Mine requires a charge once a month even if not used, otherwise the battery shits out. I know this because my first one shit the bed
This. They definitely aren’t perfect but the fact it has zwave and a zigbee radio means it is pretty flexible. The ability to write your own apps for it if you are proficient is also helpful.
Great comparison. The additional cool thing about these types of networks are the devices can serve as a bridge to pass information from the hub to devices down the stream. So a device physically out of the range on the hub can connect and communicate with the hub through the other devices.
That's what I planned and did. Mine is dead. It is from 11/13. But it was rarely used. Everyone told me to be sure to store it on a wood block instead of concrete. No one mentioned occasionally charging it. 9.9V and 3/845 cranking amps Live and learn. Plus side is my inverter is perfectly fine. Hooked it up to a fresh battery at the store. Before I go to YouTube, can I do something to rejuvenate the battery?
I have the Ra2. I can't recall the exact reasons but our a/v guy recommended that versus the Caseta after discussing my desired functionality.
I have an idea. You are going to need some jumper cables and a long metal pole. Oh and most importantly do you live in Oklahoma right now? If not, how long would it take you to get there?
My understanding is that ra2 select doubles your device capacity from 50 to 100 over caseta and it also gives you access to the maestro dimmer which as a bit sleeker looking. RadioRA2 is a step more sophisticated and less of a DIY option. Important to note for CF3234 that the 50 device limit on a caseta hub is not individual lights but switches/picos. I'm in the rough-in stage of my project and trying to sort all this out as well so half of that could be incorrect. Planning on controlling almost everything in the house via tablets running hass.io dashboards eventually which should be really cool.
Been renting a house out that I have owned since 2012. Going to move back in it asap since the tenants lease is up. The house has all of the duct work for forced air heating. About a 1,500 sq ft house. Any idea how much a central AC unit might cost to install? It is obviously worth it on the back end when selling in the future, but was just wondering on an estimate to install. TIA
im in rough in as well, the lights are already in and if I want to do smart switches, I need to decide ASAP. It's a bit overwhelming. Why can't I find the RA select 2 on amazon?
I don't think it's a consumer product line for Lutron. Amazon doesn't have the starter kit in stock but I believe all you need is the ra2 select repeater (hub) and then whatever maestro dimmers you want to use with it. Also I wouldn't sweat it if you can't figure it out right now because this stuff can be added later (you're just out the cost of whatever dimmers they're putting in now that you'll have to swap out later.) What I would go to town with is prewiring your house with cat6 drops everywhere.
yea, I want to get that done pretty badly. Just so many moving parts right now that taking the time to get the cat 6 cables settled keeps getting put on the back burner
That sounds right. I can control the lights from my phone, iPad or our tv remote. The “switches” in place on the wall are really just remotes with preset scenes so in our basement we have a tv, movie, party, etc label to identify the appropriate lighting for each activity. The actual switches the remotes control are hidden in a closet so it is a much neater look than putting 13 switches on a wall. It also controls our landscape lighting so the start time each night adjusts with sunset. My favorite thing was fixing something that annoyed me. A prior owner added a mudroom and second door coming from the garage when they did an addition on the house. For some reason they never added a light switch for the garage by the mudroom so you couldn’t turn the lights on from the most commonly used door. We solved the problem by putting a caseta switch in the old spot and adding a wireless pico in the mudroom to control it. Since we had the equipment in place it was far cheaper than wiring a second pole.
Basement, standing room. previous owners fucked the floor up with their nefarious activities by deciding to cut a large 2'x2' hole in the floor, right through the joist. They butted and nailed the cut joist up to another 2x10 but it doesnt have the same structural support as if the full span was on top of the foundation and the girder beam. So my floors are sagging a little and I'm trying to install hardwood floor right on top of that area.
With that being said, I once found water damage under a shower in my house that had literally rotted the bottom plate of a load bearing wall. I rigged the shit out of it in the ceiling space(was between up and downstairs and sealed that wall back up with board and tile. Sold that house a few months later.
I will add that I braced it in a way that they’ll never have problems with and it was only a foot run in a long wall. It wasn’t code but that house will burn down(or leak) before they ever find it.
Depending on the seer rating and new furnace I would estimate between $5 -$8k. I own same square footage rental and I paid just under $6k for a 13 seer and a gas furnace.
I was the original one that said I had RA2. I’m not sure if you can upgrade later. I had them installed 3-4 years ago and the details are hazy now. I do really like them and I’ve added to it since.
If I could find the RA2 at a decent price, I'd probably just go with it. But I'm not going to spend $500 on a smart system when I'm dropping a ton of money on the house itself unless I have to. If I can get away with using the caseta before converting in the future, I'd like to do that.
Are the light switches being wired to a central area like a closet or like a normal light switch? If you’re not hiding the switches there isn’t much reason to upgrade. At my house, this: Controls these: Where it is really helpful in open floor plans with lots of lights and multiple uses. It allows you to quickly dial in a scene instead of adjusting 4-6 switches at a time and it gives a cleaner look on the wall.
It’s going to be a standard setup. I have a really open floor plan, but I don’t think I’d want the one remote in the whole house controls everything setup. I want standard look with the ability to whip out my phone and shut it all down/turn it all on.
Then I wouldn't pay for the upgraded system. I'm sure you can accomplish what you're looking for with the Caseta.
Ok. I mean. I plan to do more like control my blinds and what not. Just trying to figure it all out on the fly which isn’t easy.
Just sister a new member to the existing. That shouldn’t be to hard and you won’t have to mess with the subfloor.
I’m not an expert but if you look at the practical benefits for a residential install I’m not sure that the emerging specs justify the cost vs the investment. Cat6 supports 10 gigabit networking speeds up to 37 meters (121ft) which exceeds any individual run in my house. Upgrading to cat6a gets you 10Gbps speeds up to 100m. Cat7 has theoretical bandwidth of 40Gbps over 50m. All of this (to my knowledge) is the same exact shit covered with extra layers of foil/insulation/spacers and whatnot which makes terminating every individual cable run on each end that much more of a pain in the ass. Cat6a is characterized as much more difficult to work with vs cat6 (per my Internet research) with minimal benefit and double or triple the cost of installation due to their thickness. Cat7/cat8 are emerging standards that I think are not intended for residential networking anytime soon. I’m doing all the networking labor myself (~35 drops) so I’m trying to make sure I’m doing it right but also need to balance my time and cost.
Go with caseta. Your only issue may be if you have a really large house and exceed the 50 device limit on the hub. Chances are that won’t happen right away and eventually if it does you’ll be running on a more sophisticated system like smartthings/home assistant/openhab which will be able to handle it.