Hi, I am thinking of finally purchasing a Lutron Pro Bridge. I want two button devices and the pico's seem to be the way to go. It is a lot to spend for two button devices, but I am also planning on doing window shades soon.
I like quality and typically shy away from anything IKEA. For those of you with Serena Blinds, do you find them a cut above the competition. Do they integrate well with hubitat and the Lutron Pro Bridge?
If I am not going to go the Serena shade route, I am probably not going to bother with the Lutron Pro Bridge, just for two picos.
I have quite a few lutron shades in my house. they work great and are super reliable. I have serena cellular shades in all our bedrooms and love them. I just replaced the 6D cell batteries in one of them after about 2 years of daily use. they look good/quality also.
I can’t speak for the competition but my non-Hubitat-integrated Serena’s are as reliable as a dial tone. Wait... Yea, they’re very reliable. I had no reason to integrate them with HE so I didn’t. They are connected via Lutron Bridge Pro2.
I subsequently added some IKEA shades because the price of Serena’s is obscene and those are integrated with HE directly.
The Ikea shades have noisy motors compared to the Serena’s but unless you’re hypersensitive to it no one will ever be the wiser.
The ikea shades in question only come in one color and only specific widths. But, with some hacker skills both of these issues can be easily overcome.
I am changing the look of a room and replacing blinds on a large window (70 1/2 x 71) and planning to go with shades. I hear you all speak well of Lutron. The cost seems high and want advice. How to chose between, Serena or Caséta and do both or either pair directly with HE? I don't want more hubs and such, preferring all zigbee and z-wave devices connect to the HE. Thoughts and direction is appreciated.
Thank you.
Serena shades pair with a Lutron Caseta SmartBridge PRO2 device via Lutron's ClearConnect RF protocol. This is the same RF protocol used by all Lutron Caseta switches, dimmers, fan controllers, and Pico remotes.
The SmartBridge PRO2, then connects to the local area network via a hardwired connection. The built-in Hubitat Lutron integration communicates bidirectionally with the SmartBridge PRO2 via a LAN-based Telnet protocol. It is very fast and very reliable.
In order to use any Lutron Caseta or Serena devices with Hubitat, one must purchase the Lutron Caseta SmartBridge PRO2. Lutron Caseta and Serena devices can NOT be paired directly to the Hubitat Elevation hub, as it does not contain a Lutron ClearConnect RF radio.
It is. The Hub Pro does support "Lutron Triathlon shades" and "Sivoia QS Wireless shades" but they are more expensive. If you do have a large window you may consider them but otherwise I would stick with "Luton Serena Shades".
Thank you all. You certainly peaked my interest in the Lutron line. Learning it is RF controlled helped explain a lot. You have also convinced me you guys have built a solid platform combining HE and Lutron. Reliability and longevity are important to be sure. Pricing this one window it looks like even the more basic end Lutron shades will cost over $900. I see a zigbee based item supported by HE, Yoolax, (brand I have not heard of) will pair directly with HE, so I don't have to buy another hub (an additional 80 bucks to the already over 900), and cost about $420.
This is a notable difference, especially if I consider, once this is done, someone in the house will want to replace several other window covering as well. This can really add up.
Now combine that with a somewhat unrelated view at stock holdings which remind me of some 90's horror movie hemorrhaging everywhere and I have to consider cost.
I consistently hear only good reports about Lutron. Thank you all so much. Your expertise, experience and advice are greatly appreciated.
