Suggestions for casetawireless

[asherrick]

Cloud hosting does have some benefits, though. The most obvious one is that it makes remote access easy for everyone. It also makes it easier to achieve the "internet of things" since the cloud could offer a single integration point for other systems.

I think a hybrid approach is best. Meaning, if I'm at my house I want to connect directly to my bridge.

[TheVince]

Cloud hosting does have some benefits, though. The most obvious one is that it makes remote access easy for everyone. It also makes it easier to achieve the "internet of things" since the cloud could offer a single integration point for other systems.

I think a hybrid approach is best. Meaning, if I'm at my house I want to connect directly to my bridge.

Right now, I can access all my cameras remotely even tough they don't have cloud access. I have forwarded ports from my router to each cameras, and I have a device that sends me a notification each time my ip address changes. That being said, the whole point of a hub or bridge is that you need only one port for all your devices, so if the bridge was accessible only locally, you could easily redirect port 1234 (or whatever) in your router to your bridge and connect directly to it remotely. You could still skip Big Brother and get the same functionality.

On the other hand, when Lutron's server goes down, or if your own internet connection goes down, your SBP pretty much becomes a useless brick. Completely useless, it's not even heavy enough to act as a paperweight.

An hybrid approach might be best, but personnaly I would just deactivate the cloud feature and end up with a local-access only device.

It's really sad, because other than that design flaw, the SBP works flawlessly. And that flaw doesn't even have anything to do with the bridge itself. Frustrating, really.

[asherrick]

I have forwarded ports from my router to each cameras, and I have a device that sends me a notification each time my ip address changes...so if the bridge was accessible only locally, you could easily redirect port 1234 (or whatever) in your router to your bridge and connect directly to it remotely. You could still skip Big Brother and get the same functionality.

Exactly. The average person has no idea how to do that, let alone troubleshoot it if there was ever a problem. Replacing a router, whether it went bad, needed to be upgraded, or from changing ISP, would require some serious support. The cloud setup handles all of that.

I suspect the reason that Lutron hasn't implemented a hybrid approach is that it's more difficult and also presents its own set of challenges. The primary one that comes to mind is that the app would need to determine whether you are at home (local connection) or away (cloud connection). This probably wouldn't be that difficult, but I suspect it would cause some lag every time you start up the app...which would be annoying. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad, though.

An hybrid approach might be best, but personnaly I would just deactivate the cloud feature and end up with a local-access only device.

In a hybrid scenario the cloud connection wouldn't cause any harm if it went down. Also, isn't the cloud connection necessary for certain integrations like IFTTT? Even if it isn't today, I can see the cloud being the integration point for other systems. For example, I could see the cloud being used to provision a new integration setup and then that gets pushed down to the bridge (and used locally). This approach could potentially allow for some super-slick and user-friendly ways of setting things up.

[Ilans1]

I agree with all those 100%. I'll add some more:
1-Make a dimmer with the favorite button. In other words, make the dimmer a "3-Button with Raise/Lower" instead of a "2-Button with Raise/Lower". Whenever I enter a room, if I want my favorite setting, I have to either turn the lights on to 100% then dim them, or look for my Pico. There is no reason why the favorite button wouldn't be on the dimmer itself. If you made those, I'd probably change most of my in-wall dimmers and I'd end up forking another couple hundreds you way;

2-Make the app support landscape orientation. Everyone keeps asking for that. Even if there was only one orientation supported, landscape should be it. All the sliders in the app are horizontal and there's a big unused space at the bottom of the screen. This one is quite a no-brainer imho.

3-Make dimmable plugs. I know there are plug-in lamp dimmers you can buy that will act like dimmers, but those are bulky and ugly. It shouldn't be very hard to make a crossover between an in-wall dimmer and a plug-in dimmer to end up with some kind of in-wall plug dimmer. I would buy those, at least 2 of them tomorrow morning if they existed.

I've been asking for landscape mode ever since caseta was introduced. Crickets. I visited with some Lutron reps at a trade show recently and even they were amazed there was no landscape mode available. Billion dollar companies have been built since Caseta was introduced, yet Lutron can't fix their app! I have customers with wall mounted ipads asking for this fix so they dont have to twist their necks trying to turn on their lights. Lutron, anybody home?

[veeeh]

I have customers with wall mounted ipads asking for this fix so they dont have to twist their necks trying to turn on their lights. Lutron, anybody home?

Why would anyone with wall mounted iPad have Caseta in their home? Doesn't make sense.

[Ilans1]

Why would anyone with wall mounted iPad have Caseta in their home? Doesn't make sense.

What exactly doesnt make sense?

[veeeh]

What exactly doesnt make sense?

If people are serious enough about automation to mount iPad into the wall, why would they go with the most limited system? Stepping up to RadioRA in this case would make much more sense. No?

[Ilans1]

If people are serious enough about automation to mount iPad into the wall, why would they go with the most limited system? Stepping up to RadioRA in this case would make much more sense. No?

95% of people I know would do just fine with Caseta for what they want out of lighting automation. I don't think an iPad optimized app is too much to ask for.

[Art743]

I think the first and third ideas already in Caseta in some form, and I agree the timer idea would be great for those who do not follow a set schedule. Consider the timer "button" on the Audible book page that allows you to stop the app after a set time. It could be as simple as a button on the scene page. Great idea.

[Art743]

According to a Lutorn employee that I spoke with last week, geo-fencing is now on the Caseta app. Haven't had a chance to verify, as I have RR2.

Yes, it does have geofencing.