Yeah, I've tried it, and it's not sufficient as it doesn't expose all of the switches.
I have a need for some new switches too, I might’ve considered RadioRA 3 rather than more RadioRA 2 switches, if Lutron would just open up the LEAP API a bit…
I'd stick with Maestro even with RadioRA 3 processor. The RRD-PRO is the most versatile dimmer and one can easily change colors. It's hard to understand some of the product decisions that Lutron makes.
My impression is that they keep on refining capabilities, and that Lutron sometimes makes breaking changes. A good place to keep track or report issues is at:
Wonder why Lutron is slow to work with Hubitat because they already have integrations with Control4, Josh.ai, Crestron, etc. It's very simlar to the Caseta protocol which already works with Hubitat. I am also looking for RA3 integrations. I upgraded just assuming Hubitat would work with it.
It isn’t. LEAP is completely different from the telnet protocol used for the Caseta and Lutron RA2 integrations.
As of now the best way is via Home Assistant. I don't believe their integration is full-featured as of now, but it is under active development. There have been some RA3 changes as of September.
For me, the core issue with maintaining/extending an RadioRA2 investment is the stale RA2-Inclusive software?
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When my last Windows 10 machine advanced to Windows 11, I realized that RA2-Inclusive cannot run on Windows 11.
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I purchase a Mini PC (Intel Celeron N4020, 4GB DDR4, 128GB eMMC) and installed Windows 10 Pro just to run RA2-Inclusive.
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I have made numerous configuration changes on the Mini PC just to block otherwise-desirable updates (including Windows 11 migration).
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Now that RA2 lacks software support and RA3 lacks Hubitat integration, I purchase Caséta and Z-Wave alternatives.
I will probably perform an RA2 -> RA3 upgrade if/when (a) RA3 interoperates with Hubitat and (b) I take the RA3 training. Alternately, I'll need to abandon features like integration buttons.
How are others handling the current RA2 ugliness?
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Still using RA2 Inclusive?
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Still using Integration Buttons?
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Other adjustments / recommendations?
The Lutron software runs fine on Windows 11. I don't remember what the Windows 11 issue was for some users (I've never had a problem), but it was easily fixable. One thing to consider is to buy a second main repeater as they are easily findable on eBay. Also, Caséta scene buttons are the equivalent of RadioRA 2 phantom buttons.
@bill.d Thanks for the head's up with respect to Windows 11 support !
RA2-Inclusive on Win11
My previous attempts to install RA2-Inclusive on Win11 were circa Win11 22H2. I believe 22H2 included TLS 1.2 and dropped some support for application access to dated MS SQL Server versions (possibly due to dropped certs). I fell back to Windows 10 before the 22H3 release.
This afternoon, I installed RA2-Inclusive on win11 23H2 with no issues.
2nd RA2 Main Repeater
I do have a second RA2 Main Repeater - mostly so that I can avoid the "1 second delay" per Radio RA2 /Hubitat best practices form the start - #8 by jwjr.
Caséta Scenes
I picked up a few more Caséta devices recently. I'll give Caséta scene buttons a try.
+1 -- really want RA3 support from Hubitat.
I had >100 Insteon dimmers in a prior home. They've been sitting in a storage bin for the last ~5 years.
I'm about to take the plunge on Lutron's Radio RA3, largely because their Sunnata dimmer is, IMHO, far-and-away the best blend of aesthetics & premium UI/UX "feel".
To me, Insteon's dimmers always felt a bit cheap/gimmicky/non-premium; I feel like nearly all of the ('smart') dimmer options on the market today have a very similar UX & aesthetic to the old Insteon dimmers, especially dimmers that are available/accessible to "DIY"-ish crowd (i.e. not constrained to dealer-only - Control4, Crestron, etc). The only other dimmer I've been tempted by is the Inovelli, but it lacks the 'touch' dimming & has a few of the negative aesthetic aspects that I'm trying to avoid (extra button & air-gap thing -- simply just not as 'clean' as the Sunnata).
In order to have Sunnata -level aesthetics and interaction + any amount of 'smart' control (i.e. scenes), the only option is RA3 -- or to continue waiting for a new product, which may never come.
Hubitat is the missing link for me; I can use the HomeAssistant integration instead but, at least for me, HA has been far less stable vs Hubitat over the years.
Have you used the Sunnata dimmers? I found them to be fine, but not great, and not really any better than Maestro style. The backlighting may be annoying in some locations too. Also the Sunnata keypads more or less suck if you want to use backlighting or more than 4 buttons.
Yep, have used them & quite like them. The top-end line has the best dimming tech available and is configurable (fwd/rev phase & top/bottom 'stops'). The backlight can also be configured/disabled.
The Maestro aesthetic isn't awful (but also isn't as good as Sunnata) IMO -- though the UI/UX of "precise" dimming that the Sunnata offers via touch is really phenomenal IMO.
