Lutron Archives - Homekit News and Reviews

Lutron Caseta Fan Control

The Editor — Mon, 04 Mar 2019 11:59:47 +0000

ELIMINATE PULL CHAINS: Provides control of your ceiling fan right from the wall. Choose from 4 fan speeds plus off, for increased comfort
WIRELESS CONTROL: Pair with the Fan Pico remote (PJ2-3BRL-GXX-F01 sold separately) for wireless control from anywhere around your home
SMARTPHONE CONTROL: Create scenes and schedules using the FREE app by adding the Lutron Smart Bridge (L-BDG2-WH, sold separately)
MOST CONNECTED: Works seamlessly with Alexa, the Google Assistant, Nest and more when you connect with the Lutron Smart Bridge (L-BDG2-WH, sold separately)
TECHNICAL DETAILS: up to 1. 5A single ceiling fan; single-pole only or add Fan Pico (PJ2-3BRL-GXX-F01, sold separately) for 3-way control
EASY INSTALL: Replaces existing switch and installs in as little as 15 minutes; NEUTRAL WIRE REQUIRED
INCLUDES: (1) Caseta wireless smart fan speed control; coordinating wall plate and accessories sold separately

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Lutron Caseta In Wall On/Off Switch (review)

Kevin Patenaude — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 05:07:56 +0000

Lutron Caseta PD-5WS-DV-WH

I bought this product because I’m a HomeKit junkie. No, in all seriousness, I bought it because of its usefulness and ease of integration. There aren’t a ton of interruptor switches out there that work in old houses like mine. We don’t have wiring for a switch that requires a ‘neutral’ that also work well with HomeKit, so this fits the bill in that respect. We use these in rooms where we want to have a sort of ‘kill switch’ because the whole room is wired to be ‘on or off’, electrically, and for rooms that have fans always on, or rooms where we will never use anything other than bulbs that don’t work on dimmers.

The carton is pretty standard for Lutron Caseta products, with nice and sturdy blister packaging. The switch itself comes with a load-bearing device for use with fans (or any other electrical devices that need it). The first installer I hired got freaked out by it because they were not experienced in reading the diagram/it is a smart product and they just got scared and quit the job. My brother and I were able to see what needed to be done via the diagram and we successfully installed it. Any room with a large fan etc. should have the load bearing device installed between the power cables in the fan for this interruptor. I am not an electrician and I do not recommend you install this yourself without help from someone who knows what they are doing.

Once it’s installed in the wall, you just need to set it up to work with HomeKit and the Caseta app. To do that you start by holding down the bottom/off button until the green LED on the switch starts blinking, then in the Caseta app, in the settings section, you click ‘add device’. The app should find the switch quickly and ask you the usual questions about which room it’s located in, which icon you prefer etc. It should be noted that the Caseta app has no icon for a ‘switch’, so if you want it to be treated like one in the ‘Home’ app you will need to change it there. Once added, the Caseta hub, which is required for Homekit integration, will automatically add it to the room you choose.

As for day-to-day usage, it works really well and so far I haven’t experienced a ‘No Response’ situation. It’s important to note that if you have a smart bulb attached, that bulb will result in a ‘No Response’ message every time you kill the switch. Sometimes kids that don’t understand how Siri works will simply say ‘bobby’s room out’, for example, and accidentally kill the fan in their room when they wanted the light in the fan to go out. In the ‘Home’ app I use the rooms all the way to the right as kind of ‘virtual rooms’. If you have a young child that doesn’t understand how it works and you are using this as a ‘kill switch’ or ‘cycle switch’, move the switch in Home to a ‘Fake Room’ so that when they say “turn my whole room off” it just does the bulbs. It looks and works exactly as you would expect in HomeKit. Siri works very well with it and I never get much lag as far as response is concerned.

Overall I’m very pleased, and I’m told that Lutron products work with so many systems I couldn’t even list them all. It’s rock solid and it does what I want. Can’t really ask for much more.

