r/Lutron

All of a sudden two Diva switches that are side by side in the bathroom aren’t working properly (we had workmen in the house but they shouldn’t have touched any electrical.)

One switch works but is constantly blinking. The only time it stops blinking is when I open the app. While it’s blinking the paired Pico does not work.

The second switch also works the light. I already removed it from the app but I’m unable to re-add it - trying to add it by pressing the down button does nothing.

I’ve already gone through the reset procedure for both switches with no luck. I’ve also pulled the air gap for both switches. Any suggestions how to get these to work?

I setup caseta in my last two apartments (800-1000sq feet, 15-25 devices) and loved it. Honestly never had a single issue. We are moving to a townhouse and I want to continue with caseta. I like to KISS (keep it simple stupid) and not complicate integration. I will do lights, a smart lock, cameras, shades, thermostat all with their own ecosystem.

I know it supports up to 75 devices but should I expect any drop in quality as you get closer to that number. I put 65 in my subject but the number is less than that. I am just over estimating as I might add some shades, picos, etc. i cant imagine every going above 67ish.

Opening the app and picking a scene has always been slow loading on iPhone for me but now it’s abysmal. It takes nearly a minute from opening app until seeing scene buttons to select it. Anyone else having this problem?

We are in the midst of a backyard refresh that includes landscape lighting.

My original plan was to use a separate Ra3 outdoor plug and transformer for each "zone" of landscape lighting, however we have shifted to wanting everything to be dimmable...

Right now, the only option I can think of is mounting a Sunnata or Maestro dimmers in some sort of weatherproof enclosure next to MLV transformers (all outside unfortunately) so I can use scenes from a keypad inside.

My concerns are exposing indoor RF switches to temperature changes (it never freezes or gets over 100f, but still...) and that needing to buy a separate switch and transformer for each zone (some with only 1-2 lights on it) seems dumb and inelegant.

I know the FX Luminaire Luxor system exists, but my understanding is that it still isn't compatible with Ra3, and I'd rather not be stuck with only using their lights.

Is mounting indoor rf switches in a weatherproof box in a shaded area going to be ok? Or is there some other system/solution that would suit my needs that I am not aware of?

EDIT: I'd like to avoid convoluted home assistant solutions, but am open to hearing about them if there are no better options.

We are building a new ~4500 sq ft home. I’ve decided on Lutron for all switches. I’m strongly leaning towards RA3 because I understand that Homeworks is significantly more expensive. We will be a “very nice” house but not “ultra luxury” house, so from everything I’ve read, I don’t think homeworks is for me.

In several areas where there would be a lot of switches I plan to put one sunnata panel (or hybrid panel depending on the circumstance) and “hide” the normal load switches or dimmers in a nearby closet. My thinking is that between the Sunnata panel, voice controls, and home assistant app/tablets that this will be the best solution, but want to hear from pros and homeowners on your take.

An example of this is the Jack/Jill bathrooms for kids. Each bathroom has the following loads:

1. Main backlit mirror (dimmer)
2. can lights (dimmer)
3. toe kick light under cabinet (switch, with a motion detector set to auto trigger on movement at night)
4. bathroom vent fan (switch)

So in these bathrooms, I’m planning to use ONE sunnata hybrid panel each with the vent fan wired to the panel, and the other 3 loads wired to the switches/dimmers tucked away in the kids closet and controlled by the panel.

I will get RA3 certified so I can download the software and manipulate the panels as needed once I see how we actually live in and use the space.

Another example is all of my great room loads I plan to wire into the pantry (5 loads) and use a couple of panels in the kitchen and living room. I also plan to wire all of the front entry and outdoor lights (flood lights, landscape, etc) into the entry coat closet, etc.

The biggest drawback I see is that this is “weird” for when we resell the house. We don’t plan to do that for a really long time, if ever. I also get that guests and visitors need to understand how to work things, but I think a 4 button panel on the wall is pretty self explanatory in that regard, too. (And honestly, probably MORE user friendly than a bank of 4+ unlabeled switches).

