help for beginner with Lutron

Posted on
Tue Jun 09, 2020 5:39 pm
dduff617 offline
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Location: Massachusetts, USA

help for beginner with Lutron

I am about to purchase some motorized shades and was on the verge of splurging on Lutron Serena cellulars. I have little knowledge or experience with Lutron, other than the positive reviews of their shades. I would normally prefer to buy Bali/Somfy Autoview (z-wave), but two of my windows are just below the minimum width for their motorized shades. I was about to pull the trigger on the Lutron order but with the cost, I figured I'd best to do some checking here first.

I'm buying five shades, one RF 4-group remote, and a "Smart Bridge with HomeKit Technology".

I'm hoping that I'll be able to control the five shades individually or in groups from Indigo+Lutron Plugin. Down the road, I may possibly add additional Lutron light controls. Will this work? Will I have everything I need?

Briefly poking around this forum, I saw mentions of people having the "Pro" version of the smart bridge (or maybe I was misunderstanding). There was also mention of having or needing a serial connected component. Can I accomplish what I want with just the Bridge plugged into ethernet? Is the "Pro" version important? or will the "Smart Bridge with HomeKit Technology" suffice?

Thanks in advance.

Posted on
Tue Jun 09, 2020 5:58 pm
FlyingDiver offline
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Re: help for beginner with Lutron

You need the Pro version of the Bridge. The non-Pro doesn't support the automation protocol that the plugin uses. It only supports HomeKit and the Lutron app.

The Caseta Bridges work via Ethernet. The Radio Ra 2 controller (main repeater) can use either Ethernet or Serial, so that's probably the reference you saw.

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

Posted on
Mon Jul 20, 2020 11:13 am
dduff617 offline
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Re: help for beginner with Lutron

Thanks for the advice. I now have the Smart Bridge Pro (SBP) installed. My five shades plus remote are set up in the SBP. I'm looking to use the Indigo plugins so that Indigo can monitor the state of the shades and control them with triggers and schedules.

I installed plugin, did initial configuration.
I know the IP address of my SBP.
In the Lutron plugin settings dialog, I initially set logging level to "Detailed Debugging Messages" in hopes of seeing as much as possible of what's happening.
In settings, I checked the box for "IP" connection (vs. serial). I assume this is correct since my SBP device is network connected (only), afaik.
I entered the IP of my device in settings where it asked for IP or hostname.
Left port unchanged (23).
Entered the username (my email address) and password that I used for setting up the SBP via the app.
"Send status for all devices at startup" is checked.
Connection type: I initially tried "Network RFC-2217" . Set the address to rfc2217://[ip of SBP]. I understand this to be a data connection that rides atop telnet protocol.

The logs I see are:
Code: Select all
 Lutron RRA2/Caséta             Connecting via IP to 192.168.1.98:23
  Lutron RRA2/Caséta Error       Unable to connect to Lutron gateway. Timed out.



... so I also tried with Connection Type set to "Network Socket" and Socket address set to socket://[ip of SBP] then did a "reload" on the plugin.
The logs I see are similar:
Code: Select all
   Starting plugin "Lutron RRA2/Caséta 7.2.8" (pid 13997)
   Lutron RRA2/Caséta Debug       logLevel = 5
   Started plugin "Lutron RRA2/Caséta 7.2.8"
   Lutron RRA2/Caséta             Starting up Lutron
   Lutron RRA2/Caséta             No linked Devices
   Lutron RRA2/Caséta             Running ipStartup
   Lutron RRA2/Caséta             Connecting via IP to 192.168.1.98:23
   Lutron RRA2/Caséta Error       Unable to connect to Lutron gateway. Timed out.


So basically, I've taken a few pokes at the plugin settings and so far seem not to have established communications on my first attempts. Can anyone share pointers as to how to get things working from this point? Which protocol should I be using? Are there some configuration changes I need to make on the SBP to allow the plugin to connect? Any other issues I need to know about? Thanks in advance for any pointers.

