it's a slippery slope......

[Fulthrotl]

i needed a timeclock for the pool. i had a intermatic 2 channel 365 day asshological T20 listed one
on the shelf.... but i sold it on a job i needed to certify.... so... i went to the wholesale house...

i wanted the same thing, but in a 3R case. nada...... so..... it occurred to me, that what i really
wanted was something that was suspiciously like *home automation* which i have stringently
avoided until now.

a dedicated pool control panel won't work, as i don't have a standard pool valve that can be automated.

how about a Vive, i ask? my wholesale house offers to give me one for free, but won't sell it to me.
a shooting buddy who is a senior lutron programmer, says i don't want a vive, i want a RA2 select.

my wholesale house says.... come on over, and i'll give you what's on the shelf. here. just take it.
so, i get a starter kit, 20 RA2 dimmers, three boxes of picos, half a dozen motion sensors, and half
a dozen photoeyes for daylight harvesting..... ok. i make him put a ticket for $1k on my account.
we argue. he relents. so i take $3k+ worth of stuff home, and start stuffing it in my walls.

it's pretty cool, to be honest.

now, with all coke dealers, the first line is free. and here we are.... window treatments.
seamless integration into the system.

this is going to be the most expensive great deal i've every been given.

on a positive note, my lutron programmer says he can get me a "friends of lutron" deal. 55% off list.
just give him a take off sheet.....

http://www.lutron.com/en-US/Products/Pages/ShadingSystems/PalladiomShades/Overview.aspx

 

[PaulMmn]

X10 is/was no better-- a couple of plug-in lamp interfaces and a controller box. Then the outdoor lights need an in-wall switch. Then the computer interface so you can set up a schedule for the lights.

Best item I found was a plug-in interface for a magnetic switch. Switch is over the garage door-- the door moves, the box notifies a light in the kitchen that "the door is open." No batteries required!

 

[brantmacga]

My brother has Lutron and really likes it. I just installed the new Legrand HomeKit stuff throughout my house; my wife isn’t so much a fan of all the lighting controls as she’s convinced the little LED locator lights are running up the power bill ? I haven’t been able to talk her into window shades. She likes being able to operate the HVAC and door locks though. She also says I added the garage door controller because “it’s a cool toy.” She’s not wrong.

 

[Fulthrotl]

My brother has Lutron and really likes it. I just installed the new Legrand HomeKit stuff throughout my house; my wife isn’t so much a fan of all the lighting controls as she’s convinced the little LED locator lights are running up the power bill ? I haven’t been able to talk her into window shades. She likes being able to operate the HVAC and door locks though. She also says I added the garage door controller because “it’s a cool toy.” She’s not wrong.

yeah, this thing will integrate with most things, including the house alarm.
i dunno about doing that, and will stop short of integrating locks and alarms into it.

we really have no info about lutron "cloud" security measures, and putting my front door
lock or garage door lock on it doesn't work for me.

i also don't have a "home assistant" for the same reason. let's see.... um.... china,
which does hacking on everything it can, wants to build a pipe into my house,
sold by an american company. where will that information go again? apple says
it's non identifiable information. what does the maker of the chipset say?

i'm not all that big a fan of siri, but i figure driving down the road, telling siri to put
leon russel on the car stereo is an acceptable risk.

if you really want something to give you pause, look in osx under locations.
everywhere, and everywhen that phone has been is stored there. most of
my locations services are pretty tightly reigned in.

 

[sameguy]

I just use my finger.

 

[brantmacga]

yeah, this thing will integrate with most things, including the house alarm.
i dunno about doing that, and will stop short of integrating locks and alarms into it.

we really have no info about lutron "cloud" security measures, and putting my front door
lock or garage door lock on it doesn't work for me.

i also don't have a "home assistant" for the same reason. let's see.... um.... china,
which does hacking on everything it can, wants to build a pipe into my house,
sold by an american company. where will that information go again? apple says
it's non identifiable information. what does the maker of the chipset say?

i'm not all that big a fan of siri, but i figure driving down the road, telling siri to put
leon russel on the car stereo is an acceptable risk.

if you really want something to give you pause, look in osx under locations.
everywhere, and everywhen that phone has been is stored there. most of
my locations services are pretty tightly reigned in.

You can integrate Lutron into HomeKit as well.

i don’t have an Alexa, but I do use Siri sometimes at home to activate scenes.

i use a location based scene to turn on the exterior lights if they’re off when I get home at night, and turn some lights on with the garage door opener if it’s dark. Nothing complex really, just some scenes for coming and going to switch lights off and on.