|
Anyone have thoughts on Honeywell Lyric for a security install? I've posted about my ancient hardwired one before (thanks Motronic/etc) and it would be nice to try and integrate those, which I think is possible with an adapter Honeywell sells, but they may be all one loop anyways, so could be a moot point. Looks like the Lyric is the only one available right now that does HomeKit natively in a reasonably sane fashion, and can export individual sensors to HomeKit which is cool. Looks like a newer version is out, but currently doesn't support 1) end-user programming, and 2) no HomeKit. What are people using here? I do plan on setting up Home Assistant or HomeBridge in a container on my container host on my ESXi box at some point. Also, finally installed my G4 Doorbell (Ubiquiti) after pulling a cable to deliver power to the jbox out front (Cat6... to carry 24 V  ) — luckily getting a pretty drat good signal out front and it streams at 6 Mbps continuously without any issues. Now need to get motion detection working better (yes, I do want to be alerted when my neighbor's lab comes looking for treats and I can't hear her, I'm not a goddamned monster) but it's pretty cool so far. Recommend Kyle Switch Plates if you need some weird-rear end plate to finish a job; I ordered one from there that 1) mates to a single gang box, 2) covers up enough of the stucco that was chipped away for the old one and 3) allows me to mount the G4 to it.Henrik Zetterberg posted:Anyone have any opinions on Home Assistant vs Home Bridge? I was catching up on posts in this thread and caught some of yours; I went full Lutron Caseta for smart-lighting and never bothered with Hue. Easily the most stable "smart home" product I have ever used, have never had a single issue. movax fucked around with this message at 22:43 on Jan 6, 2021 |
#
¿
Jan 6, 2021 22:41
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 06:58 |
|
|
Motronic posted:I'm using abode and it integrates well enough fore my uses into Home Assistant. I was initially thinking Abode, but reading up on it, it seems like they got bought out by someone recently and seems like support / communication with customers has gone to poo poo in recent months. AlarmGrid are the guys selling the Lyric and they seem to be really good at the whole "loving our products + talking with customers" thing.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 6, 2021 23:51
|
|
|
Henrik Zetterberg posted:Thanks! I remember looking at a few of their smart switches, and I think switches would be better for my indoor lighting. No way my wife wants to control bulbs with her phone. Yep — just need somewhere w/ Ethernet to plug in the bridge, and if you have need for a plug-in dimmer anywhere (i.e. floor lamp), Caseta will allow one of them to act as an extender if you need it. Hopefully your place has plenty of neutrals run everywhere, because their best dimmers (IMO) need it to run, but their highest end model can be configured to run virtually any type of lighting — ELV, MLV, incadescent, CCFL, LED, you can select forward/reverse phase edges... solid product. I think I literally have at least one of every Caseta device somewhere, including the "pro only" PD-10 for a giant incandescent fixture I installed. My girlfriend still has a few Hue bulbs and I think we'll use them for exactly the types of stuff you said... wacky table lamps for funs, or random fixtures outside that are just on a regular circuit.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 7, 2021 01:45
|
|
|
Deceptive Thinker posted:Yeah, and my bedroom has a cathedral ceiling so that's exactly why I didn't bother even trying I use the Caseta fan control switch for my fan in my office, but it doesn't have any lights on it. Already in the ecosystem so was a no brainer. Have simple automations setup to fire it up in the summer when the thermostat gets too high.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 12, 2021 07:30
|
|
|
Henrik Zetterberg posted:Definitely looking at starting to put Caseta switches throughout the house (thanks movax!). I think the only time I've seen them on sale was on Prime Day, and even then that was only for the starter kit with the bridge. One thing you'll notice real quick is that the regular switch is virtually the same price as dimmers — so, unless you have a load that can't be dimmed / really only want on/off, the dimmer is virtually the same price. One thing Lutron does that I love is maintain this page which documents every single SKU / model they offer. The PD-5NE is the most expensive but also the most capable, handling ELV, MLV, etc, the PD-6WCL is the no-neutral quintessential dimmer (great for pure incandescent loads) and PD-6ANS is the switch. It's a bit irritating that the PD-5NE is the only switch that has the circular favorite button on the physical switch itself (all the Picos have it), so if you have a room that you want someone to be able to go to some set brightness vs. on/off, you have to spring for the PD-5NE even if you don't need all of its capabilities. As for multiple hubs, nope — that's