Diva (DVRF-6L) Takes 2-3 Sec to report change on Pro Hub via Telnet

[fresnel]

I have about 10 Lutron Caseta dimmers and about 5 picos on the Lutron Pro Hub connected to homekit and to a Hubitat Hub that uses Telnet to the Lutron Hub. All my Caseta devices work fine. I added a two Diva Dimmers and when the dimmers are manually operated, there is about a 2-3 second delay before I see the Telnet events in contrast to the almost immediate response of all of the other devices.

1. Local physical control of the Diva dimmer is fine.
2. Control via the Lutron App is fine.
3. Control via Homekit App is fine.
4. All other Lutron devices are working normally.
5. Tested the Diva dimmers positioned 5 ft from the Lutron Hub and the delay remains.
6. Reboot lutron hub--no change
7. Reset the Diva dimmers--no change

I'm stumped as to what to try next. I'd appreciate any ideas
Thanks

[randyc]

Try moving the Caseta hub around a bit. Sometimes moving it a foot can make a huge difference. Make sure there is no large metal objects in the way. A TV or the fridge can cause just enough interference to make a difference.

[fresnel]

thank you for the suggestion. I'll try moving.

[fresnel]

I contacted Lutron Support and they provided a very thorough response. With their permission, I am posting here:

We are sorry to hear you are experiencing issues with your DVRF-6L dimmers experiencing delays in your Hubitat Telnet integration. Unfortunately, this is by design with the Smart Diva dimmers. As opposed to the original-style Caséta dimmers, the new Smart Diva has a physical slider; the inclusion of this physical slider is what causes the delay. Essentially the Lutron app will wait a couple seconds before updating the on/off/dim-level of the Smart Diva in the Lutron app, as otherwise it would most likely be too much RF traffic for the Diva to send an update to the app for every percentage.

For example, a user will lower the dimmer slider on the Diva from full to 50%; the Hub will wait a couple seconds to update the in-app level to represent that it was lowered to 50%. As opposed to the Diva sending a ping back to the Hub multiple times in that couple seconds saying it was set to 99%, then 98%, then 97%, etc. down to 50%.
We apologize for any inconvenience this programming may cause with your integration. Our best recommendation to achieve exactly the Telnet programming you are looking for would be to continue instead using the original-style Caséta devices with the push-button design, as they do have the programming that would be compatible with what you would like out of your system.

[simonmason]

I had just started noticing this and had seen similar posts about the delay. Why 3 seconds? Seems kind of arbitrary. Also, why can't the switch send an on command and then later follow-up with a dim level? Personally I have very little use for the sliders. I use these switches because they resemble normal light switches.

[Brandon W.]

Hello simonmason and welcome to the forums!

For local control of lighting loads from dimmers, updates on lighting levels are only sent out after a period of time to ensure that the user has finished adjusting the light level. Because of the nature of the frequency that we use for Clear Connect, we are required by regulatory agencies to limit how often we transmit to keep the frequency open for other transmissions. In addition to this, to ensure communication reliability there are variances built into our devices which vary the timing on any transmitted messages. This reduces the likelihood of RF collisions where messages may be missed or corrupted, again to ensure reliability in operation. We’d recommending taking a look at our Clear Connect whitepaper available at assets.lutron.com/a/documents/clear_connect_technology_whitepaper.pdf

[simonmason]

Thanks - very helpful. Very interesting read and speaks volumes to the reason why this is the most reliable automated wireless lighting solution on the market, and why I depend on it in my house.

A couple of follow-on questions:

Does the Claro switch also wait three seconds before updating or does it send out an instant command?

It would nice for the local dimmable switches to send out an initial on/off command and then wait three seconds to follow-up with dim level. For triggering third party systems this would be ideal. I can't imagine that this will cause a lot of extra noise and I would argue that the majority of times dimmable switches are used it is for on and off. In my house dimming is very rarely done locally as the HA system handles all of that based on time of day, light levels, etc.

Hello simonmason and welcome to the forums!

For local control of lighting loads from dimmers, updates on lighting levels are only sent out after a period of time to ensure that the user has finished adjusting the light level. Because of the nature of the frequency that we use for Clear Connect, we are required by regulatory agencies to limit how often we transmit to keep the frequency open for other transmissions. In addition to this, to ensure communication reliability there are variances built into our devices which vary the timing on any transmitted messages. This reduces the likelihood of RF collisions where messages may be missed or corrupted, again to ensure reliability in operation. We’d recommending taking a look at our Clear Connect whitepaper available at assets.lutron.com/a/documents/clear_connect_technology_whitepaper.pdf

[Joy L.]

Since the Claro Smart Switch is on/off-only and does not have to wait for the slider response time like the Diva, it should have a faster response more similar to the other non-Diva devices. We hope this helps! We are also, of course, always happy to pass along any feedback and enhancement suggestions to the appropriate teams.

[simonmason]

Since the Claro Smart Switch is on/off-only and does not have to wait for the slider response time like the Diva, it should have a faster response more similar to the other non-Diva devices. We hope this helps! We are also, of course, always happy to pass along any feedback and enhancement suggestions to the appropriate teams.

This seems like a reasonable alternative to get instant feedback in rooms that dimming is not needed.

I have one room with a Diva dimmer switch and four plug in modules. Currently when I turn on the switch I pick this up on my Hubitat and then send on commands to the four plug in modules. Naturally this is with the 3 second delay at the beginning.

I don't think there is a way to tie plug in modules directly to a switch so they respond at the same time? Thanks.

[Joy L.]

This type of automation (tying a master hard-wired device to other master/wired devices) is unfortunately not a feature native to the Lutron App; the only way to do such groupings is with a Pico remote or a Scene in the Lutron App. If you were to swap the Diva Smart Dimmer with a Claro Smart Switch, and use the Hubitat chain of command you described, it will likely not have the delay if the Claro switch itself does not produce a delay.