Any good books?

[gt3mike]

Are there any recommended books or resources available on lighting control and scene-based lighting? I'm looking for some best practices on how to set up scenes. I do recognize I could pay someone to come in and do it for me, but I'd rather learn how myself.
Thanks,
Mike

[Mike S.]

Hi Mike, if you have access to download Radio Ra2 software, then you will also have access to the training videos that we have available online through your myLutron account. Once you are logged in you can go to Service & Support > User Guides and Videos > Choose R and then Radio Ra2 from the drop down. This will pull up all the training videos that we have online.

[gt3mike]

Thanks Mike. I'll have to look through the videos again. When I looked at them previously, I found them to be very helpful in terms of the mechanics of how to do things, but I didn't see anything covering best practices or recommendations on how to set things up.

[randyc]

Scenes are a personal preference. Trial and error works best. If you find yourself turning more than one light on or pushing more than one button, think about creating a scene.

[randyc]

I thought about this some more and here is what I came up with... There are 3 basic categories.

1. Timed event. These occur at specific times of day like exterior lights on at sunset.
2. Time of day. These occur at various times like turning all lights off at 9:00 am because the kids always leave the porch light on when the go to school, etc.
3. House modes. These are event triggered like party, entertain, goodnight, goodbye, vacation, etc.

[gt3mike]

I thought about this some more and here is what I came up with... There are 3 basic categories.

1. Timed event. These occur at specific times of day like exterior lights on at sunset.
2. Time of day. These occur at various times like turning all lights off at 9:00 am because the kids always leave the porch light on when the go to school, etc.
3. House modes. These are event triggered like party, entertain, goodnight, goodbye, vacation, etc.

Thanks very much! I'm comfortable with #1 and #2. It's #3 above that I'm struggling with. It's easy enough to come up with scenes -- part of my challenge may be that I have too many.

Some of the questions I'm trying to answer are
- Should most/all of the keypads in a room be configured the same?
- Would it be considered a best practice to limit most scenes to loads within a single room vs including loads in different rooms?
- Should all scene buttons on a keypad control the same set of loads?

Two of my biggest concerns are:
- loads that get turned on in one scene on a keypad, but can't be turned off again because they aren't included in other scenes.
- loads that get turned on as part of a dim "morning" or "nightlight" scene and remain on all day because I don't notice that they are still on.

I'm curious whether there are any best practices re the above.

Thanks again,
Mike

[gt3mike]

Hi Mike, if you have access to download Radio Ra2 software, then you will also have access to the training videos that we have available online through your myLutron account. Once you are logged in you can go to Service & Support > User Guides and Videos > Choose R and then Radio Ra2 from the drop down. This will pull up all the training videos that we have online.

Hi Mike S -
Just a heads up that the videos here seem to be broken. http://www.lutron.com/en-US/general/...ideoGuide.aspx
Even if I launch the page in Firefox with an updated Flash plugin, the video player loads and then a spinning cursor just spins and spins.
Mike

[ErikU]

Some of the questions I'm trying to answer are
- Should most/all of the keypads in a room be configured the same?
- Would it be considered a best practice to limit most scenes to loads within a single room vs including loads in different rooms?
- Should all scene buttons on a keypad control the same set of loads?

Two of my biggest concerns are:
- loads that get turned on in one scene on a keypad, but can't be turned off again because they aren't included in other scenes.
- loads that get turned on as part of a dim "morning" or "nightlight" scene and remain on all day because I don't notice that they are still on.

I'll take a swing at this,.. but I am by no means a best practice expert, though I do give this careful consideration for my clients.

Yes, I think that most of the keypads in a room should be configured the same. It is frustrating and counter-intuitive to find that control points in a given space do not behave the same way. Think of a simple light switch. It's intuitive and everyone knows what to expect, until they run into one installed upside down. The only exception might be a keypad location that has a special function. ie. a keypad dedicated to shading near the windows, or a keypad with kitchen island lighting located at the kitchen island. Even between rooms you should try to keep functionality very similar.

Yes, I think keypads should control loads in the same room, but there are exceptions: Outdoor lighting, or shared scenes like "morning", "evening", "goodnight" or "away" scenes for example could possibly control multiple rooms, or even the whole house, but you want to make sure you don't provide too much opportunity to change lighting in one part of a home from a distant other part. "away" maybe should be located only near entry doors, and "goodnight" maybe only in or near a master bedroom.

