Here is my situation....

I have 3 switches in my theater. Two of them have the tiny sliders (dimmers) on the side. The other one is a regular on/off switch for the sconces.

I have a Harmony 880 remote. I would like to get the automatic dimmer switches that dim or turn on when I play or stop the movie. I am not looking to spend a ton, but was told by someone a while ago they have them at Home Depot or Lowe's. Can you tell me the make and model I need to make this work? I have asked at the hardware stores and they look at me like I am crazy. Thanks!

The brand name is Lutron, the model is MIR-600THW. Lutron has its own section at Home Depot in the electrical section. It will come with its own remote but the 880 controls it perfectly.

Just noticed, your looking to control all three independantly? I'm not sure you can do that as all the IR coding is the same.

http://www.lutron.com/CMS400/page.aspx?id=16947

There's a couple of ways to do that but IR switches are not the best choice since you want to control multiple lights in the room. My recommedations would be:
1) Upgrade to the Harmony 890 and use Z-wave switches
2) Continue to use your 880 and use an Insteon IR Linc with Insteon switches.

The previous posts provided what you asked for. My guidance is to look closely at both the switches and the ability to program them with the 880.

I have the 890 and went the Z-Wave route with some dimmers and a light switch. All of the Z-Wave switches have since been removed and are sitting on a closet shelf.

With the Z-Wave switches you could only associate a single scene with a single activity. In other words, I could make the lights dim when I start the projector but the only way to do anything after that (such as your example of having them come back up when the movie was stopped) was to go to the devices area of the remote and manually adjust the lighting. I didn't find them to be a better alternative than getting up and physically changing the lighting. Also, the Z-Wave dimmers that I had were on-off switches unless controlled by the remote.

I know nothing about the Insteon IR switches mentioned but wanted to share my experience with you.


Here is my situation....

I have 3 switches in my theater. Two of them have the tiny sliders (dimmers) on the side. The other one is a regular on/off switch for the sconces.

I have a Harmony 880 remote. I would like to get the automatic dimmer switches that dim or turn on when I play or stop the movie. I am not looking to spend a ton, but was told by someone a while ago they have them at Home Depot or Lowe's. Can you tell me the make and model I need to make this work? I have asked at the hardware stores and they look at me like I am crazy. Thanks!

If you want to keep your 880 you would want the Lutron Spacer system so you can control the lights separately. If you use the regular Maestro switches all of the lights will respond to the same IR codes and you won't be able to control each switch independently.

With the Z-Wave switches you could only associate a single scene with a single activity.

That is not a limitation of the Z-wave switches. Z-wave devices may be included in several scenes. In your situation it was a limitation of the way the remote was programmed. When you program a Harmony remote it is limited to a single sequence in each activity whether it is for lighting control, home theater power, etc. for further control you will have to program a new activity or go to the device control as you described.

Also, the Z-Wave dimmers that I had were on-off switches unless controlled by the remote.
Leviton, Monster, GE and others all make dimmable models as well. You may even set the default dimmer level when they turn on. I use this all the time because I read that a standard bulb at a 90% level lasts longer and uses much less energy so I never set them up all the way

Thank you guys! I am going to try the Lutron MIR-600THW I believe. I can deal with it dimming the 2 sets of lights at the same time. And the 3rd I can just operate manually with no problem. I need to get this switch in black though. I guess I will have to special order it. Thanks again for all of your help!