Hey, first time poster but long time lurker. First a little intro, Im a ST user since the launch of V2 and just recently bought a hubitat hub to start my migration. Im excited to get started with my new hub and start bringing over my 150ish devices. Its awesome to see all the familiar ST faces here as well, its very welcoming.
My house is 25years old and I have neutrals at 90% of my switches. Im currently using a mixture of 1st and 2nd gen GE z-wave switches (no z-wave plus versions). I have a couple of each version that are starting to show signs of failure, Im finding they need an air gap pull to get them going again. Ive never been a big fan of the look and feel of them either. This brings me to the caseta switches, they look and feel much more profession imo. I went ahead and bought a pro starter kit and a couple dimmers to start swapping.
Im having mixed feelings about installing these because of the lack of a neutral on the dimmers, it just doesn't seem right. I understand how they work and read some great post from @JDRoberts on the functionality. These dimmers will be used to control ndr electric razor led pot lights and feit led bulbs. I also have a few areas where the min load would be 2 bulbs (16 watts). Are the capacitors necessary for these situations with small loads? Should I forget caseta and go with something else? I know they make switches that require a neutral but there over twice the money per switch.
Lastly is the lack of a last level memory. I read that pressing on turns the lights to full, what happens if you just click the up level? From my reading some people combat this by using the pico favorite button and activating a scene. As far as pairing, whats the process, is wise to pair directly to the switch or the bridge? If I pair directly to the switch can the picos still be used in HE? I don't want to wait for the lights to turn on if you know what I mean.
Sorry for all the questions, need you guys settle my mind down, haha.
While Lutron makes great switches if you are looking for an alternative I would say check out the Leviton DZ6HD dimmer. They can remember last dim setting along with numerous other settings that can be configure in the dimmer. They also do require a neutral and I do have 1 dimmer for a closet that has a single 6 or 8 watt led bulb and it has no problem with dimming a very low load.
I also find that Philps and Cree bulbs work best, I have no buzzing with these bulbs and can dim down to like 2%.
Also check out ebay for either Lutron or Leviton, I was able to find a lot of brand new Leviton dimmers for like $25-30.
I recently installed Caseta switches and dimmers throughout my hous, so the process is still pretty fresh in my memory. Picos are interesting. If you pair a Pico directly to a Caseta Dimmer, and then add that dimmer to the Lutron SmartBridge Pro, and then add the Pico to the SmartBridge Pro in the same Caseta "Room" (note - this might actually happen automagically when adding the switch/dimmer to the Lutron SmartBridge Pro), they will stay paired to one another. If you move the Pico to a different Caseta "Room" in the Lutron App on your phone, the link between the two is broken.
In either case, you can still add the switch/dimmer and the Pico to Hubitat. I actually put all of my Pico remotes that are not used to directly control a Caseta Dimmer/Switch into a special "Room" called 'Pico Remotes'. This keeps them from trying to control any Caseta switches and dimmers directly.
I have to agree that some of your concerns regarding the lower cost Caseta dimmers are well founded. I had to replace almost all of my existing bulbs (LEDs and CFLs) to use Caseta dimmers. I used a combination of Philips dimmable LED bulbs and incandescent bulbs in order to get them to stop buzzing/flickering. Like you, the cost of the more expensive Caseta Dimmer that utilizes a neutral was prohibitive. Cheap incandescent bulbs in fixtures that are rarely used was a much more economical solution. For bulbs that we use a lot, I used the new Philips dimmable LEDs. I can still hear some slight 60Hz buzzing on some of these.
Lutron does have a bulb compatibility chart that tells you which bulbs are compatible with their switches and dimmers. I'd highly recommend using it. With that being said, I purchased FIET LEDs for my recessed lighting from Costco because they're 1200 lumen and I wanted a fair amount of light if I needed it. I keep most of my lighting dimmed down to 50% or lower to save on the energy bill. My LEDs are not on the compatibility list with Lutron but I knew someone else who had success using them with Lutron. My only gripe is the dimmers do not retain their last dim level however I have installed the dimmers with the favorite button and utilize that for that most of the time, coupled with motion sensors 90% of the rest of the time so touching a switch barely happens. I love how easy Lutron is to use, and I did have an electrician come in during my remodel and add neutrals to all my boxes that I've added switches and dimmers to so far, but I'm also in the middle of a complete remodel of my home so doing so now was a no brainer. The new ceiling fan switches are also the cats meow relative to my dumb ceiling fans. No more pulling chains and no worries about having to install anything extra in the ceiling skirt.