As for all scene buttons on a keypad controlling the same loads.. yes, that would simplify understanding and operation, but there certainly could be exceptions. For example, in my own home I have a keypad in the kitchen that runs the kitchen scenes, but also has a couple shared scenes like "evening" that operate loads in adjacent spaces. This just depends on the layout of the home.

Your concerns are entirely legitimate. I very strongly suggest ordering the keypads with the greatest number of buttons and temp labeling with p-touch or similar and live with that for a couple months. You will learn much and make many revisions. Then you can order the engraved button kits and slim down to the number of buttons needed at the same time (this can be changed when ordering the engraving, so might as well order a full compliment of buttons to start with if you aren't totally sure).

[gt3mike]

Thanks!!

Yes, I think that most of the keypads in a room should be configured the same. It is frustrating and counter-intuitive to find that control points in a given space do not behave the same way. Think of a simple light switch. It's intuitive and everyone knows what to expect, until they run into one installed upside down. The only exception might be a keypad location that has a special function. ie. a keypad dedicated to shading near the windows, or a keypad with kitchen island lighting located at the kitchen island. Even between rooms you should try to keep functionality very similar.

All of my keypads are set up so that the top button turns on the most commonly used scene in the room, and the bottom turns off the room (at a minimum - I have a goodnight button on the bottom of the keypad at the entry to our bedroom that turns off all lights in the common areas of the house). This seems fairly intuitive - when in doubt, hit the top button to turn lights on and the bottom button to turn lights off.

Yes, I think keypads should control loads in the same room, but there are exceptions: Outdoor lighting, or shared scenes like "morning", "evening", "goodnight" or "away" scenes for example could possibly control multiple rooms, or even the whole house, but you want to make sure you don't provide too much opportunity to change lighting in one part of a home from a distant other part. "away" maybe should be located only near entry doors, and "goodnight" maybe only in or near a master bedroom.

As for all scene buttons on a keypad controlling the same loads.. yes, that would simplify understanding and operation, but there certainly could be exceptions. For example, in my own home I have a keypad in the kitchen that runs the kitchen scenes, but also has a couple shared scenes like "evening" that operate loads in adjacent spaces. This just depends on the layout of the home.

I think this is where I get into the most trouble. I have a "nightlight" scene on several keypads that controls loads in several rooms. It isn't set up as a Path right now. I may switch it to a Path and see if that helps.

Your concerns are entirely legitimate. I very strongly suggest ordering the keypads with the greatest number of buttons and temp labeling with p-touch or similar and live with that for a couple months. You will learn much and make many revisions. Then you can order the engraved button kits and slim down to the number of buttons needed at the same time (this can be changed when ordering the engraving, so might as well order a full compliment of buttons to start with if you aren't totally sure).

I'm with you 100% on this one. That's exactly what I've done.

Thanks again!!!

[randyc]

Two of my biggest concerns are:



I'm curious whether there are any best practices re the above.

Thanks again,
Mike[/QUOTE]

- Should most/all of the keypads in a room be configured the same?
Keypads should have a consistent layout through out the project. Keypads within the same room won't always be exactly the same. I always make the top button turn the room on/off. I never use a separate off button. The bottom button controls the "next" room. I put special loads (like a chandelier you may want to dim separately), other adjacent rooms, and other modes in between (like movie for a theater).

- Would it be considered a best practice to limit most scenes to loads within a single room vs including loads in different rooms?
The power of the lighting control system is it's ability to control lights in other areas. That doesn't mean you need an evening button on every keypad. It's not a bad idea to have your multi-room/whole house scenes in one or two locations - like the kitchen and master bedroom. I often dedicate a separate keypad for whole house control. Sometimes I use one of the columns on the tabletop for whole house control.

- Should all scene buttons on a keypad control the same set of loads?
No. You are limiting the power of the system. Depending on the location of the keypad you may want to add floods, an adjacent room, etc.

- loads that get turned on in one scene on a keypad, but can't be turned off again because they aren't included in other scenes.
- loads that get turned on as part of a dim "morning" or "nightlight" scene and remain on all day because I don't notice that they are still on.
That requires a little planning and a few DOH moments. My goodbye and night scenes turn all interior lights off. With RR2, if you set the buttons up as toggles, you can turn off the scenes.