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Lutron Caseta 5A Lighting/3A Fan RF On/Off Light Switch

The Editor — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 03:30:57 +0000

Controls wall and Ceiling lights doesn’t require a Neutral wire minimum load cap included (for switching LED, CFL, and ELV loads), Claro wall plate (pictured) sold separately.
Use Pico remotes for additional switches in multi-location applications
Tested to withstand surge voltages without damage or loss of operation controls always operate locally and DO not require system control
For use with the Caseta wireless smart bridge Pro tested to withstand electrostatic discharge without damage or memory loss
Lutron PD-5WS-DV-WH Light Switch, Caseta Wireless 5A Lighting and 3A Fan RF On/Off – White

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Lutron Caseta Lamp Dimmer

The Editor — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 06:03:19 +0000

Provides the best dimming performance for LED bulbs. Tested and recommended for use with over 1,000 bulbs (for recommended LEDs, please see “Technical Specification”)
Works with up to 100W of dimmable LED/CFL or 300W incandescent/halogen bulbs
Lamp Dimmer simply plugs into a standard outlet and can be used with up to two lamps
Dimmer controls up to 17 bulbs per circuit (based on 8.5W LED bulbs, 60W incandescent equivalent)
For added convenience, use with Pico remote (sold separately: PJ2-3BRL-WH-L01R) to turn lights on/off or raise/lower to adjust brightness
Works with your voice assistant or smart phone via the FREE Lutron app for iOS and Android (Smart Bridge required)

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Lutron Caseta Dimmer Switch (review)

Kevin Patenaude — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 02:56:21 +0000

I wanted to start with why I purchased this switch for use with HomeKit instead of any other brand of switch. We live in an old house and there weren’t many (any maybe?) in-wall dimmer switches that work without a neutral wire. I would have had to have some electrical work done to go with most other brands that require a neutral, and that’s not an option, so the Lutron Caseta is perfect for us that respect.

The packaging came in a blister-pack with instructions, and the particular version I got came with a dimmer remote included. If you already have an empty gang, you can also buy this model without either the remote or the faceplate. In this case I just went ahead and got them all together even though I ended up putting it in with another standard switch.

Once you have it installed in your wall, you pair it with the app by pressing and holding down the off button (bottom one) until the LEDs on the switch flash blue. You then tell the app to look for the device itself. The app will find the device and ask you to give it a room name or location, and then a ‘switch name’. I put this particular one in the kitchen, so it looks like this in the app:

It works very much like you would think it would. I did accidentally put a non dimming bulb in it at first, and if you do that you may think it’s not working because it won’t power up the LEDs on the switch at all. Be careful, or you will be left with the mistaken impression that you have a faulty switch. I had one dimmer bulb in one of the rooms malfunction, making me think the same thing. Always test with multiple kinds and types of bulbs before you resort to uninstalling the switch out from the wall.

Note that Philips hue bulbs do not work with this dimmer (as with all non Hue Dimmer switches). I tested that just to be thorough.

We specifically bought this dimmer for use with non Hue bulbs for cost efficiency and/or due to the style of the rooms/spaces they occupy. I knew, for example, that I didn’t want color changing bulbs for this style of lamp in the kitchen.

One cool feature that this dimmer does have is that when you tell it turn off the lights, it turns them off as if it was an interrupter. Unlike it’s table lamp dimmer equivalent, which while looking almost exactly the same in the app (like a dimmer/interrupter), it never fully cuts the power. Case in point these lamp bulbs will never be fully off.

On a day-to-day level they never go down or give the dreaded ‘no response’ message. Here is how they appear in Apple’s Home app.

They behave well with voice commands and even though I haven’t used them with Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, everyone in the relevant communities I’ve talked to have said they are ‘rock solid’ with just about every other home automation platform.

