Recent content by nwavguy

I can understand the first part. Apple does something similar with protecting their products in many ways including controlling who can sell them, apps only being available through their iTunes store, and preventing anything Apple from being discounted unless authorized by Lord Jobs. Some people...

I'm not sure how it's done, but Lutron states "In addition, you can program your lights for an “Away†setting, so that your home has a “lived in†look when no one is there. " You can find the quote on page 3 of this PDF: Lutron RadioRA 2 Consumer Brochure I was assuming that's a feature...

Thanks to all for your input. I agree it would be nice if someone from Lutron would participate here, but given their focus (and protection of) their dealer/installer channels, I doubt that will happen. And thanks Neurorad for confirming my general thoughts. As Yankeewired said, another benefit...

RadioRA 2 is a bit difficult to search for if you put the proper space before the "2". Doing that here causes the CocoonTech search to fail completely as the search engine sees the "2" as a single term which is likely too broad. Some people call it RA2, some call it RadioRA2, some call it "RA...

Please let us know how that goes? I summarized my RA 2 findings and asked some questions in my post here: Lutron RadioRA 2 DIY

I know it's relatively new but I haven't been able to find much here on Lutron's RadioRA 2 system. It seems to have a lot of strengths, the previous RadioRA has a great reputation, and RA2 is price competitive with higher quality UPB and Z-Wave hardware. I have a house full of 70+ dying Insteon...

As a hardware/embedded engineer I can tell you socketed parts (i.e. a replaceable ROM) are not an option on low cost devices. Low cost devices usually have 100% surface mount devices. The sockets would be problimatic in assembly, and the ROM chips would have to be installed by hand (surface...

Thanks Upstatemike for the comments. I didn't realize Powerhome can handle ALL the linking? Are you saying you don't have to do the 10 second hold routine at all? If not, I'm assuming you need to know the 24 bit device ID's instead? I realize the 3-way circuit issue is a trade-off. But it's...

Do the UPB switches offer firmware upgrade capability? Being realistic, this isn't something I'd expect in a hardwired, relatively low cost device? Yes, I can see the need for it, but if SH wants to protect their intellectual property, that's hard to do if you start giving even dealers the...

To get back on the lighting topic, I have a few more comments on Insteon that apply more to new construction than DIY retrofits. There are some good reasons why most pro installers are not using Insteon. I think they're great for the DIYer on a tight budget who only needs to control a few...

This is getting off topic, but I agree with all your comments about installers. They ideally want exclusive products, price protection, high margins, etc. I was referring to the fact the Insteon switches/dimmers/modules are a pain to set up. You have to hold down the button for 10 seconds, run...

Please do let us know what you figure out? I'm going to be in the same boat with some added twists. I haven't done any ELK programming (yet) but, as someone mentioned, I'm wondering if you can use relay outputs from the ELK to at least handle some of the control functions? I could then use 2...

Thanks to Spanky and others for the added info. The new ELK keypad looks A LOT better than the current one (although the changes appear to be only cosmetic?). And future plans for ELK touch screens and better Insteon support are also good to hear. Unless you need something today that only HAI...

I'm in the same situation and am leaning towards ELK for the reasons mentioned plus a few more but have one significant concern about ELK: The M1 supports Insteon. Insteon switch hardware (especially the ICON series) is a lot less money than any of the HAI (i.e. UPB) options. I'm excluding X10...