Radio RA or other options

[newalarm]

I am starting to look into setting up a Radio RA or other system for doing some basic controlling of lights. I am leaning toward the Radio RA Lutron system since I may be able to get discount through work.
 
I have an Elk M1g. This is to control a house, with multiple areas/partitions. We have a separate garage that if possible, would love to be able to control some lighting there, and also the building exterior.
 
Not looking to do anything crazy with scene controls etc... Just some basic controling of certain lights (porch, some interior lights). We currently have some motion activated lights outside, but these lights are really ugly and would love to see if anyone has been able to use a Radio RA system to replace motion activated lights.

 

[dgage]

I have RadioRa2 and I really like it.  My RadioRa2 lighting has been bullet proof and I really like the sophistication of the hardware...software, not so much.  I'll speak more about that below after I answer your specific question about exterior lights.

• I have a back porch LED light that I use the time scheduling feature of the RadioRa2 software to turn on at sunset and off at dawn.  Haven't had an issue with it.
• I have some exterior motion sensors that I also have turning on/off from RadioRa2 but there isn't any motion or security integration as I bought them before my interest in home automation/security.  With that said, these exterior motion lights have been the most reliable I've ever had.  If I were to replace these motion lights to integrate with security, I would likely use a motion sensor from this company as they have been great and I believe they have one that could potentially trip a security circuit.  The LED floodlights I purchased are incredibly bright and have worked flawlessly for the past 2.5 years.
• Exterior motion sensor light - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000W3YI26/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1
• LED floodlight - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003QPHK5E/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Now let me give you some of my thoughts on the RadioRa2 system.

• I think Lutron has opened up the software to anyone for up to 100 devices but when I purchased RadioRa2, I had to take some brief online training.  To fully unlock the RadioRa2 system, you will need to take installer training onsite at Lutron for a few days.
• The RadioRa2 software is primarily for the setup of the system and do some incredibly basic automation but not much more.  You will need to use the Elk system or similar to provide some automation capabilities.  I use CQC, which I believe is the only software HA system that supports RadioRa2 at this time.
• Speaking of Elk, the interface for Elk to RadioRa2 is around $300.  Just making you aware.
• And back to the RadioRa2 software, Lutron hobbles it somewhat so that it doesn't compete with their higher-end Homeworks system.  Lutron could easily add a little more automation but have decided not to.
• I really like the hybrid keypads, especially compared to anything I saw for Zwave or UPB as it is nicer and you can assign the local load to any of the buttons.  With many switch keypads, the local load is assigned to the top button.  Also, a certificate for "free" engraving is included with each keypad.

With all of that said, I am very happy with my RadioRa2 system and plan to expand to the temperature control system (seeTemp Decora switch) in the near future.  I'll probably add a few more motion sensors and switches/dimmers in the near future as well but my lighting layout is basically done.  If I bought another house, I would take my current system with me or purchase it new to put in my next house.
 
David

 

[newalarm]

Thanks for your thoughts. It is helpful. I was aware of the cost of the Elk to RA interface, one reason I have put it off.
 
I am not looking to do anything crazy with the RadioRA system. Just allowing elk to control some lights and devices. Also, I liked the idea of having lights on front door turn on and off during alarms to draw attention. There were also some switches I would have preffered in another location so Wireless could help there.
 
So I am confused about programing. You can use either the Elk rules OR the Lutron software?
 
BTW, look at costco for the LED bulbs. I picked up some for 7-8$ the other day. They were on sale.

 

[dgage]

Related to programming, the Lutron software is primarily there to setup the switches.  There really isn't that much programming that can be done in the Lutron software, mainly the ability to turn on/off a light based on a timer or motion. 
 
As an example, I wanted one of my kitchen lights to turn on as we come through the garage and I had to resort to CQC to get that done.  Essentially, I walk into the garage and the garage motion sensor turns on the garage light.  But anything beyond that would need some external intelligence, which in my case is CQC but you could use Elk programming.