Other areas where there would normally be just one switch (hall, by stairs, bedroom, etc) I will use switches/dimmers in their “normal” locations.

So what do the experts think? Am I making a big mistake? Is this how other people do it? Will I regret this?

I recently commissioned a Radio Ra 3 system at a new build. I have 5 RRL-MWCLs in an open concept family room and kitchen. 4 out of the 5 controllers activated no problem through the app. The last controller says “cannot communicate with type X device”.

When I enter activation mode, the tape light connected to that controller will blink slowly like it should, so the device knows the processor is looking to activate, but when I click on the device in the app I will get that error message.

I spent some time on the phone with Lutron support and the could quick attempts to fix did not work. We tried factory resetting the device through the app and we tried power cycling the Bluetooth on my phone and still was doing the same thing.

Does anyone know if that’s just a bad controller or some kind of fix?

The question: can a Ketra D2 handle the environment inside a residential steam shower with 15–30 minutes of heat and steam per day?

We could mount the D2s outside the glass enclosure, but the glass will fog up during operation, which significantly diminishes the lighting effect.

If the D2s can work inside the enclosure, the cleanest design is:

• D2s overhead for color and primary illumination
• Plain 1800K static-CCT tape (sauna-rated) for ambient warm glow

If the D2s can't go inside, the alternative is:

• Sauna-rated RGBW tape for both ambient warmth and color
• Two candidates we've identified:
  1. Core Lighting LNT65SPA-F-VB-RGBW-27K-PF-24V (neon form, 32 ft continuous run, standard Lutron dimming compatibility)
  2. American Lighting Sauna COB RGBW (flat COB form, 14mm, 90+ CRI)

Looking for your thoughts.

Can anybody confirm that a Lutron Maestro fan control and light dimmer will work with a Minka Aire Pure 48 in. Ceiling Fan? It comes with a wall switch but is an AC fan and based on my research here other Minka Aire fans are compatible with Lutron.

I'm probably just going to replace them. But figured I'd check here first.

We have 2 wall dimmer switches (no neutral), on 2 different circuits. They have worked flawlessly for close to 7 years. They were installed at the same time.

Both are just randomly blinking (not together) the lights off then back on. Sometimes just once, sometimes 3-4 times in a row. Thought maybe someone got into my account was playing with me, but I changed my password.

No lights have changed and we got new electrical panel and stuff a few years back. No other lights or devices in house impacted. These are our only 2 Lutron switches that are remote controlled.

We just finished a home build that uses Homeworks to control all the lighting. We'd like to refine the controls beyond simple on/off toggling for fixtures and groups of fixtures that is currently programmed on each keypad in each room. As I'm talking with our dealer, I'd like to have a better understanding of what types of controls and control sequences are possible. Is there any documentation available to an end user or consumer that describes different behaviors that can be programmed?

Here are a few examples of things that might be useful, but I have no idea if they are possible:

• a single button sequences through different scene settings for a room.
• Instead of toggle on/off behavior, have a button press go immediately to the programmed settings. (so that when one light in a room is on, we don't have to toggle it off first before using the toggle off/on button for all the lights that are controlled with that button).
• pressing a button turns something on, but also triggers a timer or timers in the background to eventually turn that something off a fixed time later. For instance turning on a primary light in a bathroom could automatically turn on that room's fan, and then turn it off some time later.
• Are there other behaviors that I'm not aware of that people find useful?

I'm also wondering if there are motion, occupancy, or humidity sensors that work well with other Homeworks controls that we could add that would let us refine the behavior of certain lights.

I’m trying to simplify some HomeWorks QSX programming around occupancy-controlled stairwell lighting, and I’m hoping someone with deeper Designer experience can clarify what’s possible.