As a warning, aside from knowing that I bought a Smart Bridge Pro and that I have Serena shades (5) and a Serena 4-group remote control, this is my first foray into using Lutron gear I am definitely not very familiar with all the different varieties of their products and protocols.

Posted on
Mon Jul 20, 2020 11:21 am
FlyingDiver offline
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Re: help for beginner with Lutron

The connection type is irrelevant when using IP. It's only showing there because of some weirdness with the way Indigo displays the serial port selector.

The automation interface does not use your Lutron account login. Login info is on this Wiki page: https://github.com/FlyingDiver/Indigo-radiora2/wiki

If you still have problems, I recommend getting the 7.3.0 release from this link: https://github.com/FlyingDiver/Indigo-r ... /tag/7.3.0

I'm about to make that the published release, so it would be easier to start troubleshooting from there.

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

Posted on
Mon Jul 20, 2020 11:45 am
dduff617 offline
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Joined: Jul 05, 2006
Location: Massachusetts, USA

Re: help for beginner with Lutron

Thanks for the quick reply.

I am running new version (7.3). I've added Indigo devices for shades.

I saw that there was a way I could create an Indigo device for the gateway - I assume this would represent my Smart Bridge Pro device - do I need to do this, or is there any benefit to doing so?

I'm not clear on whether I can add my remote as a device. It's a Serena 4-group remote (shown below). There was not an direct/obvious match with the "model" choices in the menu, but that's perhaps because I'm just not familiar with Lutron model categories...
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Posted on
Mon Jul 20, 2020 11:49 am
FlyingDiver offline
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Re: help for beginner with Lutron

If you upgraded to 7.3.0, then the plugin automatically created the IP Gateway device for you. Look for it, it's there somewhere.

You might want to consider using the auto-device creation option. It's in the plugin menu. See
Code: Select all
https://github.com/FlyingDiver/Indigo-radiora2/wiki/Automatic-Device-Creation-for-Caséta-and-RRA2-Select-Systems

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

Posted on
Mon Jul 20, 2020 11:56 am
dduff617 offline
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Joined: Jul 05, 2006
Location: Massachusetts, USA

Re: help for beginner with Lutron

FlyingDiver wrote:
If you upgraded to 7.3.0, then the plugin automatically created the IP Gateway device for you. Look for it, it's there somewhere.


Indeed. I found it. Device name is "Lutron IP Gateway", model is "Network Connected Gateway", and it is created at the top level DEVICES list (not in any folder).

FlyingDiver wrote:
You might want to consider using the auto-device creation option. It's in the plugin menu. See [url]https://github.com/FlyingDiver/Indigo-radiora2/wiki/Automatic-Device-Creation-for-Caséta-and-RRA2-Select-Systems[/url]


That's really cool with lots of flexibility, so I can see it would be a good way to work with integrating large Lutron configurations.

Thanks.

Posted on
Fri Jul 24, 2020 8:45 am
dduff617 offline
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Location: Massachusetts, USA

Re: help for beginner with Lutron

I'm having great success with the Plugin.

A few questions:
I'm experimenting with remote buttons, I see Indigo trigger type specific to Lutron Buttons for the Pico Button Indigo devices. However, I don't see any Indigo actions specific to buttons... so what is the recommended way to "invoke" a button's function from Indigo? Turning it ON does not appear to work for me, I think... What's the suggested way of doing this from Indigo?

Thanks, FlyingDiver for the great contribution!

Posted on
Fri Jul 24, 2020 9:03 am
FlyingDiver offline
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Re: help for beginner with Lutron

dduff617 wrote:
I'm experimenting with remote buttons, I see Indigo trigger type specific to Lutron Buttons for the Pico Button Indigo devices. However, I don't see any Indigo actions specific to buttons... so what is the recommended way to "invoke" a button's function from Indigo? Turning it ON does not appear to work for me, I think... What's the suggested way of doing this from Indigo?


