Thanks. I've been researching on the Luton site and will likely give them a call to see what all needs to be done.

My experience with the GE bulbs was limited to the BR30's. Hopefully your GE bulbs work better.

Update

Finally made the move to Lutron Casèta lighting automation. Precipitating events:

• Bought an espresso machine. Plugged into the same branch circuit as our X-10 XTBR repeater. It all but killed the repeater's performance.
  
• The fixture over the kitchen sink died. The new LED fixture didn't get along with the X-10 dimmer on that light at all.
  

Have now replaced all the X-10 with Lutron Casèta. Initial impressions: My wife and I both love it! Particularly with the integration with Apple's HomeKit. A couple of oft-used high points:

• When it starts getting dark in the family room either one of us can bring up Home on our phones or tablets, hit "Family Room Lights Home Theater," and all five lights go to their ideal pre-set lighting levels.
  
• Going to bed at night I no longer have to walk through a dark house to the bedroom. I get in bed, long-press the crown on my Apple Watch, say "all lights off" and all the lights are turned off.
  

Every Casèta switch and dimmer throughout the home is working flawlessly with every light. LED lights now ramp up and down smoothly, and no longer do they sometimes flicker at certain light levels.

Another neat thing: When you change a light with either the keys on the switch/module or with a Pico remote, the status is reflected in the Lutron app and in Apple HomeKit.

I love this so much I'm actually going to add another 4-5 lights to the system over what we had with X-10.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
... the geek in me would love to upgrade [but without Apple or Google or other such entities -- I want to control things within the building, not much emphasis on access from the outside].

TBH: I don't even know if I can control things from outside the home. I assume I can, but I haven't tried it. The HomeKit integration is mainly to get Siri control from my watch

Congratulations! A few years ago I had GE and Smartthings switches. Ripped them all out about a year ago to go with the Lutron Caseta, could not be happier. Great support, performance and very flexible. Enjoy.

I have a an alarm system bought/installed from an independent provider with no contract. It supports Z-Wave so I went in that direction.

Control panel was a GE Simon XT, but recently upgraded to a QuolSys IQ 2+. Interface is Alarm.com and monitoring service is now Brinks. LiftMaster garage door openers are from 2001 but upgraded to MyQ with wall mount control panels, and a wireless module that plugs into my router.

Wall switches are all GE/Jasco Z-Wave - switches, dimmers, and ceiling fan controls. So far I have the garage inside and outside lights, front porch light, front bedroom lights, dining room lights and master bedroom lights automated.

Thermostat is an Alarm.com T3000.

The level of integration is pretty cool. Leaving a door open too long changes the thermostat setting to avoid activating the HVAC. If smoke/fire is detected, HVAC shuts down. Lights can be tied to arm/disarm events. Currently the lights are programmed to go on shortly before sunset, and off in late evening, except garage exterior lights stay on until just after sunrise. Panel is cellular with battery backup so it will alert me if there is a power outage. Alarm sensors are battery powered and thermostat has battery backup. So the system still works and can report current temperature with no power and no internet. Only the garage doors need internet and router. Most of this is due to business travel up to 3 weeks out of the country.

Most of the switches are Z-Wave 1.0 but I had a couple fail during power outages and had to replace them with Z-Wave 2.0 which did not work right with the Simon XT. Quolsys works fine and I like the proximity disarming via Bluetooth linked to my phone.

I have a mostly Apple house with Macs, iPhones, 3 Apple TVs and a pair of Homepods in the MBR for stereo and virtual surround with one of the Apple TVs. But Homekit is too limited and phone centric, and doesn't support Z-Wave without an additional hub. I can see status and control my system with the Alarm.com phone app or the website.

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:
... Homekit is too limited and phone centric, and doesn't support Z-Wave without an additional hub.

HomeKit is somewhat limited in what you can do with it. E.g.: It would be nice if I could schedule things like "Turn on light(s) one hour before sunrise. Turn off at one hour past sunrise." It would also be nice if HomeKit could do something one of my X-10 timers could: Add a bit of randomness to on/off times so you could set up away-from-home schedules that looked less regimented.