Setup:

• Three stairwell sconces across a 3-floor residential stairwell:
  • Basement level
  • First floor
  • Second floor
• All four sconces are controlled together as a single lighting load
• There are 3 occupancy sensors total:
  • one occupancy sensor at each stairwell landing/floor
• There is also a keypad at each level of the stairwell, and each keypad has a “Sconces” button

Desired behavior:

• During the “travel lighting” window (30 minutes before sunset until 30 minutes after sunrise):
  • occupancy should bring the stairwell sconces to 15%
• Outside that time window:
  • occupancy should do nothing
• Pressing any stairwell keypad “Sconces” button should:
  • toggle the sconces between Off and 100%
  • keep the sconces at 100% until someone presses the button again
  • prevent occupancy from pulling the sconces back down to 15% while manually on

The challenge is avoiding fragile state variables.

My original implementation used variables like “Manual Override Active,” but those can get out of sync because loads can be changed elsewhere in the system.

Examples:

• An “All Off” scene
• A Goodnight scene
• A room scene that happens to include the sconces
• A homeowner manually turning loads off from the Lutron app

In those cases, the sconces may physically turn off, but the variables is not getting reset.

For occupancy tracking, each occupancy sensor sets a corresponding variable True when occupied and False when unoccupied. The “all unoccupied” logic checks whether all three occupancy variables are False before turning the sconces off.

So what I’m trying to determine is whether HomeWorks conditional logic can use SCENE STATE directly instead of variables.

Conceptually, I’d like logic like this:

Occupancy:

• If current time is between 30 minutes before sunset and 30 minutes after sunrise
• AND scene “Sconces 100%” is NOT active
• THEN run scene “Sconces 15%”

Vacancy:

• If all three occupancy-state variables are False
• AND scene “Sconces 15%” IS active
• THEN run scene “Sconces Off”

Keypad button:

• If scene “Sconces 100%” IS active
  • run “Sconces Off”
• Else
  • run “Sconces 100%”

I know keypad LEDs can track whether scenes are active, but I’m unclear whether HomeWorks Designer conditional logic itself can query scene-active state as an IF condition.

Questions:

1. Can HomeWorks QSX conditional logic test whether a scene is currently active?
2. If so, does that scene state automatically update when another unrelated scene changes the same load levels?
3. Is scene-state tracking more reliable than variables for this kind of occupancy/manual override interaction?
4. If scene-state logic is NOT possible, what’s the cleanest non-fragile pattern people use for this problem in QSX?

Trying to avoid:

• fragile state variables
• timers that silently expire manual mode
• occupancy getting “stuck disabled”
• occupancy dimming manually selected 100% lighting levels

Would appreciate guidance from anyone who has implemented something similar in HomeWorks QSX.

During a storm last night, our power went out … or so it appeared.

All lights in my home on Caseta dimmers went out. A nearby UPS powering my weather station base clicked over to battery. My network equipment, including my Caseta hub, remained powered by a different UPS.

For what felt like ten seconds, we sat in near darkness, the room lit only by the YouTube video we were still watching on the living room TV, which isn’t on a UPS of any kind.

Ten seconds later the lights came back on.

What the heck happened?

… and yes, the TV actually does power off the moment power is removed, along with the other devices on the same outlet.

EDIT: An attempt to answer my own question.

Upon further review; all the devices in my home that I’m aware that were affected, including the lights that were on at the time but went off, are on the same 120V phase, while my living room where the TV is located is on the other 120V phase, so right now I’m assuming the power company briefly lost a 120V leg during the lightning strike that occurred at the same time … or my home’s electrical has bigger issues.

I originally posted this on the Lutron forums but those have been gone for a year or so. Reposting in case it helps others with older systems.

I have a Lutron Homeworks 4 Series H4P5-H48-120 system running only lights. Over time the system became unstable, i believe due to power outages/flickers. It would "crash" and the keypads would scroll / waterfall. Years ago I figured out that you could unplug the power, flip dip switch 1, power cycle, flip dip switch 1 back, and it would come back online. This happened so many times that eventually the 12v prong broke off where I was constantly yanking power.

