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Thread: Pico Engraving Option, How?

  1. #1
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    Pico Engraving Option, How?

    Now that I see there's a Pico engraving option (thanks for listening, Lutron), how do we get the engraved Picos? There doesn't seem to be mention of this on the engraving sheets portion of the site.

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    Quote Originally Posted by schalliol View Post
    Now that I see there's a Pico engraving option (thanks for listening, Lutron), how do we get the engraved Picos? There doesn't seem to be mention of this on the engraving sheets portion of the site.
    I tried to order these blank- they need to be ordered WITH the engraving. List price $99.00. Best route would be to use the standard 4 button scene Pico (PJ2-4B-GWH-L31) until the owner decides on the engraving, then order from your local supplier.
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    Makes sense. My suppliers (and Lutron when I called them today) aren't sure how to order the pre-engraved units. It makes sense to me they're ordered engraved because they're so small and the electronics itself is pretty cheap.

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    Paul from Hank's Electric was able to get me sorted out. I believe the process is still early, as the form I received didn't have an option for the icons. Lutron did the following from an engraving report:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Any idea if there will be a single button PICO?

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    Quote Originally Posted by lleo_ View Post
    Any idea if there will be a single button PICO?
    Lutron has stated no in the past, and since PICOs aren't set-up to be toggle buttons, Lutron's design standards won't allow having a decora sized button without the ability to turn something off you'd turn on. I believe Lutron could make their Picos toggle by having the main repeater checking the state before making adjustments, but they would at least have to make some software changes. I wish single button toggle PICOs did exist however, as they could make a huge impact in functionality.

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    Picos are transmitters only, there's really not a way for the main repeater to query their state. It would be dependent on the programming, which I imagine makes the back end of the software considerably more difficult and cumbersome. Also consider the amount of people that have difficulty operating a standard Maestro dimmer (set to last level if Ra2). This is why the Pico and Caseta have proven extremely easy to understand.
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    It's possible the repeater isn't set up to do it, but the hardware ought to be able to handle it. The repeater might need more processing power (Radio RA 2 repeater v2?), but the repeater could check the levels when the Pico is pressed and make changes accordingly. Lots of gear out there does this. Do conventional RA2 keypads really transmit two different signals to the repeater (one when the indicator is on and it is pressed from when the indicator is off)? Typically people would program gear like this to send a signal that the button was pressed for the processor to determine what to do about it.

    As far as complexity goes, a one button switch is less complex to the user. In my house, we generally have RA2 switches or dimmers and my wife never uses the dimmer controls. She just presses the big easy-to-press button, but where we wanted to add a simple switch for floor lamps, a Pico made the most sense, and now she can't just tap the switch on the wall, she has to pick the correct button only in these cases. Why change the convention?

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    Quote Originally Posted by schalliol View Post
    It's possible the repeater isn't set up to do it, but the hardware ought to be able to handle it. The repeater might need more processing power (Radio RA 2 repeater v2?), but the repeater could check the levels when the Pico is pressed and make changes accordingly.
    I think you may over analyze this or I over simplify it, but not sure why would a keypad need to know the status of a load if there is NO led on the keypad to track status. Like the RD-RD...And remember that you can program the 2-button PICO to turn ON two separate loads, and with a lot of clicks you can make them appear as a scene, regardless the text or icon it has engraved. I am sorry, but I fail to see why cannot a decora sized single-button pico trigger a scene or several loads, if a two-button sized could do same.

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    It can do what you say, but Lutron wants you to have the top button to be on/open and bottom to be off/closed. They could absolutely make a one button Pico, but then people would think its a toggle (since it would look just like a switch like an 8ANS)

    A separate question is about whether they could make a Pico button a toggle.

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