Anybody successfully activate Sunnata devices without internet?

[SparkyCoog]

I remember asking about how we could activate the Sunnata devices at a Lutron demo last year when it first came out and heard a couple of snickers in the back with "Who doesn't have internet in 2022?" and perhaps I'm an oddball, but as I guessed it then, I will be going to a condo that has not yet been moved to but the owner wants to have the system in place with working keypads because the current switch positioning is pretty random so just to turn the lights on to the condo requires walking around and going up the stairs, etc. Also, in a couple of spots, the keypad will take the place of a multi-location dimmer so unless the keypad is programmed, there won't be control from that spot.

I did not even see a network room there in my first visit and I'm guessing this will be a "router in the TV cabinet" kind of deal once they move in. I've tried following the "No WIFI?" instructions in the Designer software and first of all, I want to be clear, do they mean no wifi or no internet? I always have my little jobsite router which I use for working on houses without networking in place for my setup. Can I do it with just a router and no internet? I remember when I did my first Ra3 job with Sunnata, the laptop was connected to the internet and was getting the data from the app through there. I COULD have my phone connect to the same router without internet. Hell, I could have the laptop connect to my phone's hotspot even, but then they wouldn't be on the same local network. Would that work? I could probably get a travel router and connect that to my phone's hotspot and then use another phone to connect to the travel router but good lord, why make this so complicated? I'm not going to pay for a MIFI just to activate some dimmers.

Anyway, the official directions say to download iTunes...I'm guessing we don't need this for Android phones? And what does it mean by USB? Connect the phone to the laptop via USB? The instructions are just not clear for such an important thing like activating devices. Am I really the first person to try to do this without an internet connection? The manual instructions make a little more sense, but what happens when I upload the program? Will it just do it over the air then or will I have to do this ridiculous dance again?

[randyc]

I did a 150 device system this week with WiFi but no internet. The house was occupied but the owners were not there (beach house). I'll detail my horror story in a separate post.

The programming software apparently generates a file for the APP so it knows what devices are in the system. It appears the "no WiFi" function creates this file for you to manually import into the APP. This didn't work for me because I won't knowingly install ITUNES (spyware) on my computer. Plus, there was no option in the APP to import the file. Even if all that worked, the APP needs WiFi to talk to the repeater so it still would not work.

I think USB transfers the file directly to your phone. Again, without the import function...??

In my area building inspectors and bank/loan inspectors are requiring the lighting system to be functional prior to sign off. I have a couple of A/B routers I keep just to make systems functional for CO, etc.

[SparkyCoog]

Randy, you are a great asset to this forum! I'm actually on the job site now and supposedly they'll hook up the internet later this week so I'll hold off, but I actually did bring my travel router and connected it to an Xfinity hotspot through our xfinity account and I think it would work to connect the Ra3 processor to it! Just leaving this for future generations.

[randyc]

I'm starting up another system this week with no internet. The builder doesn't want to use the breakers anymore. The house is probably a month away from having internet. I'm using my trusty, 10 year-old, A/B Netgear router to allow the devices to talk. It ain't pretty but it works.