Scottmichaelj Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 Individually the lighting control of Lutron is great. Add in the other pieces of home automation and Lutron does not provide all of the pieces. Thermostat? Yes if you have Central A/C if not then you're out of luck I/O Interfaces? Yes with RA2 but not the lower end Caseta Integrated Fan/Light? No. Lutron still does not offer that for RA. Only available with Maestro switch Budget? Have lots of money for a Smart Home... Great!... Lutron it is along with RTI, URC, Control4, etc etc (BTW most C4 gear is ZigBee)... if not? But you still want quality? The area I work with is not a very wealthy area to begin with but there are more middle-class that want Smart Home setups beyond voice control or mobile app to turn a lamp on/off. The flexibility of ISY and other controllers with programming/integration makes a strong combination. The current weak link is user interface... People like to see status and touch things for control especially touchscreens that make it "modern". Now I did not say I was installing Z-Wave for lighting Thats whats so wonderful about access to all these systems and devices, so much to choose from and you can make sure your customers best interests are met rather than forcing too much or not having enough. Link to comment
simplextech Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 3 minutes ago, Scottmichaelj said: Thats whats so wonderful about access to all these systems and devices, so much to choose from and you can make sure your customers best interests are met rather than forcing too much or not having enough. Exactly! Having lots of choice is good and sometimes bad as then there's the work of ensuring things actually will work together well and not bubble gum and duct tape The issue with too much choice is the cleanup involved from the too much DIY Link to comment
asbril Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 29 minutes ago, simplextech said: The flexibility of ISY and other controllers with programming/integration makes a strong combination. The current weak link is user interface... People like to see status and touch things for control especially touchscreens that make it "modern". ? Link to comment
lilyoyo1 Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 The downside of lutron caseta over the isy with Insteon and/or zwave is the lack of conditional programming. This is why I choose control 4 over radio ra2 Link to comment
simplextech Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 5 minutes ago, lilyoyo1 said: The downside of lutron caseta over the isy with Insteon and/or zwave is the lack of conditional programming. This is why I choose control 4 over radio ra2 Doesn't Control4 offer the conditional logic above the RadioRA2 layer? Caseta Pro hub integrates with the same telnet interface. At that point the lights are just another device under Control4. Are you now using Control4 on top of ISY/Insteon then? Are you using the ISY for control logic and not Control4? Link to comment
Scottmichaelj Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 The downside of lutron caseta over the isy with Insteon and/or zwave is the lack of conditional programming. This is why I choose control 4 over radio ra2 Doesn't Control4 offer the conditional logic above the RadioRA2 layer? Caseta Pro hub integrates with the same telnet interface. At that point the lights are just another device under Control4. Are you now using Control4 on top of ISY/Insteon then? Are you using the ISY for control logic and not Control4? Yeah that makes no sense most have integration directly with the other systems, so why not use the logic there bridging it all systems together? I prefer to keep each system “clean” and then all the macros, logic, etc in one area whatever that maybe.ATEOTD theres many ways to cook a hamburger and none of us are right and wrong. Just personal preference. Link to comment
lilyoyo1 Posted May 27, 2019 Share Posted May 27, 2019 1 hour ago, simplextech said: Doesn't Control4 offer the conditional logic above the RadioRA2 layer? Caseta Pro hub integrates with the same telnet interface. At that point the lights are just another device under Control4. Are you now using Control4 on top of ISY/Insteon then? Are you using the ISY for control logic and not Control4? In my house, I use insteon/zwave integrated with RTI. Even then it's done more for the theater control and touchscreen than anything else. For high end homes I use control4 which does have conditional logic. Control4 is lts own system. I dont combine high with low. Link to comment
simplextech Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 Ok so you're using the ISY with RTI... ok. From the way I read it the first posting was you used ISY with Control4 and using the logic within ISY instead of Control4 which made no sense to me So a Lutron -> ISY integration would be of Interest? Link to comment
lilyoyo1 Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 After I re-read my post I can see the confusion. My apologies. I'm not a fan of lutron though I think it's a good system. While I personally wouldn't use it at this time, I can see the usefulness of it and can see it being used a lot. Having options is never a bad thing. Link to comment
simplextech Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 I'm interested in learning what your choice would be instead of Lutron? Always interested in learning from others Link to comment
lilyoyo1 Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 2 minutes ago, simplextech said: I'm interested in learning what your choice would be instead of Lutron? Always interested in learning from others As ScottMichaelj said, there's a lot of choices. None in my opinion are perfect. They are have pros and cons. My personal choices are Control4 and ISY. When it comes to the ISY I prefer insteon switches and zwave peripherals such as locks and sensors. Since the isy is for low end stuff I'm not one to integrate it into high end stuff. Personally I try to mix as little as possible to avoid complications. My place is one thing. Doing so in someone else's home is another Link to comment