market segmentation on Lutron's part, and the next levels up I think require you to be an installer / is protectionism for that industry (I think it goes SelectRA2, and then something else for basically literal mansions / estates). You can extend the range of your bridge/hub with the plug-in lamp dimmer or dedicated extender, but that's about it — won't increase the maximum number of devices. Pico remotes will count against you in number of devices. I have a ~2000 sq. ft townhome and I currently have 41 devices in my Lutron system — I am quite literally almost out of switches to Caseta-ify so I doubt I'll ever really go past 50. I think the limit is now 100, but you'll definitely want to double-check. blugu64 posted:Check this out though, Caseta fan controller switches, unlike the Caseta light switches, aren’t compatible with SmartThings, even with a bridge. WTF?? That is weird as hell.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 12, 2021 20:18
|
|
|
I installed an Emporia Vue Gen 2 over the weekend and hooo boy, it really does shed a lot of light on what's going on, consumption-wise. I forget if someone mentioned it in this thread or the Wiring thread, but it's pretty painless to install (if you are OK working right up against live mains) and it's fast -- you can no poo poo see bathroom fans, lights, and stuff turn on in a graph. Flip light switch, 1-2 seconds later, you see power consumption on a circuit go up by 50-100 W. I see some evidence of HA plug-ins for it, so once I get that setup, I should be able to do some pretty cool poo poo. I need another one for my kitchen subpanel, so I'm going to get a little junction box to house two of them, and then just run the CTs to that box through conduit, but pretty happy so far. A little concerned at their speed of development / lack of activity on forums, but it's just another ESP32 powered Internet of poo poo thing -- worst comes to worse, it seems to be good, UL-listed hardware for monitoring this stuff and I'd definitely try to spend time on custom firmware for it if it came to that. I'm thinking of dumping my ConnectSense in-wall outlets now (app sucks poo poo, but it is HomeKit...) because it's hard(er) to get the live consumption data out of them than it is to just put an Emporia smart plug on something and have it show up in the same app under a given circuit.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 22, 2021 19:44
|
|
|
Less Fat Luke posted:Whoah I didn't know passive sensors like that existed, that is very cool. Yeah -- I am actually concerned at how they are going to stay in business without subscription fees; I mean, they are going to mine / sell my data, but they also made a bunch of demographic information completely optional to input, so if that's their game plan... they're not good at it! (I.E., do you have an EV, etc). The hardware is pretty cheap for what you get -- I have not taken it apart, but it seems competently engineered / they have filters on all the CT inputs (maybe they are all 4-20 mA), it's just all locked up behind their app -- I can't view voltage/frequency information despite the unit sensing it, for example. I checked my post history in this thread and I guess it was mentioned in the Wiring thread, but I recall someone talking about the Sense there too... IIRC, it doesn't have individual sensors and is $300 and uses "AI/ML/:clod:" to figure out what loads are what. gently caress that. Individual CTs are the way to go, and most big things (W/D, fridge, hot tub, etc) are on their own anyways. For shared circuits, if your house isn't too weird, you'll have a good idea of what's going on anyways because you know what's plugged in. If you want further refinement, just get one of their smart plugs and stick it inline. Typing that out, I think I will actually replace my ConnectSense in-wall smart outlet in my office and go back to a regular outlet... and then just plug my UPS into an Emporia plug so I get a breakdown on my office circuit per setup. I've been lucky no one has flipped off the PC switch in HomeKit so far, and I'll just... not expose the smartplug so it truly is a monitor.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 22, 2021 20:15
|
|
|
Subjunctive posted:This sounds great. I've been looking for something like this! I don't know what they mean by "bus bar mains", so I'll probably get an electrician to install it for me when I buy it. It looks like there's a butt API that you use to get the data, but as you say it's ESP32 so someone can Tasmota their way to victory in the fullness of time I'm sure. Some installations, instead of having chonky insulated cables coming in from your service to land on your panel, will have bus bars (literal metal bars) coming in instead (maybe more common in condos / denser units?), as I understand it. Those need a different type of sensor, and you get a lot closer to death, so wearing some actual arc-rated / PPE is a good idea as you have to slip a coil around the bus bar. I am not an electrician, but own insulated tools / design HV systems / drivetrains by day, so