the definitive Grafik Eye master thread!! - Page 9

Depends on how dark your theater is. The translucent cover does a pretty good job of dimming the zone LEDs. The button selection LEDs are brighter. Don't worry about it. If it becomes a problem you can put some black tape over the inside of the cover.

A quick question - I'm having homeworks installed in the UK, and have just been sent a quote for the engraving of the buttons - should this be included if it is standard engraving - I'm using the European switches? Also does the 3 star service apply in the UK as advertised on the US website?

thanks

There is no extra charge from Lutron for standard engraving.

I don't know about anything specific to Europe or the UK. Try calling Lutron tech support.

For those Lutron fans, let me tell you its service doesn't travel well.

I've had (or rather having..) homeworks 8 installed. Lutron scan as the best company around, and I assumed the product and service in the uk to be on a par with the US. Whilst my eyes watered at the price (think US$ cost, add perhaps 25% and then exchange at $1 to £1, (forget the $1.8 to £1 you see at the bank), I bit the bullet. After all best product, best service, best support, you get what you pay for as these sites keep reminding us.

Free engraving - yes, but that means taking all the face plates off and sending them off for 4-6 weeks and having no lights at home. Hmm, or I could buy 20+ new face plates (over £1,000) and wait 4-6 weeks. Not what I expected, and not reasonable - do they do that to you in the US?

Warranty and service - in deciding whether to go with Lutron, I checked the website, which showed 3 star service for all Homeworks - so peace of mind post commissioning that any minor issues would be fully supported. But, apparently, that is only for the US, no mention that it is not offered elsewhere. Can anyone tell me how they support product outside the US?

And the programming - well, the full day of programming promised was 10am to 2pm, and vanish without a proper check, leaving parts not working... So Lutron, if your watching, do you want to sell in the UK, because from here I feel stitched up well and truly like a kipper.

That's not how it works here. The free standard engraving (8 or 12 variations) is specified when the wall units are ordered. Can't imagine that it would be different over there.

Sounds to me like your installer is trying to sell you units from his stock - maybe left over from another job - instead of ordering them. Or he ordered 'no engraving' and is now trying to make you pay to fix it. (Could be your fault if you didn't specify the engraving up front.) You need to get this straight with him.


That's because you apparently have been stitched up. But don't blame Lutron. Your installer is an independent contractor. Do you have a contract with him? Have you paid him yet?

Don't expect that Lutron will be able to help with the relationship between you and your installer. But they might be interested to know how their "representative" is treating his customers.

Received my 3106 the other day and even though my HT is far from complete, I had to temporarily wire it in to give it a try. Unfortunately I am getting a faint, but audible humming or buzzing with my 4" low voltage cans. The fixtures are from Topaz lighting and are the air-tight IC rated version. The humming sounds one way when the lights are at 100%; if they are dimmed from 10% to 90% they sound slightly different. However, the noise at 10% sounds the same as 90%. I can notice the sound if the basement is dead silent, but as soon as the anything turns on (A/C or freezer), the humming gets lost in the background noise. Not sure if it will get better or worse once the insulation, drywall and greenglue goes up. On the one hand maybe once the ceiling is drywalled, it will help to reduce the amount of humming I hear. Then again, the noise floor will be lower once the walls are up.

There's an FAQ on the Lutron web site regarding buzzing with magnetic low voltage fixtures, and they recommend a lamp debuzzing coil item LDC-10-TCP. What's interesting is that they warn the coil itself will buzz and to make sure it is located outside of the room. Anyone have any experiences with this item?

Buzzing can sometimes be corrected by changing the bulb brand (I like GE). If that doesn't work it's because the fixture manufacture uses cheap transformers. Good magnetic transformers are by far the most expensive part of the fixture. I will only install Lightolier 200AICV which cost me about 76.00, or if the budget allows Iris P3MR which costs me about 148.00. The Iris has a dual tap transformer which allows the correct voltage to reach the bulb even when a dimmer is used, and a beautifully designed aiming mechanism. I'm not familiar with Topaz.

Bill

Hi,

I just purchased a Grafik Eye 3104 on eBay with the intention of using it in my Homeworks system but now I'm worried that it might not be compatible. Homeworks Interactive lists GRX-IA models which according to the top of this thread corresponds to the 3500 series.

Am I screwed?

Thanks!
Danny

Yes. 3100 series doesn't understand the commands issued by Homeworks.

Oh well, back to eBay with it! Unless, of course, anyone here wants to buy a 3104 for what I paid ($310).

dhumphress, what color? I've been eyeing a 2404, but from what I see, a 3104 is virtually the same, only better expandibility.