I've converted over to RA3 from RA2 and I also love them. Their native automation capability is quite basic and limiting, but they are the most reliable components I have in the house. Somehow, I've got RA3 working via Home Assistant with the Lutron Caseta integration. I've not been able to get this to work with Hubitat. My understanding is that HA doesn't have any native RA3 integration either, so not even sure why it is working for me (perhaps I'm cheating and it is going through Alexa). I've not bothered to figure that out.
Home Assistant has a reverse engineered LEAP integration for Lutron, which will work with both Caseta and RA3.
Thanks for the info.
For those of you that have gone down the path of using HA to integrate RA3 and then connecting HA to HE—how this experience has gone for you and does it works reliably?
FWIW, I've installed ~50 RadioRA3 Sunnata dimmers & switches in my home (~60% of loads) along with a handful of keypads and several motion/occupancy sensors. Generally quite impressed with the RA3 operationally; it's highly reliable, as expected, and the day-to-day UX is second to none (and I personally like the aesthetic & have received compliments on it).
The software side is lacking on Lutron's side; the software itself is somewhat cumbersome although also relatively straight-forward & easy enough to figure out -- it mainly just feels a bit clunky & old-school, but it works & is even relatively obvious/intuitive -- may need to occasionally look something up but beyond that, the training wasn't even overly insightful & was mostly sales training (the setup flow reminds me of Insteon config via the macOS 'Indigo' app)
The primary limitations I still yearn for are things like conditional and/or time or mode -based actions -- none of which can be done with RA3 out of the box.
The main things I want to be able to do are relatively simple, basically boils down to being able to have >1 time-boxed (or could be mode/variable -boxed, or whatever -- a single simple logical evaluation). Basically I'm not seeking wizardry, though would probably play with it if available, but I mainly want to be able to have motion-triggered loads (motion/occupancy/vacancy) react distinctly based on time of day.
What I want/need is mainly for "master bath" -type scenarios:
Where motion-driven ON is amazing, but you really don't want 100% brightness in the middle of the night, and if you set the "ON" level to 40% all the time then it's actively annoying in the middle of the day when it forces you to go hit the switch manually to get to 100% brightness to be able to see. Having to physically use the dimmer during the day but NOT at night is counterintuitive; you want a consistent routine, either you always use the dimmer or never/rarely use it, having to use it during certain times of the day is frustrating.
FWIW, Lutron does have conditional logic & variables but not in RA3 -- they (presumably arbitrarily) constrain that their higher-end (and dealer-only) "HomeWorks" product line.
I've setup the HA integration with Lutron and it works as advertised, which is pretty flawlessly; you can achieve the conditional logic with it, though with a bit of added latency (and at the mercy of HA's overall stability). It does work, though.
Unfortunately, HA is a good bit more of a PITA and substantially less long-term reliable vs Hubitat, at least in my experience. I've had to manually reboot Hubitat maybe ~3 times in 5yr (and I suspect that was largely due to 3rd party code/plugins). For HA, I've had to manually do something with it >20 times in the ~2yr of having it be semi-actively involved in portions of my setup.
I've yet try any HA<=>Hubitat integration WRT the Lutron stuff; I do have some "bridged" integrations setup for Unifi (cameras/doorbell), but those haven't been overly confidence-inspiring on the long-term reliability front either.
I suppose I might just need to dive into the code, if no one else beats me to it -- it seems like the low-level library is readily available & relatively stable/functional (and I'm a developer). I've just yet to be pushed to dive into any Hubitat plugin/library code personally; I have a sneaking suspicion that the existing open-source code (Python library) may not "just work" trivially on the Hubitat, and might require a substantial bit of porting -- which doesn't sound like the most fun way to spend multiple weekends.
Anyways, FYI -- I, for one, would be willing to pay a nominal one-time fee to get built-in Hubitat support for RadioRA3. I'm not sure how stable the LEAP protocol/API is but, if needed, I'd even consider paying a reasonably-priced subscription for it (i.e. maybe $60-$120/yr, or so?).
On that note, I'd be curious how many RA3 users there are & if others feel similarly; I'm not wholly opposed to taking on a project like that if it could conceivably be ~neutral value proposition (and scratches my personal itch).
Thanks for the update - Currently, I have a dual system running - both my old Radio RA2 - which most of my system is still on, and a smaller, newer RA3 for items that are not compatible with RA2. I didn't do a full upgrade because of the lack of Hubitat support. When I have some down time, I'm planning on getting an instance of Home Assistant up and running and trying to see if the HA->HE connection (Home Assistant to Hubitat Bridge) will work.
I would be very invested in some more easily accessible integrations with RA3.
I also need this integration. I reached out to Lutron about obtaining the API documentation, but I'm sure I won't get anything. I mentioned about it being for Hubitat, so maybe Lutron will be able to push the issue a little more.