I approached it with a healthy caution and had my GF hang out in the garage so she could drag my smoking body away / call a wambulance if I slipped up. My panel doesn't have a master shutoff, so everything stays live unless you flip individual breakers. It's really the mains ones you have to be careful about as you can't turn those off. IMO they should ship a little plastic boot you can slip over the CT plug so when you feed cables down the panel, in case it makes contact with line voltage, nothing happens. Fake edit: I have a lot of 220 V stuff -- the Vue is a bit lacking in this area, at the moment. If it's truly balanced, like a resistor (water heater, etc.), you can just attach one CT and then add a multiplier in the app -- not a bad solution, honestly. If it's not, you need one CT per leg... but AFAIK, the app does not let you combine them yet. This could be useful for things (as I understand it) a dryer, where different components (heating coils vs. motors) run from different legs, if you care about accuracy. Technically though, it's more than good enough if you want an alert on when your laundry is done -- it's basically binary 0 W or kWs. movax fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Mar 22, 2021 |
|
#
¿
Mar 22, 2021 20:20
|
|
|
Motronic posted:I think you might be confusing main breaker vs main lug panels. Both have bus bars - that's what the breakers are attached to. It was weird -- I know there are bars in your panel that your breakers sit on, but I saw a picture on the Emporia forums of someone's entire box being fed with bus bars instead of like 4 AWG cable. So instead of service -> insulated cable -> your A/B bars, it was service -> actual bus bars -> your typical A/B bars. I guess it's common enough they released a variant of their product for it. Disregard, I'm a noob: https://www.emporiaenergy.com/flexible-current-sensors I see where they are needed now... neat! I don't have that 200 A (what is the term for that breaker?), just cables right from service to the A/B bars. I can see that being more typical on houses w/ external boxes (as someone from MI/now in WA, still very WTF to me). movax fucked around with this message at 20:42 on Mar 22, 2021 |
|
#
¿
Mar 22, 2021 20:36
|
|
|
TraderStav posted:I’m moving into a new (to me, built 1978) home in a few months and will NOT be disconnecting my Insteon switches in my current home. I’ll have a blank slate to work with. What’s the favored product line to go with in 2021? I prefer switches that I replace and that they must operate as regular switches FIRST, and then be smart after that. No instructions on how to turn on the lights in my home. We are a very Apple family, so Homekit is preferred, but I also think it’d be good to not be locked completely into a Homekit world with no way out. Lutron Caseta -- need the hub, but absolutely will be regular switches if the WiFi goes away. I don't remember if the Pico remotes, when configured, are usable if the hub goes offline, but it's a solid, solid system. Hub doesn't need WAN to function.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 31, 2021 17:32
|
|
|
Got my Honeywell Lyric via AlarmGrid mostly integrated -- it's annoying that I have to keep e-mailing them and waiting a few days for them to remotely do stuff though. Haven't quite got HomeKit working yet -- their second attempt to push the config worked, but then the adoption process failed halfway through (thanks Home app) and it didn't appear anymore... it will be a wonder when it finally gets plugged in. Have mostly 5800-series sensors I've been adding to it (figured 345 MHz was less crowded), but belatedly realized that the Lyric doesn't expose all zones to HomeKit, just those in a few select ones. I have added some sensors to door/windows that I don't care about securing, I just want to see if they are open or closed or not and $12 for a sensor to do that isn't awful. Got the 5800C2W module working as well to integrate a few wired sensors from my house -- not bad for a little $80 box though in retrospect, I had so few sensors that I might have been better off just buying a few of the 5800 wireless sensors that had a connector for hardwired contacts. Oh well, at least I don't have to worry about a battery. Still (not) surprised that in 2021 security systems are still pretty terrible. With the advent of low-cost, high-battery life sensors, it shouldn't really be hard to get everything behaving but goddamn if the industry doesn't accept the challenge to still make it brittle.
|
|
#
¿
May 2, 2021 22:20
|
|
|
I could use a part number recommendation / search query suggestion -- looking for a plastic 'security system enclosure' to mount my Honeywell 5850C2W + a backup battery in, and contain all my wiring. That's a little module that converts wired sensors to wireless 5850-compatible signaling that I can then get hooked up to my Lyric. Metal enclosure is a no-go because it'll be a Faraday cage for the module in there. I've checked w/ Hammond Manufacturing and a few others, but I don't think an actual NEMA enclosure is what I need...