It sat for several months before I got around to working on it. After much research, I uncovered the Homeworks Illumination (HWI) software and downloaded 1.65 (the latest). I soldered the 12v power prong back onto the board and got it powered up, but only to boot mode. I bought a serial -> USB cable to connect to my laptop. User randyc was super helpful in walking me through how to get a processor added to a project so I could attempt to connect. Unfortunately my primary laptop is Win 11 and the serial cable would not work. Found a laptop still running Win 10 and was able to connect to the processor in boot mode. I checked and no OS was loaded, likely from the long period of being unplugged and a bad onboard battery.

I then used HWI 1.65 to load the OS but it still would not boot. Tried several times, hit the internet and found a couple posts about low batteries, etc. I bought a replacement battery from Digikey.com - this one, with leads, that exactly matches the original, and had it installed by a local shop for $50. I had to upload the OS again, but still no boot.

Frustrated, I hit the internet again. I found a post saying 1.65 would not restore the OS on certain older processors. So I found a link to 1.64 and paid $10 to access a forum to download it. No change at all. Then I messaged some folks and a different guy told me I would have to use a HWI version above 1.18 and below 1.50. So I went on the hunt for 1.49. Lutron tech support was useless and would not give it to me. Found a guy with access and he shared the software. Uploaded the OS with HWI 1.49 and bam it booted right up. I then moved to 1.65 and uploaded the latest software from it, which worked great.

So now I had it booted but I did not have a backup of the project file. My original installer was happy to talk system upgrades but went silent when I asked for the project file. Perhaps he lost it, whatever... After much trial and error, and reading the excellent HWI help files, I restored the majority of my project. Everything important works now, and I actually have control over it for the first time which is super nice.

My only remaining issue is that certain lights do not appear to be connecting to the processor. Oddly, the LED’s on Bus 4 look different from all the others – the RX light is solid bright vs flashing. I suspect an issue with the 12v daisy chain on that bus but have not had time to investigate further.

I now have copies of HWI 1.16, 1.49, 1.64, and 1.65. Message me and I am happy to share. There are a handful of knowledgeable folks out there willing to help but they are few.

Major thanks to:

User randyc on the Lutron forum for his tremendous help. His advice in the beginning enabled the whole thing to play out.

User floridacommand on the Lutron forum for posing about the version issue, tho he totally ghosted me shortly after I made contact via another online communication channel.

An unnamed Reddit user for providing me the 1.49 software.

E-Bay user automatedcontrols knows his stuff. I can’t speak for his service, but I would send my processor to him in a heartbeat if I could not DIY the above. Prices sound very reasonable too.

Tl;dr: new home has Lutron Aurora dimmers. I can't connect to them in the Hue app because double tapping them doesn't put them in pairing mode (or whatever it's called).

1. Is there anything I can do other than reset them?
2. I don't want to reset them because I don't want to have to set them back up with all the lights they're supposed to control, but is there any world where connecting without resetting would even help?

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Longer version with more context:

I bought a house that has only smart switches. All of the lights are on Lutron Aurora dimmers. When the staging got removed, two Philips Hue Bridges and one Lutron Caseta hub were unplugged, and I've been unable to get any of the dimmers to work since.

• I think that the Lutron Caseta hub is only for the Lutron blinds, which I have working, so AFAIK it's irrelevant.
• When I try to add a Lutron Aurora through the Hue app, it tells me that double pressing the button should make it blink and allow connection. Double pressing the button does nothing, the LED turns on a single time just like when I single press it.
• If I factory reset an Aurora, I can connect to it as expected. But some of the Auroras control 6-8 recessed ceiling lights, which aren't discoverable in the Hue app, so if I reset those Auroras I have no clue how to set it back up controlling those lights.
  • Is there any world where not resetting the Aurora is actually going to help? Or will they always lose connection to any lights when I set them up in the Hue app?
• My best guess is that I can't connect to them by double tapping because they were previously set up to have some other action bound to double tapping.
• If this is right, is there some alternative way to connect in this situation?

Open to any and all advice. I'll edit this post with some pictures in a minute but I don't think they'll provide much extra information.