Lutron Caseta Bridge

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1

I’ve got a 2Gig panel with ADC service. Works good. Looking to install light controllers in my home, and want them to be controllable from my AV center (via Harmony Home Control), as well as via ADC.

Leaning towards Lutron Caseta/Smart Bridge system, which Logitech says is compatible with Harmony. I’ve read on line (press releases) that the system is also compatible with ADC, but ADC’s website doesn’t mention it in their list of “compatible hardware”.

Does anyone know for sure whether the Lutron Caseta dimmers and/or Smart Bridge system is compatible with ADC?

2

It will be shortly. The Caseta bridge integration is currently in Beta testing with ADC. They already support RadioRA 2. It has not yet been officially supported (no formal announcement that I am aware).

3

Thanks.

Another thing that puzzles me a little bit – If I install a lighting control system like the Caseta Bridge (when/if it becomes compatible), and I program an scenario-based event (for example, turn on some lights when the front door opens), is the 2Gig cellular radio involved in the communication (implying significant latency), or does the communication take place among and between the locally installed devices?

If the latter is true, I might be better off to skip the bridge approach, and just use regular Z-wave light switches. I’d have to use something different for the A/V room, but that’s probably OK since that room isn’t really part of my overall security protocol.

4

No, the 2Gig panel would have no direct communication with Caseta. Using the Alarm.com app, commands would be sent via IP using Lutron’s controller. It is just integrated on Alarm.com’s back-end.

5

So let me see if I have this right: Door open signal is sent to 2Gig panel, which sends signal to ADC via cellular, then ADC communicates with Caseta in the cloud, and Caseta turns on the lights via WiFi. It’s that first step that worries me – several seconds latency due to cellular connection would kind of defeat the purpose of many automation functions.

EDIT: I was just reading about the 2Gig IP bridge on another thread. Perhaps this would avoid any latency problems.

6

I’ve never personally noticed severe latency issues with this kind of setup, but if that is a concern, then going with 2Gig compatible Zwave switches would allow your 2Gig panel to process the automation. Event rules would be created via ADC and stored and executed locally.

And yes, the Go!Bridge significantly improves speeds.

7

Two follow up notes:

  1. Based on more research, it appears that ADC will only be compatible with the Caseta Smartbridge Pro, vs. the less expensive and more commonly available Caseta Smartbridge.

  2. While I haven’t experimented with it, my understanding is that if I use the 2Gig panel to automate the lighting control (which would be my least expensive option, by a long shot), I would sacrifice the ability to control those same lights with any other Z-wave solution (such as a Harmony remote), since the 2Gig panel doesn’t allow secondary Z-wave controllers.

(Somebody please correct me if this is wrong).

8

The 2GIG panel doesn’t support having secondary Z-Wave controllers but it can be the secondary Z-wave controller to another primary Z-Wave controller. I’ve seen it set up that way with Vera as the primary controller and with various manual wall switch panels as the primary controller.

9

Ryan,

Other than complexity, is there any downside of that approach? For example, will I still have full control/visibility of all the various z-wave devices (locks, energy modules, etc.) via ADC?

10

I’m not 100% sure about that. I know of people using lights and thermostats with ADC and 2GIG as a secondary controller with no problem. I think there are people using locks as well. I’ll ask around Monday to see if anyone knows better.

The main disadvantage in my opinion is that very few people use it like that so it’s probably not tested/supported as well by 2GIG. There are millions of 2GIG panels users out there. There are probably only hundreds or at best thousands of people using 2GIG as a secondary Z-Wave controller.

11

As far as I have tested with 2Gig as a secondary, there is no loss of function at all.

The 2Gig panel is given a list of the primary controller’s devices during the pair process, so you just want to make sure you add all devices to your primary, get the network functioning well, then add 2Gig as your secondary.

2Gig is still a controller in this circumstance. ADC will pull info on all added nodes. ADC commands will be sent from the 2Gig panel directly to devices, not the primary.

12

Thought I would tie up this thread with a summary of my experimentation.

I installed a few Lutron dimmers, with the intention of installing a Lutron Smart Bridge Pro, and having it connected with ADC. Unfortunately, I was not terribly impressed with the Lutron dimmers. Although they seem to be well regarded, they didn’t work well with of my LED fixtures and bulbs (several different brands and models) – while they dimmed smoothly and reliably, the bulbs would only dim to about 25%, and no lower. This might be related to the fact that the Lutron dimmers have no neutral wire, unlike most Z-wave devices. Good for older homes with no neutral wiring in the light boxes, but maybe not so good for performance.

So I abandoned that idea, and decided to go with Z-wave dimmers and switches (Linear). These worked much better with my LED bulbs, allowing dimming down to 5% or so. But I wanted to be able to control my A/V room lights with my Logitech Home Control remote, and since I had abandoned the Lutron Smart Bridge idea, I purchased a SmartThings hub, which interfaces with the Logitech remote.

Predictably, after installing the SmartThings hub, I ended up moving over all my Z-wave switches, as well as my thermostat and Schlage lock, and then spent the last several weeks testing it out. I also tried a couple times to set up the SmartThings hub as a primary controller, and the 2Gig panel as a secondary, but I could never get the lock to work with both (I’ve noticed a few threads about folks using Vera as a primary controller having similar problems).

While the SmartThings hub and application is quite powerful, with the ability to build much more sophisticated rules than ADC, I found that it was difficult to keep track of the interrelations between rules (particularly since there is no web control – phone only), which led to confusion and unintended results. Eventually, I transferred all my devices (except for the A/V lights, which are still controlled with Logitech/SmartThings) back to the 2Gig panel, because the ADC rules and controls are easier to setup and review via the web. And the lock works better with ADC too.

Pretty happy with how things ended up, at least for now.

13

Nice write-up! Alarm.com tends to favor simplicity over sophistication. As a home automation geek that has frustrated me at times because I want to get creative when building new applications and sometimes that simplicity gets in the way but it does result in a much easier user experience for the common use cases.

Did the Z-Wave light switches and/or thermostats work with SmartThings as primary and 2GIG as secondary?

14

The switches and thermostats both seemed to work fine in primary/secondary configuration, but to be honest, I didn’t do too much experimentation in that mode. Combining rules and architecture, and resolving conflicts between two different controllers would be even more confusing!

My biggest complaint with the SmartThings interface is that rules (SmartThings uses the terms “actions” and “modes”) are built using sequential tiles within the phone app. Once you figure out the process, it’s not too hard to set things up, but there’s no way to view the entire sequence on a single screen, so it’s difficult to refresh your memory about how the rules are constructed when it comes time to tweak the settings or do troubleshooting. I felt like I needed to create a detailed decision tree on paper as documentation.

With ADC, on the other hand, you can open up the rules screen on the web, and see all the details (and make edits) in one place. But it is more limiting.

15

I realize this thread is a bit old, but for others that find this. You probably needed to adjust the “Trim” for the Lutron Caseta dimmers. You can adjust the dimmest point and the brightest point. This is actually a great feature, I was able to adjust my “dim” trim low enough that the lights would flash on/off, and then the just bright enough to no longer flash on/off. The dim point is very low, which is great for my home theater scenes…and actually more dim than the old Lutron dimmers we removed.

Being able to adjust the “bright” trim is nice too, as our LED recessed lights are blindingly bright at true 100% but we can set the trim to a lower point that is more comfortable.

If you look at the Lutron Caseta advanced installation guide you can find instructions for adjusting trim on a per switch basis.