|
|
#
¿
Aug 9, 2021 05:37
|
|
|
DaveSauce posted:What size and what budget? Hoffman and Rittal are the go to for industrial, both make plastic/fiberglass enclosures. Not going to be cheap, but they'll be practically bulletproof for a residential application. Maybe 8" x 10" roughly? This is the unit that goes inside of the box, and then just need room for wiring and a single SLA battery. Less than $100 would be great -- I don't need an actual NEMA-rating, just something to keep dust out as it'll be in my garage next to water heater and such.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 9, 2021 16:08
|
|
|
FCKGW posted:Leviton and Legrand both make plastic Structured Media Center (SMC) enclosures specifically made to allow wireless communications. Some are wall mount and in-wall. So I stumbled onto [url=https://smile.amazon.com/Arlington-EB1212-1-Electronic-Equipment-Non-Metallic/dp/B00AAU5D6Q]this Arlington[/ur] box and I think it's basically perfect. If I get a version without a backplate, the general way this is done is to mount the box on a piece of uni-strut / strut to offset from the wall, and then you just drill into it, right? Thinking about putting a piece of DIN Rail in there + my own PSU. In either case, also curious what the proper search term for 'battery bracket' (maybe that's it) to nicely hold the little 12 V SLA in place is vs. sitting on the bottom of the cabinet. movax fucked around with this message at 00:52 on Aug 13, 2021 |
|
#
¿
Aug 12, 2021 23:23
|
|
|
fletcher posted:* Controlling the heatpad for our big tortoise that lives outside depending on the outside temperature I am interested in seeing pictures of this tortoise...
|
|
#
¿
Aug 13, 2021 00:53
|
|
|
Motronic posted:OP delivers! Yeah that is a pretty cool tortoise friend.  I’m curious about the neighbor’s reaction… “Hey, uh, Lumpy’s over again, just kinda wandered through the fence. Feeding him a banana.”
|
|
#
¿
Aug 13, 2021 06:49
|
|
|
DaveSauce posted:
The locked Caseta ecosystem was worth it to me personally — the performance and reliability + having almost 40 of the devices made it a no brainer.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 25, 2021 16:07
|
|
|
TacoHavoc posted:If you really want to go down the rabbit hole look here: https://www.lutron.com/TechnicalDocumentLibrary/3682773_RA2_HWQS_comparison.pdf I’ve always been curious if there is any open-source / replacement firmware for Lutron hardware — the stuff is really good, but the RA2 and other ‘high end’ systems smell like state-of-the-art from the 1990s before the Internet exploded in popularity + people generally got smarter about these kind of things by default. Caseta is great for me at home, and if I wanted too, I could buy the Pro version of the bridge which, if I recall correctly, has a (lol) embedded telnet server available for accessing raw commands and telemetry. But — I think w/ HomeAssistant / HomeBridge, I can get it to do whatever I need to do for now. My current source of annoyance, which I KNOW is entirely software-limited (at least, IMO it should be), is that the motion / occupancy sensor shares the same timeout for all lights it controls. There’s no way to have one sensor apply a 1 minute timeout to some lights, and a 30 minute timeout to other lights. I suspect the firmware of the sensor does this so it goes to sleep at the appropriate time, but seems like something that you just need to expose in UI/UX to be possible.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 30, 2021 17:29
|
|
|
DaveSauce posted:I don't know if it's necessarily illegal to wire a light straight to a breaker without a switch, but it's a Very Bad Idea. Again, think of future you. One day you'll be kicking yourself. And to be sure, breakers are NOT switches. If this light is going to be switched for any non-maintenance reason, and not just on all the time like a security light or something, then you need a switch. This triggered me... it is kosher to go breaker -> wall timer -> loads, right? I was going to reuse the Caseta, but upon reflection, the Intermatic Ascent, while being yet another new IoT device / ecosystem, is rated for 15 A whereas Casetas are not. This circuit only feeds my outdoor lights / fixed installations (no receptacles), but the timer certainly acts as a switch if you want it too. I am also entertaining the idea of killing the lovely photocells that keep failing outside and replacing them with these Intermatics, but I'll need to really think about sealing / outdoor rating -- they are under eaves, so it's probably a damp location, not necessarily a wet location? I can put one of those outdoor weatherproof covers over it, but this is probably more a Wiring thread question.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 31, 2021 19:01
|
|
|