My experience so far. I've had a lot of different brands of bulbs/switches. I just recently got into the Lutron stuff. So far I'm really happy. Function has been 100%. I only used the non neutral switches for 2 locations where I didn't have a neutral. Otherwise I used the neutral ones. Both have been fine with all my existing bulbs. Because the integration with Hubitat is network based I find these switches operate much faster in my house than zwave. YMMV. But in the future when I need a new switch or need to replace a switch..it will be the lutrons.
TIP: Check Lowe's periodically. They sometimes have the switches and dimmers for $40 a pop. I have a few spares here because of that. I haven't found the switches that don't require a neutral for less than $70 lately though.
Thanks for all the replies and feedback. I really like the look and feel of Lutron over the GE's and if I need to start replacing switches it might as well be with caseta. Yes there a lot more money but its definitely worth it. I only have a couple locations where I feel the PD-6WCL will work just fine. For the rest of the locations im just going to bite the bullet and get the PD-5NE since I have the neutrals. Im able to get them for $106 CAD each from my electrical supplier, its basically there cost on them.
Im also wondering how quick they turn on via Alexa? Pretty much the same as z-wave? Is the stock Alexa to Lutron integration clunky at all? Are you able to simply say, Alexa turn on the kitchen lights?
with regards to Alexa, I let Lutron handle the Alexa communication through the Lutron Alexa Skill. and yes, it's a simple as saying Alexa turn on the kitchen lights or Alexa, dim the kitchen lights to 50 percent. It's fast and simple.
If you're not in a hurry(release date ~6/28/19) to get things swapped out, check out Inovelli's new no-neutral z-wave+ switches. It offers another option at a fantastic price point($30.00), and functionality seldom found at this price. There's even a $25.00 dimmer option w/o notifications & scenes.
I did go with Lutron, and I'm happier with it so far than I ever was with Zwave/zigbee switches/lights because they respond instantly and are more reliable. Beyond the switches, I've found the pico remotes to add a lot of value that I wasn't expecting. My only complaint is that when using a pico remote to control an automation (e.g. through rule machine) which controls a Caseta dimmer or switch, there's a few second delay. This delay doesn't exist when the pico is paired wish the switch directly as described by ogiewon, or when the lutron switch is controlled by some other means (e.g. contact sensor -> rule machine). There's also no delay for pico controlling something else, like a zigbee dimmer.
Subjectively, the Caseta dimmers and switches aren't the nicest to look at. I've also found that they can be a tight fit in the shallow metal electrical boxes that are original to my 1964 house. Overall, I'm very happy with them -- especially so with the Pico remotes, they've provided a lot of flexibility and have allowed me to do things that would otherwise not be possible without rewiring switches or outlets.
@raidflex
Holy that's a lot of dimmers, I'll have less than half that in total. Some of those will be the cheaper dimmers for incandescent loads and on/off switches.
@Rxich
I took a look at the new versions awhile back and they do look nice. The feature set is pretty impressive too. I have neutrals so I'd rather use the proper switches imo. Also the date keeps getting pushed back and I question the quality and led compatibility for the price.
I installed a couple of the neutal dimmers and they look and work great. I've always had a buzzing from my ge switches and my feit bulbs. Now with evl+ dimmers it's dead silent, I also find the dimming smoother and they can dim lower as well. It's a lot more money but I'm happy.
Yeah my entire house has the Leviton's and they add up quick. I have bathrooms that have 3 switches for recessed, shower and vanity, so that's 6 just between two baths.
I was super close to buying Caseta switches for the parts of my house that aren't on the LiteTouch system. I have 48 loads on the LiteTouch system, and another 24 loads that are regular switches/dimmers. However, I'm concerned about the lack of neutrals in the Caseta dimmers. I replaced 135 light fixtures with LED's, and most are can light retrofits which were not cheap. If I get buzzing, there's no way I'm going to replace these lights with something else.
I have a neutral in every switch box, so that's not an issue. Do the Radio RA2 dimmers work with the Caseta Pro hub? If so, then I could get a dimmer w/ a neutral to reduce the chance of buzzing or power leakage making the bulb glow dimly or flicker when off.
I can almost guarantee you you will get buzzing using the low-cost, no-neutral Caseta dimmer switches.
No, the Radio RA2 dimmer will not work with the Lutron Caseta SmartBridge Pro. However, fret not! There is another Caseta Dimmer that is designed for these types of electrical loads, and does require a netural.
Yikes, that's like double the price of the non-neutral version. But, hopefully I only have to do it once.
I feel like the Zwave switches are not something that will be trouble free for 20 years.