simplextech Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 That's going with Control4 switches/dimmers of their ZigBee implementation? I'm pretty ignorant of Control4 as I don't have a system to muck around with yet...working on it...looking for a system to muck with as I don't want/need to pay the install or monthly fees for a test/dev system. Link to comment
lilyoyo1 Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 1 hour ago, simplextech said: That's going with Control4 switches/dimmers of their ZigBee implementation? I'm pretty ignorant of Control4 as I don't have a system to muck around with yet...working on it...looking for a system to muck with as I don't want/need to pay the install or monthly fees for a test/dev system. That is correct. Control4 uses it's own proprietary zigbee implementation. There's already drivers for C4 and insteon. There are shortfalls with it but it exists. You're probably better off focusing on lutron especially the Caseta line as it's much more affordable Link to comment
simplextech Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 5 minutes ago, lilyoyo1 said: That is correct. Control4 uses it's own proprietary zigbee implementation. There's already drivers for C4 and insteon. There are shortfalls with it but it exists. You're probably better off focusing on lutron especially the Caseta line as it's much more affordable The Caseta Standard is very basic but the Caseta Pro bridge brings RA2 telnet integration which is fine until you want to go beyond 50 devices or you want to use anything other than switch/dimmer. I'm really not quite sure "how" to take your statement of "probably better off focusing on lutron especially the Caseta line as it's much more affordable"..... ??? Really that could be taken in a few ways depending on mood. Link to comment
nathagt Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 I'll second the Alexa app. I don't think you actually even need an Alexa device in your house to use it. Just connect the service to UDI Skill and let it discover all the devices. You can customize what shows up in the app through the ISY Portal. They've been making incremental improvements to the app. Link to comment
markv58 Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 I fiddled around a few hours and made my perfect ISY app, one page with everything I need an app to do. Link to comment
lilyoyo1 Posted May 28, 2019 Share Posted May 28, 2019 2 hours ago, simplextech said: The Caseta Standard is very basic but the Caseta Pro bridge brings RA2 telnet integration which is fine until you want to go beyond 50 devices or you want to use anything other than switch/dimmer. I'm really not quite sure "how" to take your statement of "probably better off focusing on lutron especially the Caseta line as it's much more affordable"..... ??? Really that could be taken in a few ways depending on mood. There was nothing disrespectful about the statement. Early on you mentioned ISY>lutron, the desire for low cost offerings due to the area you're in, and then we started focusing on C4 which already has a driver and is cost prohibitive. Simply making a statement that captured the gist of all that was spoken. I assumed if you were looking for something to integrate with higher end, you would want something that could benefit you most and the clientele in your area. Link to comment
simplextech Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 2 hours ago, lilyoyo1 said: There was nothing disrespectful about the statement. Early on you mentioned ISY>lutron, the desire for low cost offerings due to the area you're in, and then we started focusing on C4 which already has a driver and is cost prohibitive. Simply making a statement that captured the gist of all that was spoken. I assumed if you were looking for something to integrate with higher end, you would want something that could benefit you most and the clientele in your area. Ahhhh.... see forum mannerisms... I should be more specific. I wasn't offended that's why I was asking if I should be or not? Link to comment
Michel Kohanim Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 @markv58, Brilliant app. Do you want to develop one for us? With kind regards, Michel Link to comment
markv58 Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 4 minutes ago, Michel Kohanim said: @markv58, Brilliant app. Do you want to develop one for us? With kind regards, Michel I created that with Command Fusion which can be used to create an app that could be in app stores. I will be spending some time figuring out all of the potential that is there, much of which is over my head right now but if I can figure it all out I might. Link to comment
markv58 Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 I'm fleshing out this app thing. I may want some testers down the road. Link to comment
asbril Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 14 minutes ago, markv58 said: I'm fleshing out this app thing. I may want some testers down the road. Looks great. Link to comment
TomL Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 I agree, it looks very good. I would be in as a tester if interested. Link to comment
asbril Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 24 minutes ago, TomL said: I would be in as a tester if interested Same for me Link to comment
LFMc Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 21 hours ago, markv58 said: I'm fleshing out this app thing. I may want some testers down the road. Is that Blue Iris giving you the camera views? The camera integration is a very nice touch. Count me in. Link to comment
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