So I installed two of the Intermatic Ascend timers I posted about to replace a dead photocell outside, and also our shared condo driveway lights that burn a fuckton of power when they're all on (100 W continuous, peaks at 300 W or so on motion trigger). The photocell was only running like 14 W of LED bulbs outside, so it'll take quite literally 3 years to pay off the cost of the timer, but gently caress it, it's the right thing to do + expensing to the HOA anyways. The app sucks and setup is... clunky, but that's par for the course for IoT poo poo. You connect to its Wi-Fi network, launch app, enter PIN (sane at least) and then do the whole network switcharoo so it gets online. It's clunky as poo poo -- I think every request goes phone -> cloud -> local, but there is a local mode you can choose for FW upgrades and things like that. I also think there is a HomeBridge plugin for it. My main reasoning for WiFi was that I don't want to set schedules on a tiny timer screen / poo poo UI -- granted, these schedules will probably never change (on at dusk + 15 minutes, off at dawn - 30 minutes, programmed in latitude + longitude + time), but it's nice to have a screen. I suspect these WiFi ones even are not smart enough (which is REALLY STUPID) to use NTP to keep their time-synced, but time will tell. I chose these over tossing in one of my Caseta spares because they're rated for the full 15 A -- the driveway lights ran right off a breaker, so I added a new junction box for that. Debating how to roll these out to the rest of the HOA (I don't like wasting power / generating entropy for no good reason)... I don't want to commit to my WiFi covering them all, but I also don't want to program each one individually with no Wi-Fi. Maybe I'll just ask each person if they want a non-WiFi one to beep and boop in person, or if they want a WiFi one to attach to their network.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 9, 2021 20:05
|
|
|
Motronic posted:It also doesn't seem to provide any useful capabilities from very boring tried and true solutions that have been around and working for literally decades. A track record I highly doubt these things will ever achieve. About the only benefit I got from it was initial setup and configuration from phone vs. the tiny screen -- I don't want to go back to photocells (maybe this was just a bad batch, but 5/6 are dead), but that non WiFi version might be the way to go then, and just beep and boop it once to set lat, lon, and on/off.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 9, 2021 21:11
|
|
|
Gyshall posted:How are caseta switches supposed to work when you have one on each side of a circuit? I know some of them have the traveler wire, but I always just went with the Pico remote in the other location approach and wire nutting the other location appropriately.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 20, 2021 11:36
|
|
|
Gyshall posted:Thanks for the input re: Caseta. I was going nuts trying to figure it out but the Pico approach is reasonable and works well enough. Yeah, upon reading the second post I realized I was tired posting; I do have mostly dimmer Casetas + Picos everywhere, but I do have one set of stair lights I put on a Caseta switch (not dimmer) where I used the blue wire to keep the mechanical toggle working as well. Picos are super nice though, because you can spawn n-way switches to your hearts content, with their wall plate mount.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 21, 2021 11:31
|
|
|
I have all UniFi APs, and have almost zero issues with my variety of IoT Wi-Fi devices (current only offender is Lyric via HomeKit but I think that's more their lovely firmware + I'm about to give in and move it to my main network). Key things: * Must have a separate SSID that is 2.4 GHz only for all of these things, period. Most of them are ESP8266, ESP32 or other ubiquitous Wi-Fi MCU based and they work best when you have a SSID that is only 2.4 GHz and named as such. Don't have a network named 'home' on both 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz for the sake of your own sanity here. By having 'home_iot_24' its unambiguous what your phone / device you're using for setup is connecting too, and unambiguous for the connective device. * On that SSID, set everything to maximum compatibility -- speed doesn't matter, stability does. DTIM intervals, beacon intervals, everything -- relax it as much as possible. * In terms of lights / hubs... can't speak highly enough about the Lutron Caseta hub that sidesteps this entire problem by being an Ethernet <-> 315 MHz bridge, and still being physical switches that work if the Internet / network take a poo poo. Worth considering the hub / spoke model if you're gonna have a lot of devices connecting up.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 10, 2021 23:27
|
|
|
