Simple IR to lightning bridge?

[elcano]

A friend finished his super-duper home theater and is asking me about lightning technologies that he could control with his new Harmony Link remote. This is probably not the best approach from a home automation point of view. But since his priority is more home theater than home automation I think that he got a point. There is no need to go with complex home automation controllers.

About technologies. while I implemented UPB some years ago it seems that nowadays Z-wave seems to be a good compromise between price, maturity, availability, etc. However, I'm open to other solutions, as long as they are simple.

Looking around I saw the Leviton Vizia RF Combination Controllers. Would they work as a simple IR to Z-Wave bridge? I'm wondering if they could receive a IR command from an universal remote (or the Harmony) and trigger a Z-Wave bridge. I'm assuming that it would also be interoperable from the Z-wave side too, right? I would like to save my friend from vendor lock-in.

What other solutions do you suggest? My friend have not stated budget yet (I'm meeting with him tonight), but I think that he should be able to afford a solution that does not exceed the three digits (including the bridge plus 2-4 dimmers). Would a RadionRA solution be available for this budget? I have read that they are awesome.

Also, I think that while he would not object professional installer, I'm sure that he would enjoy very light DIY. UPStart, the one that we use for UPB would be in the gray area. May be too complex for him.

Thanks!

 

[guessed]

The IR receiver in the Leviton Scene controllers isn't a general Bridge to all things Z-Wave. Instead, it has commands to "press" each Scene Button, as well as Up/Down for the equivalent button at the bottom of the Scene controller.

So with IR, you can control the Scene controller's functions itself, but not anything arbitrary on the Z-Wave network (unless the Scene controller buttons are setup to do that).

That said, I've tried it, and you have to really point your IR-Remote directly at the VRCxxx device in order for it to pickup the IR command, it's fairly picky from what I've experienced. From time to time, I've also accidentally triggered those Scene buttons with stray TV IR control, so I can understand why they provide a "cover/cap" to shutoff the built-in IR receiver.

 

[electron]

Quick note, there is an IR bridge for both UPB and INSTEON on the market (I have the UPB one on my shelf, haven't played much with it due to lack of time).

 

[tmbrown97]

Here's a UPB one http://www.homecontrols.com/Monterey-Instruments-IR-to-UPB-Module-MIIRUPBM

 

[ckg1999]

Here's a UPB one http://www.homecontr...Module-MIIRUPBM

Is that one better than say the HAI-38A00-1?

Trying to do the same here. I currently have Lutron MA-L3L3 for my 2 sets of cans and a Lutron MA-LFQM-WH for my fan. Want to add automation and linked to my HAI UPB set up, but still have easy manual control of fan (WAF)