The base is white and the top translucent cover is black.

If you are interested, you can email me. My email address is danny humphress at hot mail dot comm (no spaces -- you know what that means but hopefully spambots don't).

You've got mail

Not from you! ;-) I didn't get anything.

I asked this question on a separate thread but didn't get an answer from any of the resident experts so I will ask it here:

I want to control (including dimming) the rope lighting I will have in a ceiling tray built out from my soffits. Is best practive to hardwire the rope lighting to the grafik eye or to install a standard duplex receptacle up on the soffit face and wire it to the GE?

If I understand things correctly, NEC would prohibit wiring a standard receptacle to a dimmer switch but I have seen a few construction threads that mentioned adding a receptacle to a soffit to connect 110V rope lighting and controlling with a GE.

I'm getting ready to put lighting up and want to know how I should do the wiring. With a GE do I do one run from each light to the GE or bundle lights into zones and bring one wire for each zone to the GE?

JoelST you can find your answer at the Lutron website under application notes, number 109 for dimming portable lamps via receptacles.

Thanks,

I had read about Lutron's dimmable receptacle but was unable to confirm from their literature whether the Grafik Eye was one of the specific Lutron dimmers that must be used with this receptacle. Can anyone confirm this?

A second issue with using Lutron's DFDU is the need to replace the rope light's plug with Lutron's RP-FDU-10 replacement plug. That would likely void the rope light warranty (not a huge issue to me) but if I have to bother with that, I would probably just cut the plug off and hard wire the thing. Am I missing something?

Yes it is, the NEC is concerned that someone would plug an appliance into this socket and cause safety issues. The special socket prevents this.


You can use a small extension cord and plug the lights into it and change out the extension cord plug with the special plug.

I've ordered the special plug and socket for my install and they are not cheap!

Hope this helps!

I am trying to decide whether to buy a GRX-3104 system, but I have a few questions first which I hope somebody can answer.

The system is supposed to control 4 groups (zones) of spotlight in addition to, eventually, motorized curtains (on/off). I would also like the possibility to program different scenes and control these scenes with a remote control. Will the GRX-3104 be able to do these operations?

Is it necessary to install wallstations for each group (zone) of spotlights, or can I connect all the wires in the controlunit? What kind of preparations must be done in order to later control the curtains?

I asked this a while back in another thread, but it never got an answer.

I have a 3104 with a full gray cover plate, including the flip up part. I also have the original white/translucent black cover. I would like to convert my gray cover to be gray on the bottom and have the translucent black flit cover.

I've tried before to remove the hinged cover, but cannot figure out how to do it without possibly breaking it. Has anyone had success doing this and if so how?

Thanks.

.....rigging the GE for a remote IR flasher seems a bit archaic for this price level. It sure would make things a lot easier if Lutron equipped these units with a secondary 1/8" mini-plug IR input jack, accessible from a rear recess in the housing.

I am looking at picking up the GE this week. I am looking at a 3103-T to be mounted at the back of the room, and NTGRX-4S next to the front entrance. If I want to control these scenes with my Pronto, do I need to buy the NTGRX-4s-IR at $225, or can I get away with the NTGRX-4s at $130 and just point the pronto over the shoulder? I will be using the monster cable
grafik eye cable to go between the 3103-T and the accessory unit.

Anyone know?

Thanks,
-D

Sorry, I must not have been clear. I want to remove the hinged part (flip up part) from one GE cover plate and exchange it with the hinged part of another. I know how to remove the actual cover plate from the unit itself :-)

Just talking about the hinged part here so I can take the translucent cover of one GE and replace it with the opaque cover of another GE.

Thanks anyway,
-D

Has anyone seen the 20th Anniversary Edition GE?
If so does it have any new features other than separate control of shades and new button styling?

You can't put it on the back or it would have to meet NEC specs (because it lives in a high-voltage box). Miniplugs don't meet NEC specs for that environment. And you don't want it on the front.

Besides, Lutron already sells remote IR pickups.

If it has a curtain control circuit that is not a "zone", I don't know about it. A curtain controller *can* live on the same data bus, but it is a separate entity. If I understand coorrectly, on the newest models a zone can be defined to manage a curtain controller, but I'm not sure that's available on the 3100 series.


Depends on what you want to do, and the nature of your remote. GE understands IR signals, but not RF.


No. That's the Spacer system.


Yes. One cable per zone.


Don't know. Use the technical docs on the Lutron web site, or talk to a Lutron installation specialist.