I already have Lutron Pico remotes all working properly but had a few questions for advanced users.
My current setup:
One remote controls two separate lamps. Pressing the buttons briefly will cause the first lamp to turn on, 75%, 50%, 25%, and off. This is the same actions with the second lamp by holding the buttons down a little longer.
Questions:
Ignoring the two separate lamps being controlled, how would I typically setup the Pico to allow for a Pico remote to dim using the up and down buttons instead? Is there some trick people should know about?
Is there a way to set holding the center button down to switch between alternating between the two lamps instead so that I can free up the dimmer controls (instead of currently holding them down for set percentages)?
For #1, yes you can do this with a “start level change” command assigned to each button press (i.e. one for up, one for down), and “stop level change” assigned to each button release.
Button controller app will work for this as mentioned.
But to also accomplish #2, I think you could do this with a variable in rule machine.
So your best best is probably to use the button controller function of rule machine, rather than the stand-alone button controller app to get the functionality you’re looking for.
To add to this; I think you'll need to use the regular pico driver for this to work. IIRC, the fast pico driver doesn't expose the start/stop level change events.
Number 2 is trickier than 1 but possible. You could toggle a virtual switch to enable or disable a rule for each that contained to button mapping (the full button controller is built into Rule Machine).
Number 1 is just a matter of setting up hold and release for the dim up and down buttons. Don’t set “fast Pico” in the integration for that particular Pico or you won’t get hold settings.
Thanks everyone. I just use the regular/default Pico driver and didn’t realize a “fast” one even existed until now. It also sounds like setting up that middle button to change devices is probably more pain then it’s worth and because there’s no indicator, we could be constantly turning on the unintended light.
Maybe if there was some sort of “double tap” action (in quick succession), triple, quadruple, etc that could be added to lighting/RM then this could really expand a single Lutron Pico’ s functionality.
As for the “stop level change”, I’m assuming it has a percentage or numerical amount of “steps” to increase or decrease by. Will have to test this out.
Although, the pico device itself does not have doubletap built into it. It is easy enough to do what you state below in RM. But for your use case I wouldn't even bother. Just set it up that if the first button you press on the pico is the center button then control Lamp 1, if not control lamp 2. Obviously after a center button press it would have to revert back to lamp 2 after a certain amount of time, but setting 10 seconds in RM should be sufficient.
Tangential, but why couldn’t a developer add what’s essentially a “if pressed X quantity of times within X amount of MS” to make double tap, triple, etc work with these Lutron Picos? If I was smart enough (big IF) or had the time (just had another kid), I’d be tempted to take a stab at it.
(Sort of; it's at the app, not driver, level, and like the Hue Dimmer, it responds to all taps rather than waiting until you're likely done.)
Do note that there is a limit here that I didn't see mentioned above: if you hold the top, middle (if it's a 5-button), or bottom button--basically, any button that wasn't "designed" for dimming--down for more than about 5 or 6 seconds, you won't get the "released" event (with the fast driver, or I don't think any event with the regular driver). This is likely because Lutron didn't intend these buttons to be used that way and reserves at least the bottom button, usually, for programming/activating the Pico. This is likely longer than you'd hold the buttons down anyway and assumes you want a "dim/brighten while held" thing (sounds like you do), but I thought I'd mention this in any case.
Interesting and thanks everyone. Great points on the actual functionality of these remotes. Will definitely have to tinker around with these apps and see what can be accomplished.
This is starting to feel a bit like up down up down left right left right a b start.
Hi! I'm curious to learn if I need the Lutron Pro Hub in order to add a Pico 5 Button Remote to Hubitat?
I initially thought that the Hubitat Hub would be the only hub I needed but I'm starting to think I also need the Lutron Pro Hub. Do you know if that is the case or can I simply connect this Pico remote directly to the Hubitat Hub?
