I am looking to purchase the Lutron Smart Bridge Pro2 Hub and several Lutron Caseta Dimmers. I have a couple questions:
The Caseta Dimmers have four buttons. 1) On, 2) up, 3) down, and 4) off. From what I've gathered, When you press on, the dimmer will set the light to 100% (as opposed to the last dim level before turning off). Is this correct?
From what I've gathered, I've also learned that the buttons can trigger (I'm not sure if that's the right term) actions (also not sure if that's the right term) in HE. For example, I press "on" and HE can tell another light to turn on. Is this correct? If so, is it possible, for example, to have the "on" button trigger and action in HE and not turn the light on?
Speaking of triggers, HE can distinguish a button press from from a button hold from a button release, correct?
Finally, is it possible to control the "on" dim level from HE? For example, if I want my lights to only turn on to 50% after 10 pm, is it possible to automate this so that I press the "on" button and the lights only come on at %50?
For 1, you are correct. Top button is always 100%.
Hubitat could have some action triggered by the dimmer being turned on to 100% (an intentional fine distinction from the button being pressed). It is not possible to do that and not have the light turn on. The action action could immediately turn the light off, but you'd see it go on then off.
For Pico remotes Hubitat can see push and release, and through software in the Pico driver add hold to the mix. Picos are quite versatile, and once you have the SmartBridge Pro you are going to want some Picos.
It is possible to control the dim level from Hubitat, and have it tailored to time of day as you describe. But, as with answer 2 above, you can't overcome that hardwired 100%.
Generally speaking, you want to think about moving away from the use of light switches to other things that cause the lights to come on. Picos, Alexa, motion sensors, etc, can all overcome the limitations described above, and so so elegantly.
Our chief Engineer used a combination of wall box mounted Picos and buried micro dimmers to overcome this limitation of Caséta dimmers. His setup looks like a Caséta dimmer, but acts like other dimmers that remember their previous setting instead of turning on to 100%.
I believe it's @mike.maxwell that @bravenel is referring to, and he uses Aeon micro modules, preferring them to the Aeon Nano modules. However, I'm fairly certain the Aeon micro modules are no longer available, so you would only be able to purchase the Nano modules.
While I 100% believe you... I also 100% find it SHOCKING that 100% is the only "on" option?
A couple other questions then:
When does Lutron send its "on" event? Judging by the lunacy of only having 100% can I make the assumption that they made the equally questionable decision to only send "on" when it had reached its full 100% or were they smart enough to also send a "ramping up" signal which, theoretically, could be intercepted and turned into "dim to 60%"?
Is there a place one could see a complete enumeration of states? I ask because I'm deep in the "which system should I go with?" question and, until I read the above, I was leaning toward lutron...
If you use the Physical "on" button on the Caseta Switch, Hubitat receives the "on" status update only after the Lutron dimmer ramps up to 100%. Same when physically turning "off".
If you Turn "on" Caseta dimmer via Hubitat, the status changes to "on" immediately, even though the actual switch is still ramping up. Same for "off".
I just tested this on my Caseta setup.
To be honest, I use motion sensors, door contact sensors, Alexa, and Pico remotes for almost all of my lighting needs these days. We rarely touch a light switch, but it is nice to have them should something go amiss with the automation.
Thanks for the quick reply. I'm still bewildered that you're not able to set a desired "on" level which the "on" button would go to. I think that I also read that there is a fixed ramp rate. Is that true?
Just to clarify there are a couple different caseta switches. There are two dimmers that are pretty popular. 1 does not require a neutral(no round center button in switch) and the other one does.
For either if you just hit the "level up" button it will turn on and not 100%, at a low dim level.
For the ones with the round button in the middle, you can program that physical button to turn on to whatever level you like. This is all outside of HE. But just clarifying that there are a few ways to turn these on.
In response to my third question, @bravenel mentions that "Hubitat can see push and release, and through software in the Pico driver add hold to the mix."
Do either of the above dimmers have the ability to see push, release, or hold?
Awesome. Thanks for the info! Sounds like those wall mounted Picos are the gateway to having ultimate power which doesn't look so bad. Seems to me (someone who's doing new construction) like the strategy should nearly always be to have the gang box be one bigger than it needs to be, throw in a pico switch, and decide what it controls later...
Perhaps, but 6 seconds is well beyond a users tolerance for a hold event, hold events should fire anywhere from 250 to 500ms after the device is pushed.
6 seconds is fine for a programming event, which is what this is. If that event is sent, we don't capture it, but I suspect it isn't sent over the bridge api.
I was thinking it meant this: Press the top button and adjust until you get your desired light level, let's say 90% brightness. Then press and hold the top button for 6 seconds, which stores that as a preset. The next time you press the top button, it will go to 90%, not 100%. You don't have to press and hold again.
Edit: Though I guess there is no way to get 90%, it's only what is available on that Pico, so never mind.
I think you can set it to whatever level you want this way. In the 5 button dimmers there was a similar feature for the middle button, to set it as a favorite button. Didn't know you could do presets on the top 3 buttons of a 4 button dimmer.
My plan was to use this particular Pico to control 3 separate lights, but through HE and not the Lutron app. Top 3 buttons toggle the 3 lights, bottom button turns them all off. So thankful to you guys for providing this capability!