Three Olives posted:Overall though, the Lutron dimmers actually feel cheaper than the C dimmers and my husband really prefers the appearence of the C dimmers with their light circle. This is probably the most common complaint about them… you get over it pretty quick though. I do wish the basic switch had the middle favorite preset though; you have to either put a Pico up or buy the more advanced version (that can do ELV, needs a neutral) to get that feature.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 30, 2021 16:11
|
|
|
Henrik Zetterberg posted:Just installed this. Super easy and works great. FWIW, it gets a lot less annoying if you use Home app / automations / voice control to set the brightnesses + using the ‘favorite’ preset.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 31, 2021 18:13
|
|
|
I've been putting off smart door locks for awhile, because I've been planning on replacing my front door... anyways, it's been almost 18 months and that has not happened yet. I'm looking for something that:
I do have a functional security system as a fallback / defending against literally breaking down the door, as a fail-safe. That's a wired contact sensor run to a 5800C2W converter which links up to my Lyric and is connected to HomeKit, so I have positive state knowledge of the door. The Level Lock (Touch) seems very slick and meets most of the above, and some of its misses I can fill in with my other systems. Any thoughts? Also, just spitballing here... my doorframe is 'wired' up already with a path for the door contact sensor + my G4 doorbell. I don't like batteries out of principle as they are consumables and the planet could use a break. How insane am I if I try to electrify the actual deadbolt / rig up some kind of wireless power transfer system + replace the battery in the unit with a supercap? Anyone try something like that before? Just seems like a fun engineering project and if it already runs "for a year" off a CR2 battery, I don't need that much power.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 31, 2021 20:37
|
|
|
w00tmonger posted:This is what I'm working with. 2gig go! Control panel. Ooh that's what my place had, to replace an even older system. I went with a Honeywell Lyric (HomeKit!) and installed a 5800C2W to take over the wired loops from the basement.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 16, 2021 12:23
|
|
|
w00tmonger posted:Still getting familiar with all this, but did you end up removing the panel altogether? 3 wired cameras and entry sensors on everything I removed the old 2Gig panels and the even older 1980s vintage Moose panels, yeah. In my garage, someone in history had gutted all the old security equipment / intercom stuff as well. So, I just put a new LV box there and tucked my 5800C2W + lead-acid battery in there. Upstairs, where the original keypad was, I spliced the sensor signals to take advantage of the old keypad power run from the garage, and then pulled that cable into the box and wired it up to the 5800C2W converter. I guess the trend for even brand-new houses is to go fully wireless, so I have a ton of SiX-series detectors + 5800-series (cheaper, longer battery life on the simpler radios) window contact sensors. I went overboard because I can use those sensors for "free" in HomeKit to trigger automations because they are all exported by the Lyric -- so when I open my front door after sunset, my entry lights automatically turn on. Or, I get an alert if I've left poo poo open late at night -- quite nice. IMO wired sensors win every single time and I wish they made a SiX-encrypted version of the 5800C2W, but can't argue with trends / cheaper cost of install, I guess.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 17, 2021 13:27
|
|
|
TacoHavoc posted:I can confirm this. They are relay-based devices. I think it has to be a good portion of the same guts / core power circuitry as the dimmers — it’s usually the same price or just $5 cheaper than the vanilla Caseta dimmer. I have 2 or 3 in spots where dimming just made 0 sense (like controlling an outlet), but otherwise I’m all dimmers everywhere.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 24, 2021 16:21
|
|
|
Henrik Zetterberg posted:Any preferences on the Schlage Sense vs Yale Assure? Looking for a HomeKit-compatible deadbolt. I was looking at the Level FWIW, but doesn’t seem as popular as some of the other options
|
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2021 19:32
|
|
|
