Getting started with Hubitat and was able to get it integrated with Lutron RadioRA2 (full version) and able to control lights directly from the console.
Can anyone share an example of how I could set the maximum dimmer levels based on time of day?
For example:
-Between Sunset/Sunrise, Kitchen dimmer when turned on should only ramp to a maximum of 75%
-During the Day, it can go on to its normal (non-hubitat controlled) level of 100%
I was hoping to get this working for all Dimmers and Keypad buttons I have, and possibly adjust the condition in the future to base of a daylight sensor.
There are multiple ways of doing this, particularly if you want to add daylight conditions. Below is what I believe to be the easiest.
For individual dimmers:
In Lutron software program your non-Hubitat controlled 'on' level to the lowest of your different scenarios. The reason to do it this way is that there are delays due to communications pipelines and Lutron-programmed fade rates. If you go with 100% as the programmed level, the lights will start out bright and fade to the lower level. It looks better to start low and raise to a higher level IMO.
Set up a mode for each scenario. You set up modes in Settings, Location and Modes.
Install the Hubitat Mode Manager app. In that app you set times for modes to change automatically.
Use Motion Lighting (it has Mode lighting too) app to set the levels to the preferred levels based on mode.
Keypad buttons are similar, but in some ways easier to deal with;
Set up a "base" scene on the keypad in the Lutron software. This will always work even if Hubitat is not connected.
Set up your alternate scenes as phantom buttons on your Main Repeater in the Lutron software.
Set up a Hubitat Button Controller app for your keypad. There are mode options in the app.
Choose buttons per mode and input your phantom button number for each mode. The phantom buttons exist on your Main Repeater. (Note that one of the most useful things about Hubitat is the ability add non-Lutron devices into a Lutron scene (e.g. Hue color lights). This is the best place to do that.)
You can use the Mode Lighting app (for dimmers) or Rule Machine (for keypads or dimmers) to adjust lights when the mode changes. For keypads and phantom buttons you need to us RM triggered rules (mode change as the trigger, each dimmer power status, level as conditions) as the keypad/phantom buttons don't have an on/off state.
Thanks so much for the info! I would have never thought to try the Mode Lighting app, but I do like this ability to set everything based on Mode/Time-of-Day.
I was able to get it working, but I'm running into the issue you mentioned. I have the dimmer hard set to 75%, but in mode manager during the day I set it to 100%.
The light turns on to 75%, but then there is a 2 second wait until it kicks in and starts ramping up to 100%.
I guess that works, but I thought I read somewhere that there was a possibility to have hubitat 'catch' during ramp up and send a second command to change the dim level. Maybe I was confusing this with the keypad workaround and using direct phantom buttons which might be more seamless?
You can do this with keypads using the Button Integrator app, that is part of the Lutron Integrator parent app.
This entails settings up a number of phantom buttons on the main repeater for each mode setting, and those get invoked by anything that turns on those lights.
Is there a performance reason to use the RA2 Button Integrator app vs Button Controller? I converted my keypad control over to Button Controller as it seems to now do almost everything that RA2 Button Integrator does. The upside of BC is that it allows more flexibility with modes (names and number) and doesn't require an Alexa name and associated Alexa dimmer.
Sorry to resurrect an old thread. Hi Bruce (@bravenel) I'd accomplished night dimming levels based something like what Bill described, with my hybrid keypads set with a night level single scene, and a phantom button that HE calls for daytime level via Button Controllers, where the phantom button is also a single scene. Works reliably, the dimming buttons continue to work, but requires an off.
If I move this over to Button Integrator, and use a Shared Toggle scene, will it allow me to use keypad buttons as toggles and eliminate the need for a dedicated off button? Sorry if this is documented somewhere; I tried the lutron integration docs but they didn't go into button integrator.
If you mean being able to toggle on/off with the keypad button, yes. The way I do it is I have the keypad button turn on to the dimmest scene (on the Lutron side). Then Button Integrator takes over for brighter scenes using phantom buttons. For me, the natural ramp rate of the Lutron controlled light is slower than Hubitat, so it's seamless. If I press the keypad button during the day, it just ramps on up to the right level, even though it started at dim and then a phantom scene kicked in for brighter. The keypad remains a toggle.
