Is it possible to make an away from home scene where random lights are turned on and off at night to simulate the presence of people in the house? I tried setting it up on the app but could not figure it out.
Is it possible to make an away from home scene where random lights are turned on and off at night to simulate the presence of people in the house? I tried setting it up on the app but could not figure it out.
Hi malba2366,
This is possible to do within the Lutron app. What you will need to do is set up several scheduled events throughout the night that turn certain lights on and off. If you are home in the evening, you'll want to go into the app and disable those events from running. When you are away on vacation, you'll want to go into the app and enable those events so that they run and make your house look like someone is home. That is how to simulate a "vacation" mode if you will.
That's not random.
Realistically, using your method, you'd need 50 to 100 scheduled scenes to make a "vacation" mode that wouldn't be obvious to fogure out. Any less than that and the best you could hope for would be to change the time at which the thief breaks into your home. That's a lot of hassle to add next to no security.
malba2366-
If this a feature that you require for the project, RadioRA2 would be your choice. Not as cost effective, but entirely capable of what you are asking.
Simple automation when DIY isn't working
intuitivehomecontrols@gmail.com
fb.me/intuitivehomecontrols
the parts are in the same ballpark of pricing but you have to use a custom integrator for radiora2 which gets very expensive. Now that anyone can program caseta with a smartphone and that it can do almost everything radiora2 can (with a 50 device limit likely placed by lutron to keep integrators happy) there are very few benefits to the custom systems. Once homekit takes off and people start tinkering with IFTTT the possibilities for caseta will take off. Radiora2 offers whole house controllers and such but with smartphones and tablets these devices are pretty pointless.
Homekit will make this happen. Lutron has to have a competitive offering otherwise someone else will. What I see happening is that homekit will bring all kinds of attention to home automation and attract developers. Then you can control your whole home directly from the homekit apps rather than having to use multiple platforms from different companies. Apple has disrupted every industry they have entered and this one is no exception.