I don't understand what "phone centric" means in relation to HomeKit.

Casèta HomeKit integration also requires a Lutron Smart Bridge. They're not expensive, they're really tiny, and they use little power, so I didn't regard that as a show-stopper.

Neither the Lutron Smart Bridge nor Apple HomeKit integrates with either our Honeywell/Ademco alarm system or the EyezOn EnvisaLink module. I don't particularly know if I'd want it to.

I could replace our existing Honeywell programmable t'stat with an Apple HomeKit-enabled Honeywell t'stat, but we change our t'stat settings so rarely it hardly seems worth the time and expense.

If you truly want a high end seamless system, take a look at this: https://www.crestron.com/Produ...utions/Crestron-Home

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
I don't understand what "phone centric" means in relation to HomeKit.

I mean you interact with it via a phone app, and it's more of a remote control than true automation. There is no HomeKit app on my Mac, and no website to log into for programming. Trying to control my HomePods through the Homekit app really sucks too.

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
I don't understand what "phone centric" means in relation to HomeKit.

I mean you interact with it via a phone app, ...

Well, phone, tablet, or watch: Yeah.

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:
... and it's more of a remote control than true automation.

I don't agree with that. It's more limited than many other solutions, but that doesn't make it "not home automation." It's just not very complete home automation.

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:
There is no HomeKit app on my Mac, ...

I will agree I find the lack of web interfaces on either HomeKit or Lutron Smart Bridge somewhat lacking.

I just recently bought a new house and decided that I'd start playing with "smart home" stuff too.

I started on my office.
I have 2 floor lamps with Philips Hue bulbs in them and an overhead light controlled by Caseta.
I also have a window AC unit plugged into a WEMO outlet.

All of these things function great with Homekit.
I have it setup so that every weekday at about 10 minutes before work starts all the lights turn on.
I also set it all up with different light brightness settings - so if I'm watching a movie or something on my computer I can just yell at Siri to dim the lights to whatever preset I desire.
Same goes for the AC unit - I yell at Siri to turn it off/on.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
I don't understand what "phone centric" means in relation to HomeKit.

I mean you interact with it via a phone app, ...

Well, phone, tablet, or watch: Yeah.

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:
... and it's more of a remote control than true automation.

I don't agree with that. It's more limited than many other solutions, but that doesn't make it "not home automation." It's just not very complete home automation.

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:
There is no HomeKit app on my Mac, ...

I will agree I find the lack of web interfaces on either HomeKit or Lutron Smart Bridge somewhat lacking.

"Well, phone, tablet, or watch: Yeah" and MacBooks, iMAcs and Home pods.

I have the Home app on my iMac. I am running Big Sur 11.0.1 (You have to turn it on in your iCloud Settings).

Yes you definitely can control your Home Kit stuff remotely.

And wait till you start playing with geo sensing where things happen based on the location of your watch or phone.

I see that you use your Apple watch. A lot of folks don't realize how cool it is to have a full function remote on your wrist as you walk around your house. I can walk up to my garage door outside and ask Siri to open the garage and my watch picks up the request. Or out on the patio, ask siri to turn on the patio lights or patio fans and if I dont have my phone with me my watch will pick up the request and do it.

As I walk around my house I can Say Hey Siri "do this" and Siri will with pick up with either on my watch, my iPhone, one of my iPads laying around, or one of the Home pods I have sprinkled around the house and complete the request. Sometimes I will actually have two or even three devices light up with a request and Apple is smart enough to choose just one device to answer the request. Folks that don't want Siri listening would not like this setup. I have some concerns and would never trust Alexa or Google in this fashion but for now I am willing to trust Apple.

Interested in home automation in the house we are building. I would like to the install myself. Watching the responses with bated breath. Since we will be gone from home, for long periods of time. I will want to control lights HVAC, monitor, view my security camera feeds, control the sprinkler system. All from my phone or IPad from inside and outside my home.

