Hi Beta Guys,

In the beta process, did you see anything from Philips about the Radio RA specs/equipment requirements to make this work?

Based upon my review of the Lutron Radio RA components, there is a "network control interface" which appears to be the device which will enable the 9600 to talk to Radio RA components, via the home network.

Can anyone expand on this?

Thx Dave

Dave,

Nothing was mentioned about the Lutron RA interface, only the lights.

Thanks Lyndel. Can you give me any more info? Only the lights means....?

That it would control Radio RA via IR or it would control Radio RA via wifi? I assume it will always control Lutron through IR, as Lutron offers a full complement of IR codes for all of their models.

Since Radio RA operates "wirelessly", I must assume Philips has designed the wi-fi element to talk to Radio RA?

Any idea who I can go to to get more info on the specs around using this feature?

Thx Dave

Dave,
The network interface is not used in this application. The 9600 speaks to the Radio RA network through the RFX9600 serial extender using RS232. You can use either the RA232 interface or the more advanced RA Chronos, both which are RS232 interfaces. These devices will then act as the control points for the RA lighting system. So, you have the 9600 talking to the wireless access point which talks to the RFX9600 over the network. The RFX9600 then talks to the RA interface over serial which then speaks Lutron protocol over RF to the appropriate dimmers and switches. For feedback, the process is reversed and the selected button on the TSU9600 will then go to a lighted state to indicate execution of the scene or room command. Hope this helps, if you need more info let me know. It works very well.

Hey Jim,

Thanks for the overview. I really appreciate your knowledge in this area.

Yikes, though...this sure looks like an expensive approach for just a few Radio RA switches. A quick view of this says:

Add the RFX9600 to allow RS-232 control - $600
Add the two necessary Lutron Radio RA switches - $300-$500
Add the RA232 Lutron device for RS-232 control which is $600.

Based on this, the first two light switches are about $1600 !! They go down from there but I would have thought Philips would have used the Lutron wi-fi control for $400, to talk to the Radio RA switches, without the RFX9600.

Is your solution the only way to make this work, to your knowledge?

Thx Dave

Dave,
Other than using the RA-IR interface (ir with no 2 way) this is the only way for Radio RA. Obviously most applications for this type of control (2 way feedback) would involve a larger number of dimmers/switches and I think that they were assuming that the installed system would be using other features of the RFX9600 in addition to lighting. If it is a small system (2 dimmers or switches) you should be able to use the spacer system 4 scene dimmers in ir. As for the netowrk interface from Lutron, the 9600 does not have an integrated browser at this time which would be required to use that interface.

Yes, this is a rather expensive solution. But, then yet again, Philips is not targeting this remote for the low-end to consumer. It is targeted at the mid-high end consumer. However, the DIY'ers can do some really cool stuff as Philips did define support for the public Escient protocol.

And if you've got a PC involved for home control you could always use that as a the gateway. Have the IR codes picked up by the PC for use in NetRemote, Girder or other programs and re-sent over RS232 from a COM port. Programs like CQC or Homeseer have software interfaces for Radio RA as well.