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Lutron Blends Low Cost and Integration with ‘Single-Room’ RadioRa-SR
It is Lutron's only ultra-affordable wireless lighting solution that integrates beautifully with Lutron shades and third-party control systems.
The solution borrows from several Lutron families including RadioRa, AuroRa and Maestro Wireless. But the SR is the only one that blends low cost with two-way integration.
AuroRa and Maestro Wireless are both affordable, but they lack two-way communications.
RadioRa is robust and almost infinitely expandable but its cost of entry is high due to the need for a separate repeater and CPU.
"It becomes cost prohibitive to scale down to one room," says Lutron product manager Jeremy Kleinberg.
On the other hand, an SR system with three SR-compatible devices (dimmer, keypad, sensor, motorized shades, etc.) can be had for about $850.
"That would cost about $2,000 for RadioRa," Kleinberg says.
See Lutron at the Electronic House Expo (EHX) Spring, March 11-14, 2009, Orlando, Fla. New! CEDIA offers 55 courses at EHX.
The system accommodates 10 wireless SR devices, including dimmers, keypads, sensors, motorized shades or other compatible products.
The SR's wireless protocol is different than other Lutron solutions, so you can't mix-and-match with the other product families.
But the company has developed a suite of compatible products around the SR system. Most notably, the SR integrates natively with Lutron's Sivoia QS wireless shades. RadioRa, on the other hands, requires keypads for each shade.
Lutron has created dimmers and keypads for the SR, as well as some devices that are exclusive to the line. The in-line lamp socket that Lutron showed at CEDIA 2008 will become part of the SR family. It screws in between the fixture and the light bulb for an unobtrusive installation.
In addition, Lutron's new occupancy sensor also will be exclusive to the SR line … for now.
At CES 2009, Lutron demonstrated RadioRa-SR in a home theater vignette. Kleinberg controlled the lights and shades via an SR keypad and two-way Philips Pronto remote.
Lutron has not written drivers for all of the third-party control systems, "but we'll have them for all the usual suspects," says spokeswoman Melissa Andresko. "We'll be showing that at EHX."
EHX (Electronic House Expo) is March 11-14 in Orlando, Fla.
Lutron's Jeremy Kleinberg controls the lights and shades via an SR keypad and two-way Philips Pronto remote.
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5 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
Joe, that’s not the case. It’s not compatible with current Ra (so I don’t know why they’re calling it that).
As a PSP for Lutron I can say that this is an idiotic decision to not allow us to upgrade beyond the single-room. Why would they call it Ra if it’s not compatible with Ra? This is a confusing system and will only upset people when they want to expand beyond 10 devices.
Lutron knows better than anyone that once a customer begins controlling a few lights that they will want more. The RS-232 is too expensive for a few home theater lights in a standard Ra system. My proposals are rejected all the time when I try to use RadioRA in a single room.
Lutron needs a standard RadioRa piece that combines IR + RS-232 and the repeater so that we can install standard RadioRa in small systems with universal remotes. This RadioRa-SR is a waste of technology and marketing.
the branding is a little bit odd. It is not compatible with URC remotes—ironically in the very application (theater/media room) that makes the most sense for URC control.
I was talking about using RTI for control, but yes the RA branding does not make any sense. The Lutron Maestro URC devices are not the same internal electronics as standard RadioRA either. A standard RadioRA system cannot talk to those URC dimmers.
Great! So this system can be expanded into a full RadioRA system if they want to go beyond 10 devices in the future? When will it be available?