Does Apple HomeKit support IFTTT? Lots of cool automations can be programmed if it does. One guy I know has a contact pad under his mattress so when he finally goes to bed at night, the act of laying down on the mattress and compressing the pad triggers a sequence that puts the entire house into 'night mode'.

quote:

Originally posted by Ozarkwoods:
Interested in home automation in the house we are building. I would like to the install myself. Watching the responses with bated breath. Since we will be gone from home, for long periods of time. I will want to control lights HVAC, monitor, view my security camera feeds, control the sprinkler system. All from my phone or IPad from inside and outside my home.

Real easy to do on almost all the platforms (Alexa, Google Asst, or Apple HomeKit). Or, you can do as I do and simply use the natvie apps for each product and leave out the voice assistant all together. Just a suggestion for HVAC. Get a thermostat that can do Geo-fencing. Really cool way to bump your thermostat settings based on you being away from home.

I’m a big fan of the Lutron wireless systems and I’m glad they are becoming more popular. Started specifying them quite a bit 5-6 years ago as there can be some pretty significant cost savings for commercial buildings and offices. Caseta is great if you want the smart home integration but I use the maestro series more often as most of my clients don’t need or want the app control. they really shine where you have a 3 or 4 way switch with dimming as you just have to wire 1 switch (or pow pak) then add your companion devices.

The only issues I’ve ever encountered were due to the contractors not setting up the companion devices correctly.

If its a new home with neutral wires at the switches look at tp-link.

I have Tp-link for 36 devices using either in wall switches or plug in wall outlet devices, Honeywell thermostats and MyQ garage opener controllers.

A Bose soundbar controlling the main TV, and fire cubes/sticks control the other TVs

Alxa is used as the voice controller.

No hub required.

You are screwed when the internet goes down, you need to turn on the lights by hand and use the TV remote.

The trauma of doing things by hand .

quote:

Originally posted by sig2392:
If its a new home with neutral wires at the switches look at tp-link.

If it's new construction with neutral wires everywhere you can use almost anything. Personally, I felt Z-wave the best way to go.

But if it's old construction, where neutral wires often aren't available, IMO Lutron Casèta rules.

quote:

Originally posted by sig2392:
You are screwed when the internet goes down, you need to turn on the lights by hand and use the TV remote.

Neither Lutron Casèta nor Apple HomeKit requires the Internet be up to work. All devices that integrate with Apple HomeKit are required, by Apple, to work without Internet connectivity.

We've got redundant Internet connections, but, still: That was one of the things I liked about HomeKit.

quote:

Originally posted by straightshooter01:
I see that you use your Apple watch. A lot of folks don't realize how cool it is to have a full function remote on your wrist as you walk around your house. I can walk up to my garage door outside and ask Siri ...

As I walk around my house I can Say Hey Siri "do this" ...

I'm experiencing very disappointing results with "Hey Siri." My iPhone seems to have trouble learning my voice. Once I succeed the iPhone works well, but the Watch not so much.

I don't really like my devices listening all the time, anyway, so I've turned "Hey Siri" back off.

Apple swears that everything spoken into Siri is encrypted and anonymized. That's their big argument against Amazon and Google; despite other misgivings about Apple (married to China), so far they seem to have stuck with their privacy pledges.

Apple privacy policy

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by straightshooter01:
I see that you use your Apple watch. A lot of folks don't realize how cool it is to have a full function remote on your wrist as you walk around your house. I can walk up to my garage door outside and ask Siri ...

As I walk around my house I can Say Hey Siri "do this" ...

I'm experiencing very disappointing results with "Hey Siri." My iPhone seems to have trouble learning my voice. Once I succeed the iPhone works well, but the Watch not so much.

I don't really like my devices listening all the time, anyway, so I've turned "Hey Siri" back off.

That is interesting. My devices have zero problems with Siri understanding me or my wife. In fact the home pods can pick up my hey Siri from across a large room even when other folks are talking. My wife has to repeat herself often with Alexa on the one Alexa device that I can’t get her to get rid of yet.

If you wanted something more flexible in capabilities for home automation and what can be incorporated - you may be interested in Home Assistant.

You can run it on hardware you own (or a VM or container), or you can buy a unit from them here