Henrik Zetterberg posted:Dang, that's disappointing. The best performing bulbs I've used with all of my Lutron dimmers, be it Maestro, Caseta and Caseta ELV are incadescent  I'm not that old but in some rooms I simply can't deal with LEDs -- but running 6x bulbs isn't that bad. Whoever renovated my kitchen though, added nearly 12 recessed lights in no seeming pattern whatsoever and they dim like poo poo -- FEIT bulbs. No buzz, but also no real dynamic range to speak of whatsoever. The closest I've found were some Phillips ones (I really need to make a spreadsheet to track what bulb part numbers I install where... this is the one I found on my Home Depot e-receipt) I have used the HD Ecosmart BR30/BR45 outside and they seem to do OK though I'm not looking for precise dimming from them. They also have been some of the only bulbs that seem to actually die in surges. Would be curious to get some part numbers of BR30s for indoor use that I could try in the kitchen; does anyone sell a 'sampler' pack of different color temperatures to combine with testing against a dimmer? Lutron got me with only having the PD-5NE have a middle / favorite button, so I generally have the ELV+ dimmers everywhere, even where not needed.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 12, 2021 18:14
|
|
|
Henrik Zetterberg posted:Ok yeah, looks like the PD-10NXD-XX is neutral-optional, and the minimum load is 10W with the neutral connected vs 25W without. Where do you buy the Pros? It doesn't look like HD/Lowes has them, and Amazon looks to be pretty thin as well. There's one on Amazon for almost $100 that delivers in February The PD-5NE works w/ a neutral, did I miss why you can't use that one? I got a PD-10NXD off eBay for a large incandescent fixture I have -- worked totally fine out of the box when I integrated to my system.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 14, 2021 21:24
|
|
|
Yep, you can have the Picos do multiple things if necessary. I wish the motion sensors would allow for variable timeouts per device, but unfortunately they share the one time setting across everything attached to it. I might have missed a reply but did anyone have a good BR30 recommendation that played nice with the PD-5NE / other Casetas? Henrik were you looking at a few options here?
|
|
#
¿
Dec 15, 2021 20:45
|
|
|
I picked up a pair of EcoSmart BR30 selectable color temp bulbs from Home Depot; few different settings including one that will move from 5000K to 2000K as it dims. Early results promising with the Caseta PD-5NE dimmer; bit of a noticeable step change from 5000K to ~4000K, but after that it’s pretty smooth. I have some Phillips Warm Glow R30s upstairs that do something similar without the glitchy step from cool to warm; might try a couple of others out. And then I’ll be that guy that tracks the exact part numbers of his bulbs and fixtures should they need replacing.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 23, 2021 06:22
|
|
|
I'm 50/50 on these where I attach the switch to the plate first, and then the entire thing to the wall, OR, plate to wall first, and then the switch. I suspect some of my drywall is not exactly smooth. I have a few 3 and 4 gang Claros and it's a pain in the rear end to stuff everything into the jbox and then get the plate to lie flush. loving great idea to just hide that info under the frontplate though, I'm going to steal that.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 23, 2021 19:27
|
|
|
I just got a dog. He’s a furry white little guy whose nose and ears still pick up things faster than my UniFi cameras / motion floodlights / whatever. Dogs rule
|
|
#
¿
Dec 28, 2021 18:41
|
|
|
Lester Shy posted:Can I just say how much I hate motion sensors? I've picked up a handful of dumb motion sensing indoor and outdoor lights over the past few years, and maybe one out of five consistently works how it's supposed to. I know it's my fault for being a total cheapskate, but still. I really like my Lutron Maestros, no complaints besides wishing a Caseta version existed so I could modify their brightness levels based on time of day.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 28, 2021 23:16
|
|
|
Henrik Zetterberg posted:I don't use any in a 3-way configuration, so I wouldn't be the best to answer this, but I was considering doing some 3-ways in the future with that setup. Other people in this thread have Caseta's in a 3-way config I believe that could chime in better than I. You can use the advanced guide to wire in Casetas with mechanical 3-way switches but the standard install prefers you replace the mech switch with a Pico and jumper the traveler / load wires where it used to be. I have a staircase where I have a Caseta switch and kept the mech switch because I don’t need the dimmer or a remote there.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 30, 2021 22:13
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 06:58 |
|
|
Hed posted:Does anyone here use any garage door integration with Home Assistant? I was thinking about doing it for presence detection and fixing my crappy remote. If you email Tailwind support, they can push a HomeKit-enabled beta firmware your way / open API access to you that might help out in HA integration. I set up HomeKit but then promptly ran into firewall / VLAN issues that I haven’t had the time to sort out yet, as Tailwind is over on my IoT network.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 4, 2022 17:31
|
|