Pro trial with this plugin for a Caseta Dimmer and Pico Remote. I assume that I select RadioRA 2 Dimmer as the model? Any clues on how to find the Integration ID?

Regards,
mcfarlde