Turning the button ON should give you the same results as pressing the button. Don't forget to turn it OFF to simulate the button release. If that's not happening, enable debug level logging (NOT detailed debugging) and do it again, then post the log entries.

What's the button you're testing supposed to do?

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

Posted on
Mon Aug 17, 2020 9:13 am
docbjr offline
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Joined: Mar 12, 2017

Re: help for beginner with Lutron

I'm having difficulty getting either of my 2 Pico Remotes to control an Insteon device. I do have the Pro version of the Smart Bridge. I am able to cause an Insteon action if I use a trigger based on a Luton device turning on, but I think I'm missing something since I believe I should be able to use the pico directly.

This is what I see:

Aug 17, 2020 at 11:12:19 AM
Lutron RRA2/Caséta Debug Received a pico button status message: ~DEVICE,3,2,3
Lutron RRA2/Caséta Debug buttonTriggerCheck: deviceID: 3, componentID: 2, gatewayID: 1777286782
Lutron RRA2/Caséta Debug Received a pico button status message: ~DEVICE,3,2,4
Lutron RRA2/Caséta Debug Received: Dimmer Lutron dimmer level set to 100.0
Lutron RRA2/Caséta Debug buttonMultiPressCheck: Timeout reached for keypadid = 1777286782:3.2, presses = 1

Thanks in advance

Posted on
Mon Aug 17, 2020 9:41 am
FlyingDiver offline
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Re: help for beginner with Lutron

docbjr wrote:
I'm having difficulty getting either of my 2 Pico Remotes to control an Insteon device. I do have the Pro version of the Smart Bridge. I am able to cause an Insteon action if I use a trigger based on a Luton device turning on, but I think I'm missing something since I believe I should be able to use the pico directly.
Thanks in advance


Yes, there's a "shortcut" method that doesn't require setting up triggers. See https://github.com/FlyingDiver/Indigo-r ... ce-Linking

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

Posted on
Mon Aug 17, 2020 1:21 pm
docbjr offline
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Joined: Mar 12, 2017

Re: help for beginner with Lutron

Stupid question...Do I need to create a device for each button on the pico?

At the moment, I can turn on my Insteon test light with the push of the top button. No other button does anything useful. If I press the top button a second time, the light goes out.

I know I'm doing something wrong.

Does it matter that the pico is married to a Lutron dimmer?
Thanks

Posted on
Mon Aug 17, 2020 2:53 pm
FlyingDiver offline
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Re: help for beginner with Lutron

docbjr wrote:
Stupid question...Do I need to create a device for each button on the pico?


Yes. Each button is a "relay" type device.

docbjr wrote:
At the moment, I can turn on my Insteon test light with the push of the top button. No other button does anything useful. If I press the top button a second time, the light goes out.


Working as expected.

docbjr wrote:
Does it matter that the pico is married to a Lutron dimmer?


No. Indigo actions work off the button press reports. What the button is doing on the Lutron side doesn't matter. It doesn't have to be programmed to do anything.

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

Posted on
Mon Aug 17, 2020 4:39 pm
docbjr offline
Posts: 98
Joined: Mar 12, 2017

Re: help for beginner with Lutron

Thanks! That cleared it all up.

Posted on
Wed Aug 26, 2020 7:23 pm
docbjr offline
Posts: 98
Joined: Mar 12, 2017

Re: help for beginner with Lutron

I have a couple of questions. I have my test Radio ra 2 setup running fine with 2 dimmers, a motion sensor and a pico. (I am practicing for my future move into my new, unbuilt home.)

First of all, one of the guys here suggested using 2 routers. Is this important and how is it done?

And second, I am confused about using Insteon with the ra 2 setup. I read that I could use ethernet to communicate with the main repeater for this (is this the same setup that I have used to program the main repeater?) What is the serial input for if Ethernet already works?

Thanks

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