I wrote that Button Integrator app a very long time ago, when we were just getting the hub to first work, about a year prior to the launch of Hubitat Elevation. I have not revisited it since. This could probably be done in a slicker way, but I've had no reason to change it. I thought it was pretty damn cool at the time that Hubitat could take over a keypad like that, and that the timing all worked out so well.
Thanks very much; will give it a try tonight. I have hybrid keypads all over the house so being able to gain buttons by converting things to toggle control will be great. I'll need to order a bunch of engraving kits if this all works out lol.
With this setup on a keypad, have you ever run into an issue when you go to turn off the light that instead of turning off, it actually goes to the 'phantom buttons' level (either brighter or dimmer)?
I can't seem to come up with the pattern of when/why this happens. It works fine most of the day though.
I think it might be happening when the light is already on and the system is changing modes (between day/night).
I haven't moved to Button Integrator yet (ran out of time last night) but that would be my guess as well. If the light's status from Lutron's perspective was a toggle on of the daytime scene which is mapped to the daytime phantom button, so let's say 100% bright, and then HE kicks into night mode, then when you press keypad again Lutron begins to execute the toggle to off, Button Integrator considers the state to be something other than the night time configuration, assumes that is what you want, so it presses the phantom button to put it at night dim level, interrupting the move to off.
I hope to have time to dive into it in the next couple days to try things out, and see if I run into the same thing, as I expect to do the same thing you are with a night mode that maps to a different scene toggle and phantom button.
I'll see if I can give it a try tonight when the mode switches, but that's what I'm thinking too. Thanks for trying this out too.
However, it works great and I got so used to the lights coming on at the right level. Next I have to try to get my individual dimmers (non-keypads) to do the same thing. Then hopefully I'll be ready to commit to sending the engraving sheets in
@Cal would you mind sharing your settings in Button Integrator? I'm trying to set it up tonight and it is not working the way I expected. I also don't even have an 'evening' mode, so not sure how that factors in; I've got day, night, and away. I borrowed a button from a tabletop keypad and:
Mapped it to a Shared Toggle called "Kitchen Night" which is 25% bright.
Mapped phantom button 10 to the same Kitchen Night shared toggle.
Pushed it out. Flipped kitchen on and off using the keypad button, expected light level resulted, followed by off.
Created a new Shared Toggle mapped to phantom button 11 called Kitchen Day set to 100% bright.
Created a new "Single/Multi-room scene" called Kitchen Off and mapped it to phantom button 12. Only reason I even did this is because I knew Button Integrator has a spot for off. Not sure if it's needed, or why, since the intent is to use toggles.
Went into Button Integrator, created new, set the main repeater, set button day to 11, which is my 100% brightness toggle. Set button evening to 10, even though I don't have an evening, but that's my 25% brightness toggle. Set off to my 12 off scene.
I picked my tabletop keypad for the next question, and the night button set to the button currently mapped to the Kitchen Night shared toggle. This did not behave in a way I'd expect. If HE is set to day, it still hit night brightness (its default). If HE is set to night, it does the same thing. Toggle does work though; second press turns back off.
Tried setting night to an unassigned keypad button; did nothing.
Removed the setting for "evening", just leaving main repeater with a day and off mapping. Set my tabletop keypad in next section, and the button mapped to the night shared toggle. In HE day mode, this results in the lights coming on and then turning back off. Second push, night brightness. I press again, and they go to day brightness lol. Fourth press turned them off. So I have no idea what's going on.
Here's a screenshot from one of my hybrid keypads using Button Integrator. In RR2 software I created the Phantom buttons that were assigned to day, evening and off. I had assigned night to button #1 (which is actually the button on the Keypad), because in the RR2 software I have the light turn on to only 10% brightness. But I'm not sure if I need to create another Phantom button just for off which might be causing my issue.
The other item is to setup the 'Mode Manager' app so the day/evening/night/away modes are set properly.