The post Lutron Caseta Dimmer Switch (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

Lutron Caseta Lamp Dimmer (review)

Kevin Patenaude — Tue, 15 May 2018 01:29:56 +0000

My wife and I live in an old house in the US which only has 2 wires in the walls (no neutral), so for all of our smart physical switches – whether they are interruptor or dimmable – we have decided to go with Lutron and their Caseta line. The fact is, there weren’t really any other options that I found. Lutron has quite the good reputation, so we got the hub, bought the switches etc, but we also wanted two table lamps to be dimmable for a sort of ‘retro’ look, using LED Edison bulbs. Luckily for us, Lutron may be the one company that offers such a product that is HomeKit compatible.

Here is what the packaging typically looks like, although there are different versions out there.

I bought two of these packs, and they look just like the packaging shows them. The package comes with a remote, although it isn’t required as such, so I’ll probably sell them on. They look and work well, right out of the box.

Adding the devices was very easy in the lutron app; Simply click on the settings in the upper left hand corner and then add device. It will find them easily.

Once added, you will see the lamps (under whatever name you assigned them and the virtual remotes) on the main page in the app. They automatically get added to your home, assuming you (as previously stated) have the hub set up and connected to HomeKit. I have the lamps grouped, but they look like any other table lamp that you have set up in HomeKit:

They can control $5 Edison LED bulbs with up to 20 gain stages, but cheap $1 LED bulbs only really have 5 or 6 stages. They talk with siri in all the ways you think they would: On – off – percentage etc. The plugs have two inputs each, although, as the warning sign on the device itself state, these are for ‘LAMPS ONLY’. They are rock-solid and for such an unsexy product I d0 think they need a bit more recognition, considering there isn’t any other product like it that I’m aware of.

Here are some photos of the lamp it’s in and the listing from Lutron’s website for the product.

Provides the best dimming performance for LED bulbs. Tested and recommended for use with over 1,000 bulbs (for recommended LEDs, please see “Technical Specification”)
Works with up to 100W of dimmable LED/CFL or 300W incandescent/halogen bulbs
Lamp Dimmer simply plugs into a standard outlet and can be used with up to two lamps
Dimmer controls up to 17 bulbs per circuit (based on 8.5W LED bulbs, 60W incandescent equivalent)
For added convenience, use with Pico remote (sold separately: PJ2-3BRL-WH-L01R) to turn lights on/off or raise/lower to adjust brightness
Works with your voice assistant or smart phone via the FREE Lutron app for iOS and Android (Smart Bridge required)

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Lutron Caseta Smart Bridge

The Editor — Sun, 01 Apr 2018 04:30:12 +0000

Easy to use and simple to set up; just connect to your router and follow app instructions.
Connects with more leading smart home brands (including Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, the Google Assistant, Nest, Serena shades and Sonos) than any other smart home lighting control brand to manage lights, voice assistans, cameras, temperature, shades and music
Clear Connect Technology does not interfere or compete with Wi-Fi connected devices
Supports up to 50 Caseta devices so you can personalize your home and expand at your pace
Includes (1) Caseta Wireless Smart Bridge; coordinating accessories sold separately

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Lutron Caseta Dimmer Switch

The Editor — Sat, 31 Mar 2018 03:56:26 +0000

Replaces an existing switch and installs in 3 steps in as little as 15 minutes; Ideal dimmer for all homes, as it does not require a neutral
Can control up to 17 bulbs per circuit (based on 8.5W LED bulb, 60W incandescent equivalent)
Tested and recommended for use with over 1,000 bulbs (for recommended LEDs, please see “Technical Specification”) and works with up to 150W dimmable LED/CFL or 600W incandescent/halogen bulbs
For added convenience use with Pico remote (PJ2-3BRL-GXX-L01) to turn lights on/off or raise/lower to adjust brightness
For multi-location applications, use with Caseta Wall Mount Kit (PJ2-WALL-WH-L01, sold separately)
Works with your voice assistant or smart phone via the FREE Lutron app for Ios AND Android (Smart Bridge required)
Connects with more leading smart home brands (including Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, the Google Assistant, Nest, Serena shades, and Sonos) than any other leading smart lighting control brand (Smart Bridge requried)
Includes (1) Caseta Wireless Smart Dimmer Switch; Coordinating wallplate sold separately

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