Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater RF Lighting for Media Room

I tried posting this question in the Home Automation forum on AVSForum, and haven't gotten any response so far. Maybe y'all might be able to give me some help with it:

I'm in the process of building a house with a dedicated media room, and I'm looking for a way to control just the lighting in that room. There will be 4 sconces on 1 switch, and 2 can lights on another switch. I hope to replace the switches with dimmers that can be controlled by RF, since the switches will be behind me and not in the line of sight of my universal remote (Pronto TSU7500, which does RF but only to an extender that converts the commands to IR). I guess I could always point the remote over my shoulder at the light switches, but that seems rather awkward.

So, my needs are pretty modest (2 dimmers on RF that can do full on / dimmed / full off), so I'm hoping that the solution won't be too expensive. I've looked at the Lutron AuroRa, and the dimmers would work, but there's no way for an external remote to interface into that system, and I'd like to be able to control everything with just the TSU7500. I don't really have the need or the budget for a full house automation system like Creston or AMX.

Any ideas? Thanks.

Dennis, I don't know how the Pronto and it's extender work, but if it's anything like my Home Theater Master MX-850 and it's "extender," you don't need a line of sight for RF to work properly. I can have my remote in another room, and the RF signal from my remote will go right through the walls and reach the extender which accepts the RF signal then fires an IR signal to my equipment.

Since, if I understand you correctly, the dimmers will be RF (radio frequency) controlled, the remote, which sends out an RF signal, doesn't have to be pointed directly at them.

Even if the dimmers were IR controlled, all you would need do is have the extender, wherever it was placed, aimed so it's IR signal would reach the dimmers. The remotes RF signal will activate the extender no matter where it (the remote) is aimed.

Ajax, thanks for the suggestion to aim the extender's IR blaster toward an IR-controlled dimmer. That may end up being the way I'll do things, because it seems like RF lighting systems are "closed". The 2 systems I've looked into (Lutron's AuroRa and Insteon) have RF-controlled dimmers, but the dimmers only respond to that manufacturer's specific remote. It doesn't appear that a universal remote (even one that has RF capability) can "learn" the appropriate RF commands to mimic the specific remote. I was hoping that someone who was more knowledgable about lighting automation systems might know of some other RF lighting solutions that weren't "closed".

Ah, I understand now, Dennis. Shows you how little I know about RF lighting systems. Didn't realize they are "closed." Hopefully, someone with more knowledge will be able to help.

I've been doing a lot of research on home lighting control recently, so let me make some quick points to clarify some things.

Home lighting systems that are RF, such as Lutron RadioRA and AuroRA, cannot be control with controlled "directly" with a universal RF remote control. You need an IR interface. In Lutron's case, you would need the Lutron RS-232 Interface for your remote to communicate with the Lutron system.

ok, try and follow this (and someone correct me if I'm wrong)...

Step 1. Universal Remote like the Harmony 890 sends an RF signal to its own Wireless A/V bridge receiver.

Step 2. Wireless A/V bridge receiver converts the RF signal to an IR signal and sends it to the Lutron RS-232 Interface.

Step 3. The RS-232 Interface converts the IR signal back to an RF signal and sends it to the Lutron RF Signal Repeater.

Step 4. The Lutron RF Signal Repeater then sends the RF signal to the appropriate light dimmer in the system and dimms, turns on, turns off the light, etc.

There is no way to send an RF signal directly from your RF remote to an RF dimmer. It has something to do with FCC licensing and controlling a specific radio frequency.

Aside from what I've posted, I've heard some of the new Zwave dimmers can alleviate all this complication, although I have not confirmed exactly how Zwave dimmers work.

Additions...

My suggestion would be to just use the Meastro IR dimmers as long as you have line of sight with the dimmer switch location. This is by far the easiest and cheapest ($25-40) solution and you can control lights directly with your universal remote.

The complications arise when you want to go with an RF system. Using an RF/IR blaster may help you reach an out of sight dimmer switch and is probably the best alternative before you start to wander into RF based systems.

Insteon dimmers may be a cheap solution as well since it uses RF and powerline as a method of sending its signal to each dimmer.

I've got a TSU7000 and I'm using the Lutron Spacer System. I've got 3 Spacer dimmers behind me in the same 3 gang box. The Spacer system line has available a Remote Master Control with 6 buttons, Full On, Full Off, and 4 lighting presets you can customize. I installed the master control near the front of the room on the right wall. I can easier hit this with the IR from the Pronto, and select any of my 4 presets lighting scenes, or turn everything on/off. Plus it works well having the dimmers at the back of the room, and the control at the front near a doorway so it functions like a 3 way switch manually if you walk into the room from either end.

Since my master control was very near my Pronto RF Base unit, I stuck one of the emitters just inside the back of the box the master control is in. This is not to code but works well for using RF on the remote so I don't have to point it at all.

The Spacer System is pricier than the Maestro line (about $65 per dimmer vs. $40, and the remote master control was around $130), but it gives you the ability to have another IR receiving point, and the separately customizable lighting scenes. Otherwise, if you use the Maestro's together in the same box, your remote will affect both of them together, not allowing independent control.

Installing the remote master control requires another piece of romex between the control and the dimmers. As well as you need to run power to the master control just as you would the dimmers. If you go this route, make sure to get the REMOTE Master Control, as Lutron has just a "Master Control" that looks the same but only works in the same box with the dimmers.

Above this, you may consider looking at the Grafik Eye from Lutron if you haven't already.