Lutron RadioRa2 integration best practices

[aag]

Hello,

I am looking for advice on integrating an existing RadioRa2 installation with a Control4 install. The RadioRa2 switches, dimmers and picos have been fully configured and scenes programmed in the Lutron repeater. I am thinking it's best to have all programming under one controller and move all schedules and scenes to C4 controller. One thing that comes to mind is the interface between C4 EA5 and Lutron repeater. I would rather avoid extra dependency on the network switch. Can someone share pros and cons of having all lighting controlled with C4 and having Lutron repeater being a dumb executor?

[dinom]

If you move scenes to C4, the lights will not execute in tandem, but will sequence on one at a time (popcorn effect). 

[aag]

12 hours ago, dinom said:

If you move scenes to C4, the lights will not execute in tandem, but will sequence on one at a time (popcorn effect). 

Thanks. So what's the best way to set this up then? I have some picos that control scenes like "welcome home" turning on bunch of lights. I also have timer based scenes. One way i read people using phantom buttons on the Lutron side and trigger a scene using C4 and this phantom button. What about picos, what's the best way to integrate here?

[lippavisual]

Picks integrate just fine.  For scene control, you will want to use phantom buttons to bind to C4 buttons, etc. to control the Lutron scenes.  This way the lighting system works the way it was designed. 

[aag]

2 hours ago, lippavisual said:

Picks integrate just fine.  For scene control, you will want to use phantom buttons to bind to C4 buttons, etc. to control the Lutron scenes.  This way the lighting system works the way it was designed. 

Should I keep Picos programming (lights they control) in Lutron repeater then and not move them move to C4 at all? 

[lippavisual]

Yes, if that’s what you use to control the lights. 

[aag]

1 hour ago, lippavisual said:

Yes, if that’s what you use to control the lights. 

Thank you, this makes sense. When you say "pecos integrate just fine" I think you are talking about having them available in C4 controller so I can kick them and and off from the C4 UI. Is that correct or there is something else I should be thinking when it comes to integrating picos?

[lippavisual]

Picos are fully programmable within C4.  You can add extra programming based on what button is pressed on Picos.

[aag]

I am sorry if I am being a little slow here, I feel like I understand the concepts here but not the whole "best practice" approach here. The way I see this is there are choices:

1. Add all devices are added to Control4. All programming of picos kicking on/off multiple lights, timer based scenes  etc including dimmer percentages and ramp up times are coded in Control4 composer and Lutron repeater only acts as conduit. This may produce a flood of individual commands and also a popcorn like effect from what I understand.

2. Combination approach. Add all devices to Control4. Add phantom buttons to Lutron repeater that invoke scenes as they are programmed in Lutron repeater and invoke scenes from C4. Pico control buttons associated with kicking other lights on/off will remain programmed in Lutron repeater. Here all the timer and possible other advanced programming scenarios are done in C4. 

I would really appreciate if someone could confirm what is considered "best practice".

 

[istreich]

Absolutely option 2. Have all devices visible in Control4 but use Lutron phantom buttons to do scenes. Otherwise you will have popcorn effect. At least for « larger » scenes (more than 2 or 3 loads controlled at the time). Bit of work but worth it. 

[Jeff W]

A month late, but wanted to add some additional options to make things easier.

Phantom buttons reside on the main repeater.  0 - 100.  Depending on how many Lutron keypads you have in the home, this means approx. 16 6-button keypads will max out the phantom buttons on the main repeater.

Doing it this way also means you need to program the keypads, including picos, in the Lutron software + it means duplicating these same scenes on phantom buttons in the software.  Leaves a lot of room for error and it's difficult to change or modify things in a few years once you forget how it's programmed.

I would recommend getting the integration report from the Lutron software that will show all the keypads and button programming in an Excel spreadsheet.  Then, 

• One alternative option is to create the same button commands per room (in the lutron software) and in the advanced lighting of Control4.
• Then in the Control4 software Programming >> Advanced Lighting >> When Lighting Scene "Living Room On" is invoked >> Press Button XX on Lutron Living Room keypad.  (This is where the Lutron Excel spreadsheet comes into play).

This means programming each keypad in the Control4 software that matches the Lutron Software.

The only downfall to programming like this, you won't get feedback in the Control4 Living Room >> Lighting >> Scenes navigator/UI.  ie. "Living Room On" won't show feedback.  it's a trade off.  As stated before, if you duplicate the button/room settings in Control4 and create the same scenes with the same lighting values as the lutron software, you will get popcorn effect in Control4.  It is definitely noticeable with more than 3-4 lights.  

What it boils down to is how you interact with the two systems the most.  If you use the Lutron keypads (including picos) the most, this will show you the main LED feedback on the Lutron keypads.  If you use Control4 as a supplement way of interacting with both systems the scene feedback may not be as important because you can verify visually that the scene has been executed.

If your main way of interacting is through Control4, it may be worth it to duplicate the Lutron scenes and live with the popcorn effect.  

*Note.  I am not sure if Composer HE will give you the same programming access as the dealer software when it comes to the advanced lighting programming.  Being a dealer, we have full access to all the options in programming.  Worst case scenario, you can have a dealer program the same scenes as Lutron Keypads if you'd like.

 

Just wanted to give another perspective as we are very familiar with the Lutron system.  Hope that helps.

[AHSquirrel]

I have some Lutron lighting and a few Lutron Blinds in my Control 4

I have Lutron lights integrated alongside C4 lights in advanced lighting and it works pretty well all the lights seem to come on together occasionally C4 doesn't seem to recognise when a scene is active but other then that no issues 

I trigger scenes in Lutron when I want to make several blinds move at once