I have clients who use Hubitat and HomeSeer. Both work well with Ra2 over good old fashioned Telnet, but neither of them works with Ra3's "superior" LEAP protocol. Home Assistant users are trying to cobble something together but it doesn't work yet. Is there anything I am missing?
You are not missing anything. RA2, and now RA3 was never intended for use with retail control systems. Some of the retail systems expanded into TelNet which allowed them to interface with RA2. It's up to them if they want to add LEAP capability.
I don't think LEAP is necessarily "superior." TelNet has security issues and most manufacturers are moving away from it. IMO, the security issues should be easy to fix but they didn't ask me. :)
It's not as simple as implying Lutron intent that has never been explicitly stated.Quote:
Originally Posted by randyc
The TCP/IP ascii interface (aka 'Telnet') specification is a public document from Lutron.
The LEAP interface requires a direct relationship with Lutron. At this time, I am not aware of any consumer, hobbyist, or prosumer platforms that have been "invited" by Lutron to integrate.
Only major automation companies like Control4, Savant, and a few others have built interfaces to LEAP. In the case of Savant, they charge additional license/subscription fees in order to use LEAP/Lutron with Savant whereas the driver software/integration for the Savant-made lighting control hardware is free. You are welcome to draw your own conclusions.
Openhab can integrate with RA3 and talks LEAP. I consider some of these, like openhab superior to Control4 & co not only because of number of systems supported but also software architecture wise... so whatever you mean with "consumer grade" is relative...
Is this an official sanctioned integration or a reverse-engineered hack, like Home Assistant / Caseta?Quote:
Originally Posted by CFU80
You can get the RA3 Sunnata switches integrated into Apple Home for automation triggers / actions as well as Siri integration. HOWEVER, the Sunnata Keypads, Lutron motion sensors nor the Phantom Keypad found in Lutron Designer to send scene commands back to the Lutron RA3 controller do not show up in Apple Home. I wrote Lutron Tech support an email a while back explaining why this is not a good customer experience for most folks who have additional items in their homes outside the Lutron eco-system.
While I 'm at it I'l share a hack I did to get Sunnata Keypads to act as a "mode switch" more than a lighting scene. In the case of a 2 button "Home/Away" Keypad where you'd like the LED's to stay on regardless of other changes to lighting in the home after being triggered, I used a single press programing of the LED and have the keypad controlling a Sunnata switch that is not used for anything else. It's connected to an outlet in the IT closet that I'll probably never used. This way the LED's when you press home stay on until you press Away which controls the same switch and turns it off and makes the LED's always light properly. The additional benefit here is you now have a virtual switch (well actually its a real switch) that shows up in Apple Home and or other automation systems where you can trigger or use it as a conditional test for other automations. Not ideal and surely (Don't ...CMS) not as good as seeing a keypad depression directly in Apple Home, it works ok for more of a mode switch application
Yup - the "proxy device" trick is a common hack used to bridge devices between systems without direct integration. You can also use a device proxy to get Pico's to control other HomeKit devices.
The simpler solution, though, is to go all-in on Home Assistant or similiar and then you can use reverse-engineered Lutron drivers to get access to Picos and keypads. Great hobbyist/DIY stuff, but not suitable for professional/client installs.
In Home Assistant you can create virtual devices to provide the proxy links without always using/wasting a real device.
Home assistant user here. I’m quite happy with the RA2 and now Ra3 integrations. But it is a labor of love and I don’t do this for a living. I would not want to support my parents on it, let alone a paying customer.