I've just had my third Leviton fan controller go bad and I'm thinking to replace them with Lutron's fan controller. I have one of these and it seems to work. I also have other Leviton switches that periodically lose their connection with the Z-wave network and have to be repaired, often with great difficulty. I'm thinking about replacing these with Lutron switches.
I've heard that Lutron has its own wireless technology that is different from Zigbee/Z-wave. Is it truly better than the other two wireless protocols? Do users generally find the integration superior? Are extenders needed with Lutron devices?
I find Lutron’s Clear Connect RF wireless protocol to be 100% reliable. Like you, I experienced enough frustration with Z-wave that I eventually replaced it all with Lutron Caseta. I have had absolutely zero issues with these devices since doing so. Clear Connect RF operates at ~433MHz, which allows it to travel well through walls.
The integration with Lutron Caseta is via the SmarthBridge Pro2, which supports the required Telnet LAN connectivity that Hubitat requires. I have found it to be blazing fast and reliable.
A Caseta network supports up to two repeaters. One can be simply a plug in Caseta dimmer outlet. The other can be the Caseta dedicated repeater device. You cannot use two of the same device types as repeaters. It must be only one of each, if any at all.
Correct. It’s called ClearConnect, and uses a much lower frequency than zwave (or zigbee), and is not a mesh protocol. All my switches and dimmers are Lutron Caséta, and have been rock solid for ~7 years. Caséta systems support a single repeater.
Edit: @ogiewon is correct, Caséta networks can have 2 repeaters. I have just one.
They're tanks... In the 10 years I've been using them I've yet to have one or a pico fail. I've only changed one pico battery in that 10 years as well. Fast, reliable, good looking.... Lutron decora plates are also beautiful. Any exposed outlets or switches in my house get the Lutron plates, the rest are enerlites (which is also a good looking 2 piece plate) Overall high SAF rating...
I also concur that Lutron is the best system out there, although its Caseta line is not superior to the other Lutron wireless options. I use mostly picos (with a few Caseta switches) with my smart bridge pro. My wife doesn't like the look of the switches (for that matter neither do I), so most of my switches are GE/Jasco zwave 500 series (and some inovelli). Everything has been rock solid for me. But I do plan to slowly switch over to Lutron's RA2 (which also utilizes Lutron's ClearConnect). Its switches are more to our liking, and it is at least as good as Lutron's Caseta lineup. (@Madcodger)
The only caveat I will add is that when I want zero incompatibilities and full dimming of an LED light fixture, I choose Philips Hue bulbs or fixtures with Picos instead of a caseta dimmer. Makes for a very harmonious pairing with no flickering, no buzzing and low low dim level.
I'm starting to wish I had done everything with Lutron from the beginning. Thank you for the replies!
The Lutron bridge that I have is the "Lutron Caseta L-BDGPRO2-WH - SmartBridge Pro." Is this what I need to get all this 100% working reliable Lutron awesomeness?
Lutron makes multiple Lighting systems, depending on complexity and size of the home (as well as one's budget!) Radio RA3 is the rumored successor to the current Radio RA2 product line.
Never know! I was thinking RA3 would be the next generation of RA2 with RA2 Select combined in feature wise. One can wish... In any case once its out maybe a bunch of used RA2 stuff starts being available. I'm fine with that.
